Some thoughts on Anglican Franciscanism - part seven - What Jesus am I following?

The last two mornings were led by Paulo Ueti,and Budi Tjahjono who helped us explore our third theme - Sharing our Good News. Paulo is the Theological Adviser and Latin America Regional Director of The Anglican Alliance.

Paulo encouraged us to look again at our understanding of who Jesus is. He asserts that most of us are probably strongly influenced by Roman imperial imagery. As I write this we have just had Christ the King Sunday, a Sunday filled with imperial imagery if we are not careful. If we look on the internet for images to use, they mostly show Jesus as "emperor"! – We see it in the Christian Nationalism in the States and spreading out from there. This is something I have been confronted with every Christ the King Sunday. Who is Jesus?

Paulo used Luke 24.13-35 (Road to Emmaus), as his recurring text. He suggested that this story was added later to encourage the Christian community to not be drawn into the power struggles of the Roman Church and civic hierarchy. The two unnamed disciples cannot see Jesus. They are blinded by assumptions of kingship/hierarchy/ domination. He noted Jesus' greeting – ‘I see you’ - it is way of saying I love you, in the sense of agape love. He then asks "How are you?", not as a polite question but truly asking as a way of "seeing them". We then spent the next 45 minutes in pairs or threes greeting one another with ‘I see you’ and pause,  then ask ‘How are you?’ (and reply), reply and repeat. Some deep conversations resulted. We "saw" the person/people we were talking to. We were seen. (at least that was my experience).

Paulo spent the rest of his time that morning looking at how Jesus was present to the two disciples, on the road, and in their home. For him this is the start of telling the good news. We may have to ask again, ‘How are you?’ and we need to listen. Cleopas and his companion did not recognise Jesus because they were looking for someone to overthrow the system so that they (Jews) could be the oppressors/ the ‘king’/ in authority; compared with Jesus as ‘friend’ in John’s gospel. If we claim to be Jesus' followers, who is this Jesus we follow? 

The overall theme of Paulo's time is that Jesus is a contested figure. Even in the gospel story we can see that. In Mark 8 Jesus asks his disciples who people say he is, and who they say he is. Peter has the right language, but not the right image. He and the other disciples wanted to reverse the system and for them to claim the places of power, privilege, prestige, comfort and wealth. They might have left Egypt, but Egypt had not left them. Jesus as recorded in these stories was trying to change the system. To drive Egypt out once and for all, we might say. The disciples in the gospels are not good models – they wanted to have power over, like the emperor. Jesus’ type of Messiah was like the suffering servant of Isaiah 40-66. Jesus told them three  times – I am going to suffer/ be tortured/ etc. But he got no empathy from his closest friends, because the idea they had of a Messiah was different. It blinded them. At another time when Jesus says he will suffer, the disciples simply want to know who will be the privileged ones / prime minister / the top dog. Not the servants. 

Our image of Jesus shapes our faith and our lives. For example there was a heated debate between the Pope and Franciscans very early on about whether Jesus owned property. If he did then it was OK to accumulate. But if not, then we share. It's not just a theoretical discussion, it affects our theology and our economics. The Pope enforced his view by condemning any who held that Jesus did not own property as heretics. Jesus is a contested figure.

Paulo also spent some time looking at looking at Luke 9:51-19:52, which he described as being about Jesus' methodology as the suffering servant, noting the disciples failure all the way through to see him or to hear what he is saying. He used as an example the story of the women who bled for 12 years and who reached out and touched Jesus’ robes. How do we see her? As a powerful woman? Was she alone? She had struggled for 12 years, but she did not give up. Paulo suggested that she  was in community of other women who supported her and helped her be resilient. The process of healing was by resilience with a conspiring community.   

The ‘good news’ is a person, Jesus; but what Jesus am I following? What bible verses do I choose to read? Theology starts with sharing stories that come from seeing the other and asking "how are you?" He reminded us that the eyes of the disciples in Emmaus were opened by invitation, welcome, sharing at the table, sharing resources, not through quoting bible verses. Sharing is about relationship, and often means needing to talk together about how to use something, it is about connection/relationship. "Gift" is not.

He offered these stories to reflect on. Deut. 23 – says that the camp needs to be clean because God will walk among you– he is with you. But when Solomon builds the temple and the ark goes into the temple, it is hidden, so only one person (priest) can visit God, no one else has access to God. God is removed from the people.

And how do we treat those we disagree with? Using Matthew 18 Paulo suggested we treat like Jesus treated Gentiles or tax collectors.

John 2 – wedding at Cana – Mary is actually bossing Jesus and the servants (the doulos, ie the deacons) – so this is a church structure, and Mary is a bishop/ episcopus/boss/overseer. She is a good model of episcopacy, as she sees the problem, devises a strategy, and works with a team to fix the problem – cf Clement at Alexandria who followed an imperial model of church community. What model do we follow.

He noted that monasteries started appearing in the third century, portraying a different model of church, being community, not imperial; here, you do not have power. We are connected to you, but here we do things differently – we try to follow Jesus the suffering servant, not the king/ emperor. This took us back to what Charlie shared on those first two mornings. Can we understand hierarchy as a way of ministering, not of power over? The religious life is a very political statement, a protest against the church of empire. He asked us how our mindset and community help us be with the world.

He finished by saying that Jesus says we should be kind, see one another, share, listen, be people of hope and/or resurrection; acknowledge the suffering may be a part of our choices but not as a requirement to fulfil our mission.

We need to be annoying; disruptive; passionate; transgressive; missioning; hopeful; in love; just; sharing; counter-cultural; conspiring; transformative; good cooking; careful; dialoguing; dreaming; always polite; make people embarrassed if they are not doing justice; challenging systems of privilege; engaging in dialogue; using imagination, re-imagination to see possibilities- adjust our vision to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Be joyful, and graceful in terms of theology – Jesus’ theology is one of grace, restoration; so we need to change our retributive (punishment focussed) theology. Usual conversion process is: I repent and change and then God forgives me/ gives me gifts. Restorative theology says we are loved, and then because we are loved, we change.

What Jesus am I following?