Jesus Started In the Quiet, the Obscure, and the Ordinary
“The world is stubbornly resistant to the way of Jesus.”
Eugene Peterson
Jesus’ beginning was hardly a consultant’s dream. John 1:4 (TLB) says, “Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind.” He slipped into his public ministry in small villages, taking advantage of the centrality of the synagogue to Jewish life. He had taken the title Rabbi, only possible because of his famous cousin John the Baptizer. John was Israel’s first legitimate and famous prophet in three hundred years. His disciples followed him as he wandered in the wilderness dressed in a strange costume eating exotic food. He promoted Jesus and he used his fame and power to put Jesus in the public eye and declare him the one to watch.
Jesus then began to travel from city to city, village to village, in the northern part of Galilee. Jesus didn’t begin in Jerusalem around the Temple, for that was to invite the immediate wrath of the religious power structure. Agents would call this an “Off Broadway, or soft opening, working the small venues first before going big time. The important difference, of course, is that the big time meant an early death. Jesus went to local synagogues where there were open doors and where his status as Rabbi would give him an opportunity to speak. This led to something, because you can’t keep quiet something so relevant and meaningful as Jesus’ teaching and works.
“Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed- he healed them all. Large crowds followed him wherever he went- people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River.”
- Matthew 4:23-25 NLT
If future interactions of Jesus and his Father are an indication of their relationship, I conclude that he received this counterintuitive strategy from conversation with his Father. So, what does it mean and what does it prove? It means that when God connects with the human being at the point of their need, they tell others about it. Then others will travel and will overcome obstacles to learn, to touch, and to experience his presence. It proves that humans were made for God and nothing will stop them from seeking him.
There is a cryptic passage in the gospels about the Kingdom of God being available to all and how it comes crashing into their lives bypassing all conventional customs and traditions.
“I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John The Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is! And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it.”
- Matthew 11:11,12 NLT
Jesus is telling us that customs, traditions, the Law and the Prophets, and the religious establishment in Jerusalem have controlled access to God and his Kingdom for the Jewish people. But those days are over, in me you have met God. All bets are off, the Kingdom is forcefully advancing through the preaching, the healings, and the works of power and people are traveling far and wide to get direct access. Now, in the Kingdom of God, the least of persons is like the greatest person, John the Baptist. And no power structure can keep you from it; it is here, I’m here! This is what threatened the religious powers - Jesus demonstrated this without a national campaign or a grand entrance into Jerusalem. Violent people, those threatened, will attack it and attempt to destroy the real thing in order to protect their dominion. This all demonstrates that Jesus went directly to the people, not the ruling or governing class, but the working class. He traveled the back roads of culture, he was off the radar, until he wasn’t.
The vision and the plan are not to be understood in the formal sense in which these words are used in present conversation. Vision to many is a technical term that contains a raison d’etre, or why statement with a measurable goal for a set time frame. For example, we want to open 100 new stores in five western states in the next ten years. The vision in this case is taking the Kingdom of God to the people. His plan was to start small and think big. To begin with the synagogues, not the Temple. To go to the villages, not to the religious authorities. To be declared Messiah on the banks of the Jordan River by his cousin, John the Baptist. To do it all outside the system and let it prove itself and create its own marketing and momentum.
This seems very attractive because it validates the small and the less grand, therefore reducing the pressure to produce. But if you are thoughtful with a bit of skepticism in your soul, you may see some problems with this strategy. This worked for Jesus, but not for most! In fact, if Jesus would have been average as a teacher, and basically void of demonstrative miracles, he would have been forgotten. His ministry would not have been a danger to the establishment, the Pharisees would have ignored him, his disciples would not have followed him, he would not have been arrested, or crucified. In fact, he would have returned home to a conventional life or possibly as a poor replacement for his cousin, John the Baptizer.
If you protested this part of the application, I am with you. Most of us have ministries that are ordinary. As ordinary as the small and struggling communities in which we live, work, and play. This is where we must admit that around 5% of Christian leaders are going to garner a large following. At least a large following based on the same level and ubiquity of miracles as with Jesus, or even possibly some televangelists. There are some well-meaning teachers who claim a couple of problematic things. The first is not by necessity connected to the second.
The first is that if we only had the faith of Jesus or extraordinary leaders throughout church history, we too could have a large following. This, of course, doesn’t match the reality of life or the clear teaching of Scripture. Paul taught quite plainly that spiritual gifts and roles vary and that we actually are not the decision makers as to whom gets what gift or calling. [1] More on this next time.
[1] 1 Corinthians 12, the entire chapter on the body of Christ and the role of spiritual gifts, add to this Ephesians 4:11-16.
