I have no problem with Jesus as teacher, passionate ascetic,
oftimes sad and lonely wanderer , but one with great passion and "energy" when it came to sharing his visions....that he was a man and was on "the path", can be proven for we are all on the same road. It is the crux of reality , that life is a river .
It is flawed to say that he was a "meek" little lamb, for in every instance it proves he was absorbed with the weight and gravity of a flawed existence he percieved living in a more perfect state in the rural areas. What he percieved as living in the cities must have infuriated him.
I have heard that he was a firey red-haired orator, usually evicted from a village as fast as he arrived, with stone following after...until he gained a little following and mystique.
Yet it was in Jerusalem and the large cities he saw all the
the collection of "sin" and iniquity piled up so high as the walls.
The conditions back then were utterly
filthy, horrible and full of squalor. People huddled and massed together, struggling and competing in these squalid settlements for protection.
But their lives were emmeshed and tangled up totally with daily competition, thieves, threats, soldiers,squabbles on every side.
And there was the tyranny of the priesthood, and ferocious laws...and add to that you add the Romans & Rebellion. Not a pretty picture, and terrible conditions guaranteed to bring out the worst in man or any animal for that matter.
But a perfect envirionment for the rise of a savior in any time , but especially with the jews who have been waiting for the messiah for 4000 years.
You'll find Jesus most living and wandering alone in the desert or traveling with other monks and rebels in the hills around the sea of galilea...same as it was for Mohammed who was a merchant going between Mecca and Baghdad (?) spent many days & weeks alone, meditating in the desert thru the years .
This is where the great religions and inspirations from God came. Any coincidence that out beyond the reaches of
the city walls , these men found visions of God ? When did you ever hear of a Prophet becoming enlightened while watching a chariot race ? LOL!
**What we call the desert was more of a verdant place then...though
the centuries of indescriminate sheepherding had started the begining of the end for north africa and much of that area, leaving it what we know today , a vast, arid , rocky grassless desert .
One must concieve a Jesus out wandering and preaching
in the rural areas around Galilea for most of his life.
He must have been planning for sometime to go out in a Blaze of Martyred glory.
One must remember that it was at the very last
he returned to Jerusalem , and kicked the moneylender's tables over in front of the temple. That was a death warrant as sure as you and i breath today , for him to do back then.
It was a week later he was rejected, betrayed and crucified as an insignificant country "prophet" .... after finally returning , and kicking those tables over. His return to the city was a very lethal affair. |
