Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The Last Week - TWO: Monday

Chapter TWO: On his first two days in Jerusalem, Jesus performs two prophetic acts. On Palm Sunday, he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, providing a stark contrast between the kingdom of God which comes by means of peace and lowliness and the kingdom of Rome that comes by means of power and violence. On day two, Monday, Jesus again enacts his vision of the kingdom of God, over tuning the tables of money changers in the Temple. It is a protest not against Judaism, but a protest again a religious establishment that has allied itself with Roman imperial power and injustice.

Jesus, say the authors, "also stands against those forms of Christianity that were used throughout the centuries to support imperial violence and injustice."

Also Borg and Crossan on blood sacrifice: The word sacrifice comes from the Latin sacrum facere, "to make" "sacred." In the ancient world, the sacrificial animal is made sacred and is given to God as a sacred gift or returned to the offerer as a sacred meal. These concepts should never be confused with suffering or substitution. Ancient peoples never thought that:
1. the point of sacrifice was to make the animal suffer
2. the animal was dying in their place

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