Whether we read the Bible or the Jewish
historian Josephus or the Roman historianTacitus, one thing is crystal clear:
Jesus lived and preached an alternative empire. Historians tell us that he lived a life of open healing and
shared eating, of radical itinerancy, of empowered egalitarianism, of human
contact without discrimination and without hierarchies, and of preferential
option for the poor.
And Jesus was executed by the Roman Empire because of this.
A life totally dedicated to the liberation of the poor and the powerless is a
very dangerous life. Those who follow the Galilean Jesus, actually, follow
an executed God.
Never forget this. Any movement that seriously serves the poor
will be harassed, threatened, and, oftentimes, stopped by the privileged and the powerful. The ongoing harassment of Sr. Patricia Fox and the murders of Fr. Tito Paez and Fr. Mark Ventura are but three examples of this stark reality. Archbishop Oscar Romero was murdered by state
agents. He gave his life as a ransom for many. He once declared, “You can kill
me, but I will rise up in the People of El Salvador.” Anasthasis which is
translated resurrection can also be translated Rising Up. Or much better, UPRISING!
Over and over in the Gospel of Mark,
especially in chapters 8, 9, and 10, Jesus tells his disciples he will be
handed over and be crucified. But God will raise him up. At the end of Mark’s
Gospel, the disciples at the tomb are left silent and afraid by the young man’s challenge: the
one who began the movement, the one who was executed, the one they expected to
find dead inside the tomb was not there. God has raised him up. God had begun
an UPRISING. And the young man at the tomb says, “Tell the
disciples and Peter.” Tell the ten and Peter.
Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, one seed produces many seeds. LET ME REPEAT THAT: UNLESS A SEED FALLS TO THE GROUND AND DIES, IT REMAINS A SINGLE SEED. BUT IF IT DIES, ONE SEED PRODUCES MANY…
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