The Unpopular Jesus

Christ Pantocrator, Daphni Monastery, Greece

Luke 9:51-62

"Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.

And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

It was either the first or second semester of my freshman year that I first encountered the image of Christ Pantocrator. Picture it: It was Sicily, 1932… well, maybe not that far back, but still as picturesque in my memory. I remember being stuffed with several of my fellow Art undergrads in a darkened room with a slide projector and my professor’s “active speaking  voice” that still made us sleepy. While we fought off the temptation of early adult nap-time we learned about the great masterpieces of Western civilization. Then the projected image of this mosaic appeared on the wall, like a photographed memory from Chevy Chase’s last family vacation. Through art and church I had seen scores of images of Jesus by this point: calm and peaceful Jesus, happy Jesus, suffering Jesus, adult Jesus, baby Jesus, ‘Tween lost in the temple Jesus, traditional dark haired Jesus with the mid-scalp part, blond haired Jesus that was probably the Swedish carpenter that created all of those IKEA chairs, Black Jesus with dreadlocks featured on those pop-Afro centric -shirts sold at the Hood mall…even a painting of Jesus by JJ on an episode of “Good Times” that ended up being Ned the Wino. Yet in all of my years I had never seen an image of Jesus like this one. For one reason or another this was an unpopular Jesus. This one seemed like a mean Jesus… not just angry, but mean and sort of suspicious. I thought, “This ain’t Jesus of Nazareth...This must be his cousin Resus of Detroit.” All the while I knew that the disagreeableness of this image wasn’t due to any lack of talent in the artist. Actually it was talent that made the image uncomfortable to view. This was an image of a judgmental Jesus. A Jesus, who may be angry at me and, as the Sovereign of the Universe, has the right as to judge me.

As I stated earlier the image is an image of Jesus entitled Christ Pantocrator. Christ Pantocrator is not one image but a genre of Christian art/icons, akin to a Crucifixion or a Madonna.  Even though this type of image is one of the earliest images developed in early Christian Art, it and the theological concept behind it are not as popular in Western Christianity (Roman Catholicism and Protestantism) but is a staple amongst the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholics. This specific Christ Pantocrator mosaic was found in a monastery in Daphni, Greece (near Athens). It was created around 1100 A.D. during the Byzantine Empire, a.k.a. “The Roman Empire part II: My Big Fat Gr∑∑k Empire”, written by Nia Vardalos with a cameo appearance by Joey Fatone of ‘N Sync (and yes, I am aware that the Byzantines were actually Roman, now get off of Wikipedia). If you look closely at the images corners you will notice that it was covered at one point, possibly falling victim to the rounds of iconoclasm (Christians who are against images, specifically their veneration) that popped up at various points in the Orthodox Church. Many Eastern Orthodox churches feature a large Christ Pantocrator in the central dome of building. When you look up, Christ is literally looking down on you.

Unearthing this great Byzantine image also dusts off the understanding of God that is embedded within it: Christ as judge. This is a concept that many Liberal theological Christians may be slow to embrace or promote and many Conservative theological Christians may not fully understand or appreciate the implications of. The major fear in focusing on Jesus as a judgmental figure is that judgment in itself is seen as a discriminatory action: choosing one set of beliefs, actions or even people over another. Pantocrator translates as “All Mighty” (a concept and title that we usually associate with God in the Old Testament) or “All Powerful.” A better understanding of its usage would be “Sustainer of the world.” In discussing Christ Pantocrator Orthodoxwiki.org states “The icon portrays Christ as the Righteous Judge and the Lover of Mankind, both at the same time. The Gospel is the book by which we are judged, and the blessing proclaims God's loving kindness toward us, showing us that he is giving us his forgiveness.” It appears that if we dissect this image and Luke 9:51-62 a little more we will discover that Christ’s role as judge of humanity is a little more nuanced than we may have previously suspected.

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.”

