When I talk of logic and
think of the time Jesus walked the earth (and if you buy into everything in the
story at face value) there’s something that’s always on the fringes of my
mind: “How many Messiahs were there?”
The people in Jesus’s time were simple
folk. As I may have written in a
previous blog, someone pointed out that the technological advancement of a
wheelbarrow would have blown their minds.
Many were illiterate and easily sway-able with hear-say and rumor. I’m sure if you just said to Bill that Kyle
had Leprosy - Kyle would be in for a bit of a hard time. The ten commandments that Moses brought down
from the mountains had morphed into hundreds of rules and regulations for the
people to follow because, as they knew, if they followed them there rules,
they’d have eternal life or power or control or God’s favor.
With Jesus’ ability to tell stories that made
sense to the masses and to teach in the synagogue and be called Rabbi - it was
obvious that Jesus was a learned man.
Probably could have been in the Judean version of Mensa. So, certainly, he was a threat to the ones in
power and control. He was smart. And the rumors of him doing some kick-ass
miracles were starting to get to the authorities.
In Luke 23, verses 8 & 9: 8When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had
been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was
hoping to see him perform some sign. 9He questioned him at some
length, but Jesus gave him no answer.
So, yes, word on gotten to Herod about what
Jesus was doing and I can’t imagine the communications systems were all that
great 2000+ years ago.
But I often wonder how many other “messiahs”
were there. How many others thought they
were the chosen one? How many had some
obscure dream which told them that they were to be the next King of the Jews?
If Jesus was from the line of David, how did we
exactly know this? Was his mother from
the line of David since she was the one pregnant with him? Or was Joseph, the surrogate father? And, again, how many others thought that they
had the answer to the problems of the suffering of the Jews? It’s not like ancestry.com was available for
them to quickly log in and do a little research. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Meredith,
around the watering hole, pointed out that her son Biff seemed especially good
at drawing in the dirt and she was certain that their family was from the line
of David. So Biff was, certainly,
destined for great things.
Much like hind-sight is 20-20, I imagine that
the authorities and disciples and the story tellers were able to piece together
the fragments of Jesus’s journey from Birth to Resurrection and then fit it
into a whole (even taking four books of the bible to do it).
And what of these other messiahs, kings,
rulers, saviors? To what end did they
meet? I assume that they met a grisly
end, no doubt. And the word of their
grisly end sent shockwaves through their followers and their friends who slunk
back into the recesses for fear of retribution by the authorities.
So here comes Jesus. Already known for doing some amazing
things. Already hitting the tabloids
that Herod reads: “He hangs with
sinners! He runs with tax collectors and
prostitutes! People call him a king
chosen by God! HE DOES MIRACLES!” Known throughout a land that doesn’t even
have a dial-up modem.
How many discarded what he said as the
ramblings of yet another madman – a friend of that other madman John the
Baptist? How many turned aside when wanting
to see a man on a horse with sword in hand but instead got a carpenter on a
donkey preaching love and forgiveness?
Searching for a messiah, how many walked on by
casting him with the others who came before him?
I wonder.
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