According to scholar, Richard Horsley (1997), “Although some would still view Jesus as an innocuous religious teacher, it is becoming increasingly evident to many that he catalyzed a movement of the renewal of Israel – a movement over against Roman rule as well as the Jerusalem priestly aristocracy (p. 1).” Israel was called to be the light of the world, reflecting God’s image to all of humanity, but she had failed miserably. With choosing 12 disciples, representing the original 12 tribes, Jesus was renewing Israel. He was the Moses figure leading a new exodus declaring the imminence of the kingdom of God (Wright 1999). In Jesus declaring that God’s kingdom was at hand, he was denouncing the empire of Rome. Jesus taught not to resist violence with violence, and he engaged with the ruling class. Therefore, Jesus rejected the violent ways of the Zealots; unlike the Herodians, rejected Rome as Israel’s governing authority; and in his teachings, rather than separating themselves like the Essenes, called Israel to live out their true vocation, united in their calling, as God’s representatives amongst the Romans. This isn’t to say that Jesus did not care about politics, or believed Israel was to be separate from it. But, because the Gospel is transformative on every level, in Israel living out God’s kingdom, they would be a new community with a new economy and a new kind of politics that transcended Rome.
By the time of the Apostle Paul, an entire religion revolving around Caesar had developed. Rome was brutally conquering the known world and expanding its empire. Caesar was declaring that he was Lord and Savior. According to Horsley (1997): “During the 50’s the apostle Paul moved systematically through eastern Mediterranean cities … proclaiming “the gospel of Christ…” Yet by then “the gospel of Caesar” had already become widespread and well established in those very cities (p. ?).” Horsley goes on to say that the cult of Caesar was incredibly pervasive in all of the places Paul visited (Horsley 1997). Caesar, essentially, was controlling his empire, not just with military might, but with celebrations, imagery, symbols, games and a religion devoted to him. Paul’s message was dangerous because he was saying that Jesus was the true Lord and Savior, that Jesus brings peace and that Caesar is a fraud. Paul was latching onto his distinctly Jewish belief that God is intimately involved with human affairs. Concerning this, Wright (2002) says: “Simultaneously, and precisely because of the inner dynamic of just this Jewish tradition, Paul was announcing that Jesus was the true King of Israel and hence the true Lord of the world, at exactly the time in history, and over exactly the geographical spread, where the Roman emperor was being proclaimed, in what styled itself a “gospel,” and in very similar terms (p.5).”
Paul was not only declaring a different gospel, but the communities Paul was starting were living out this new gospel as well. In an empire filled with hierarchy and extreme social stratification, Paul says in Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ.” Cahill claims that this is the first time in recorded history where egalitarian ideals are spoken of (Cahill, 1999). Paul is saying that, according to Christ’s gospel, everyone is equally valued.
Christ’s gospel also transcended economic stratification that was pervasive in Caesar’s Empire. In Acts chapter four, those in the early church sold their possessions so that no one among them was in need. Imagine living in a world where you believe Caesar brings peace and economic security, and coming upon communities claiming that Jesus is Lord and Savior. And under this Jesus, everyone is equal, generous and meets each other’s needs. In a world where religion, economics, and politics were one, this was how the first Christians interacted with their government, Caesar and his empire.
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