Jesus was personally very familiar with receiving the judgment of others. He was as familiar with being unpopular as he was with being popular. When Jesus and his disciples entered this Samaritan village on the way to Jerusalem he encountered judgment from others in the form of rejection. When he and his disciples were rejected from this Samaritan village, it was done so because they were Jewish. By this point Samaritans and Jews had a few centuries behind them of disagreement and animosity. That is what makes the story of the “Good Samaritan” so awe inspiring. Much of the division between the two groups was based in the fact that the Samaritans were in effect partial-Jews (ethnically) and partially people of the land. To put it the way the Samaritan Woman at the Well would phrase it, Jews and Samaritans “had no dealings” with each other. They lived in two different sections of the same land, shared several holy books but were in effect worlds apart. Sadly ethnic prejudice is not something that has been foreign to Christians and history. Specifically, Anti-Semitism is one of the greatest sins that our ancestors consistently committed. Contrary to Jesus’ command to love our neighbors and without recognition of our Savior’s Jewish ethnicity Christendom has centuries full of blood on its hand for its crimes against Jewish people… long before the Holocaust. For centuries our Jewish brothers were systematically disenfranchised, ghettoized, expelled and murdered. Much of this is was from a misunderstanding of Scripture and a twisted sense exacting revenge for Jesus’ death. The false teaching that motivated this was that the Jews as a race were collectively guilty of this crime (In a later blog post we’ll get into how this is simultaneously un-Christ like, bigoted and Biblically inaccurate). I’ve taken such long portions writing on this because there is no way to understate it. Understanding and remedying the great sin of anti-Semitism that many of our forefathers have woven into our understanding of Christianity is one of the greater tasks that a Christian can take up. Why? First, because Christ came that we might know Truth and it is the Truth that will set us free. Secondly, it is because it is the foundation for understanding the deeper reason of why these Samaritans rejected Jesus and his disciples: anti-Judaism. It wasn’t because they were ethnically Jewish; it was because they were religiously Jewish. They were rejected because they were going to Jerusalem to worship. The Samaritans greatest point of departure from mainstream Judaism was the fact that they rejected the temple in Jerusalem. Samaritans held a version of the Hebrew Tanakh (the Christian Old Testament) that ends with the Torah (the first five books of Moses). We call mainstream Jewish religion “Judaism” because it was based around the thoughts and religious culture of those residing in the region of “Judea” (where Jerusalem is), which is roughly the tribe of “Judah” and not the northern tribal areas (where Samaria was). This being the case they believed that Mount Gerizim was the appropriate place to worship God. Anti-Judaist thought has also woven itself into much of Christianity. The roots of it are based in the fact that Christianity and the Rabbinical Judaism both have their roots in first century Judea. We are the children of Jesus & the Apostles versus the Pharisees (Rabbis). They were both pre-made formulas of how to practice the religion of the Jewish God outside of the Temple. For Christians it was because they expected a time when the temple sacrifice would be no more and Christ would be our “temple” (place of sacrifice and worship of God). For Pharisees it was because they were a group of non-priest who wanted to live out the commands of the Tanakh (what the Bible calls “the Law & the Prophets”) in everyday life (thus they created the Synagogue). So when the Temple in Jerusalem (and eventually Jerusalem itself) was finally destroyed by the Romans it was suddenly show time for these two Jewish sects. Things became even more complicated when Christianity started making the transition into a predominately Gentile religion. This led St. Paul and other Apostles to formulate how non-Jews would fit into this picture. It is natural for religions and sects to compete; however, the real problem came when it turned from competition to opposition. Christianity stopped seeing itself as a continuation of or sequel to Judaism and more of an antidote to Judaism. As it became increasingly Gentile it became more of a Church versus Synagogue narrative (there is even a genre of Christian art image expressing this theme). As Christians became more politically powerful Jews became more religiously and ethnically persecuted. With every inch we made towards anti-Judaism, Christianity lost a few feet of understanding original intent of the Biblical authors. Contemporary progress has been made within Christianity towards rectifying our ancestor’s wrongs toward Jews. Catholics, Lutherans and assorted Evangelical groups have all made strides toward rejecting the anti-Judaist bias. Amongst Evangelicals there is an emerging Messianic Jewish movement. These are Jewish believers (and a few Gentile converts) who are blurring the line once again between what it means to be Jewish and what it means to be a believer in Jesus as the Messiah. Now while a few are controversial, much of the developments in Messianic Judaism’s effort to define itself seem to be aiding the Body of Christ in general in rediscovering its Jewish foundation. Now some readers may point out early persecution of Christians by Jewish authorities. Yes, this happened, but you do not answer a few decades of persecution by Jewish leaders with several centuries of persecution by Christian leaders! Added to that is the fact that followers of Jesus should be the first to head one of Jesus’ greatest commands: turn the other cheek. Much like the Christ Pantocrator image it can be unpopular at times and can be covered up.

