The Jesus Way

Although I'm no Art Garfunkel when it comes to reading, I do my fair share of it.

I just finished reading Eugene Peterson's book "The Jesus Way". In it, he contrasts the way of Jesus (love, sacrifice, humility, grace) with that of some of his contemporaries.

Herod is the one who is the great builder. the creator of spectacle. The bigger the better, and the noisier the better. Check out his palace at Herodium. Jesus completely ignored spectable in His earthly ministry.

Herod is contrasted with the Pharisees, those who would keep people under their thumb religiously by creating rules, laws and expectations which could never be kept. Religion was purely external and had very little to do with the heart.

Caiaphas is also brought up. Those who follow the way of Caiaphas used religion to another end, namely self. The religously powerful follow the way of Caiaphas.

Caiaphas is coontrasted with the Essenes, that Jewish religious offshoot which focused on leaving society behind and establishing their own commune. For them it was never about power but rather about escaping any type of perceived pollution to the soul.

What about Josephus? Normally we think of him as a great Jewish historian, but actually he was a Jewish traitor who sold out the Jews to the Romans in order to save his own life. Josephus was to the Jews what Benedict Arnold was to the American Revolution. Jesus said that whoever would save his life would lose it. That is the way of Josephus, self-preservation at all costs.

Josephus is contrasted with the Zealots, that faction who believed that the kingdom could come through the violent overthrow of Rome. Where Josephus would give up his Jewishness in a moment for Rome, the Zealots would not give up their identity for anything (witness Masada). But the Zealots believed that the kingdom would be inaugurated by human effort not by Spirit.

Good book. Highly recommended