Chapter 22 of 404

Popular Views about Jesus

The context Brandon offers for Jesus may be inadequate, but it is not without all merit. Whatever Jesus’ own intentions, some followers were likely attracted to the possibility of a charismatic figure strong enough not only to produce healings and exorcisms but to lead the people to political liberation (cf. Jn 6:15). In many cultures, oppressed peasants naturally sympathize with resistance movements, and some scholars have argued for such a situation in Judea,⁹⁷ most clearly in the first Judean revolt.⁹⁸

This proposal is also useful in reminding us that Jesus was in fact executed as a revolutionary;⁹⁹ this role was a natural way for the elite to view, or at least to dispose of, a wilderness or Galilean prophet. That Jesus was executed on the charge of claiming “kingship” is virtually certain (see discussion in chs. 18, 21); and even a prophet figure passively awaiting God’s intervention (as perhaps some of Josephus’ sign-prophets were) could threaten the stability of society by stirring hopes of Rome’s overthrow.

Yet at least some Judeans, like Josephus, apparently did not share this view of Jesus.¹⁰⁰ Josephus presents John the Baptist and Jesus differently from the wilderness prophets whose armed followers suggested a threat to the authorities. This evidence suggests that John and Jesus did not advocate violent revolution, despite the charge conveniently leveled against the popular teacher Jesus.¹⁰¹ What survived of Jesus’ teachings confirms this suggestion. As we shall argue later in the book, Jesus expected both a kingdom and a role for himself in that kingdom. But he expected this to occur solely by God’s intervention, and voluntarily offered himself for martyrdom in expectation of that intervention.

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