And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did? But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”

That admonition to turn the other cheek is exactly what Jesus did when he found himself being judged by others. Maybe he was thinking of his words in the Sermon on mount where he said “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” Jesus’ response to being rejected by others was accepting them. Instead of desiring to destroy the lives of his enemies, Jesus says that he (the Son of Man) came to save their lives. Sometimes when we Christians get aggressive, bitter or even blood thirsty in our tactics or thoughts we often site some Old Testament reference in our justification. That is exactly what happened with the disciples. These Samaritans (who they viewed as no better than Gentiles) had refused to show kindness to God’s spokesman (Jesus). So they thought that they would employ the same methods used in the Old Testament by Elijah (God’s spokesman at the time) for those that rejected him. This may seem reasonable to some of the readers of this blog, because it’s “biblical”, right? No, because this single incident in the life of Elijah does not testify to the whole council of the Word of God. Being the Word incarnate Jesus understood that collective wisdom of Scripture reveals an overall story of peacemaking, forgiveness and salvation. The spirit of God’s commands is life-giving. In the midst of being rejected we find Jesus accepting all men, saving all men. This is why it is critical for us to not only accept and promote Jesus as a judge but understand it. Much like they misunderstood Jesus’ role as a King (the Messiah); the original Disciples misunderstood his role as the righteous judge. They understood the might and power parts of Christ Pantocrator but had no idea what those strengths were to be used towards.  A judge is one who not only pronounces guilt but also pronounces innocence. Not only one who meets out punishment, but one who meets out settlements and recommends therapy (in a contemporary sense). Even for one who is found guilty there is salvation in a judge’s sentence, because it is in the fulfillment of the sentence’s requirements that one becomes reformed. When the convict is shown his guilt he or she can then “repay his debt” and then be accepted back into full citizenship. A judge is the face of government that intertwines itself in the lives of people in the most personal, intimate and individual way. Sometimes we follow the metaphor of Jesus being our lawyer and defending us or our sacrifice and taking our punishment that we forget that he is our judge…and there is a certain salvation in being judged. If we minimize Christianity into a “get me out of Hell contest” then we forget that Christ judges us daily by his example. It is also by that same example that he blesses us by daily fashioning us to be more like him. When he judges us he asks us daily if we forgave like him and loved like him. That is why the Christ Pantocrator features Jesus as a serious faced judge with the Gospel in one hand and the finger configuration of a blessing in the other hand. Christ daily blesses you by the transformative, life giving judgment of his Word.     

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

At the end of a story about Jesus being rejected by others and accepting others we find Christ doing some rejecting of his own. It appears to be three separate instances of Jesus rejecting or discouraging potential followers. In the first episode Jesus counters a recruit with a “are you sure?” response. A few take “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” as an admission that he is in fact homeless. While this may be a possibility I think the greater meaning is that he has “no place to call home.” His can either mean that he leads a life on the road as an itinerant preacher or that his message is overwhelmingly rejected. It probably means a little of both. The second episode appears to feature Jesus disobeying many societal norms and rejecting family… or at least the practice of burying. However this is probably another case of a “hard saying” of Jesus that is intended to shock the listener into realizing the immediacy of the need of spreading the Gospel. The third episode seems to be another assault on the institution of family (take that James Dobson)! I don’t believe that Jesus was a San Francisco 60’s radical set upon the destruction of the family unit and all other vestiges of Western patriarchy (I said all of that to show that I am both smart and I watch a lot of Mad Men). Jesus’ response in this third scene actually serves as response to all three, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” I may have misjudged the demographic of my potential readers, but I don’t estimate them to be “Heehaw” watchers, so I will explain Jesus’ barnyard metaphor. When you are plowing a field it is important to focus your unwavering attention on a fixed point in the distance. This will help you create straight rows. In that affect it seems just like driving a car (I say this all without having any Agricultural experience outside a few of my Dad’s childhood stories from rural Baton Rouge, La. And some Larry the Cable Guy jokes). So if one was to look back while plowing a field they would potentially destroy all of their work. Likewise, the living in the kingdom of God takes commitment and focus. Sometimes that dedication to peace, forgiveness, sacrifice and loving God may seem radical to those around us. Sometimes it can find us alone.

One of the greater theological divisions in historic Protestantism (Calvinism versus Arminism) is centered around God rejecting some people and accepting (or saving others). Basically Calvinists hold to the idea of the elect. That God has predetermined those that he has chosen (or “elected”, like a President-elect) to be saved and in effect chosen those that will be damned. Arminist hold that a person chooses whether or not they are to be saved (this explains Free Will and why the deacons pull out that chair in the front of your church after the sermon). Currently here is a strain of Neo-Calvinism that is en vogue amongst Evangelicals and Fundamentalist, however if you were a Southern Baptist during the 80’s you may remember that a Calvinist was the least cool thing to be (Presbyterians always kept it real, though).  Now even though I wasted your time discussing Calvinism and Arminism (ain’t I a stinker), this misses the whole point. This passage of scripture isn’t about Jesus rejecting certain people as much as it is about Jesus rejecting certain behavior. Specifically it is Jesus rejecting the abandoning of his call/labor. It is about Jesus rejecting distractions.  Remember the Christ Pantocrator image is stern, focused and undistracted.

So what do a mural in Daphni Greece and a few verses about Jesus rejecting distractions have to do with each other? Everything! Jesus started off this narrative by having “steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.” He started off with single-minded determination. The same determination that he asks his would be disciples to have at the close of this narrative. The end that was meeting Jesus at Jerusalem was his own end: the cross. Yet he still resolutely determined to trek towards it because the end of his suffering on the cross would be our salvation. If we understand this as the background of his thoughts then we can understand his responses to those around him. It’s like training for a marathon in a donut shop (which I fully plan to do): you may be planning for greatness that only comes through sacrifice but you are surrounded by those who live for immediate fulfillment (again I must make the disclaimer that I have never run a marathon but I regularly make several runs on local donut shops). It is a matter of perspective. The Samaritans, Disciples and would be disciples only had the world around them and their experiences in it as tools to make decisions with. Christ had eternity in his perspective.  That is what makes Christ the perfect and righteous judge. It is what qualifies him to be the Pantocrator. Just like the image shows he is the “Sustainer of the World.” A world where in the end peace and will find justice in the case against their enemies hatred and unforgiveness. This will happen because he is simultaneously the “Lover of Mankind” and he sustains the world (and judges it) with his love.  Over the ages this has been an unpopular image of Jesus: the Jewish one, the pacifist one, the lonely one.  If you are familiar with the Beatitudes then you probably remember that though they may lose often in this life the meek, the peacemakers, and the persecuted are among those who will win in the end. They win because Jesus is the judge and a judge always determines the winner.