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Walking with Jesus, Part 4, An Unlikely Hero
May 20th, 2012
I’d like to continue our series this morning called Walking with Jesus, where we’re focusing on specific aspects of who Jesus is…
-that havenot only changed the world but that are meant to truly impact our lives as well.
-Today we're going to look at a part of who Jesus was and is thatliterally changed the kind of person our world admires.
A Georgetown professor named Francis Ambrosia talks about two different paradigms for living a meaningful life through Western History.
-One is the way of the hero;while the other is the way of the saint. Let me explain what he means.
-You see, in the ancient Greco-Roman world into which Jesus was born, what was admired was the hero.
-And, the idea of a hero is somebody who overcame obstacles to achieve his full potential of excellence, and, as a result, would typicallyreceive honor,recognition, and mostly,status!
And so, because that’s what they celebrated, they viewed all of life as kind of a contestor a competition. For them, this was the meaning of life.
-That's why for the Greeks, the Olympics was far more than just a game; In a very real way, it was like a religious ceremony,
-because they were a reflection of what makes for a good life: a striving against obstacles for excellence and status and honor.
The word for that kind of striving, that contest, was the Greek word agon. We get our word agonyfrom that.
-Some of you might remember the Wide World of Sports…"the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."
-So that led to the creation of a society where status, the pecking order, who's up high, who's down low was absolutely fundamental.
-Cicero wrote, "Rank must be preserved." In other words, in this society,your identity is based on where you stand in the pecking order.
And so, clearly, your goal ought to be to try to get as high up on the ladder as possible. At least don't let yourself slip down at all!
-And how you reflect your status to the world around you, then, takes on particular importance...
-In fact, it’s expressed in many different ways.
-And so, what I’d like to doin the first part of this message is to consider how one’s status was most often expressed…
-Which will be important when we really begin to focus in on Jesus later on.
Well, it shouldn’t be any surprise that even back 2000 years ago, the clothes you worewere a reflection of your status.
-If you were free and not a slave, you could wear what was called a freedman's cap.
-That showed, "I'm not a slave," which was important because, as you can imagine, slaves were at the bottom of the societal ladder.
-If you were a citizen, than when you were a boy and you turned about 14 or 16, you could wear what was called the toga virilis.
-Isn't that a great phrase? Toga virilis. The toga of manhood.
If you were an equestrian (that's kind of a high-level aristocrat), not only could you wear a toga, which was a fine robe,
-but you were also allowed to put gold rings on your finger to mark your status as an equestrian.
-By the way, this is part of what's behind a warning in the New Testament. James is writing to the church, and he says,
-"Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes…"(James 2:2) The toga virilis.
So this is like a high-status guy. Everybody knows exactly what James is talking about.
-He says if that guy comes in there and you favor him (which by Roman law and custom you were supposed to do) over a poor man in shabby clothes, James says that's flat out wrong!
-See the church is going to mess with Rome.
-The church is going to do a number on the pecking order, and clothes are a big part of this.
If you were a senator in the senatorial class (like way, way high), you were able to wear a toga and a gold ring and you got to have a big purple stripe on your toga robe.
-Wouldn't that be cool to have a purple stripe? Isn't it crazy that people's clothes were an expression of status?
-Isn't that a goofy way to live? The Romans thought they were so smart. Unbelievable.
But it wasn’t just one’s clothing that reflected their status and worth… but their occupationsas well.
-In fact, one’s status was typically ordered around rank.
-The most honorable was to own vast tracks of land and have slaves that work on it.
-And why? Because the more people who worked for you and the more leisure time you had…
-And the more leisure time you had, the higher up on the pecking order you must be.
The elite would never, whatever they do, do manual labor. They would never work with their hands.
-They would actually look down on anybody who did. They would compete with each other for honor.
-They wouldn't vie with somebody who did manual labor for honor because that guy was way too low.
-Cicero wrote, "Vulgar are the means of livelihood of all hired workmen whom we pay for mere manual labor."
-So your occupation is about your status.
Your legal standing in societyalso reflected your social status. A judicial decree in 2nd century Rome, for example,
-said that there was one law for the more honorable (those with honor, those with status),another law for the more humble.
-In other words, it wasn’t a good thing to be one of the humble!
-For example, a Roman citizen could never be crucified. They could be punished in other ways; but they couldn't be crucified.
Crucifixion was reserved for non-citizens, particularly for slaves who were the guys down at the bottom of the pecking order.
-By the way, the apostle Paul, a follower of Jesus, writes to a church in Rome one time, and he starts his letter by
-describing himself not as “Paul, a citizen of the Rome empire” (which he was), not as “Paul, a wearer of the toga,”
-but, "Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus." You see, culturally speaking, this is social suicide. Nobody talked that way.
Paul writes later on to the church at Corinth, "we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles." (1 Cor 1:23ff)
-Now he's not just pickingwords out of the air; he's being surgically precise here.
-The Old Testament says that, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,"so the Jews thought someone who was crucified was cursed by God.
-So “Christ crucified”is a stumbling block to the Jews.
To the Greeks, to the Romans, it's all about honor. It's all about status. It's all about the pecking order.
-A slave who was crucified is as low as you can go. To have a group of people who say,
-"We admire, we venerate, and we serve a crucified slave named Jesus. We consider ourselves slaves to a slave," that's crazy!
-And yet, Paul knows exactly what he's saying.
Seating at public events reinforced status. At theaters, seats were arranged not as we do by how much your ticket cost, but by rank.
-The higher rank you were, the closer you got to sit to the stage and so on.
-Everybody knew from where you sat where you stood on the pecking order.
-Even at a private party, all guests would be seated in order of their status, where they were on the pecking order.
Hosts would sometimes invite guests of inferior rank just to highlight their own social status, to elevate themselves.
-If you were a guest of inferior rank, you would actually be served inferior food at the banquet to reinforce your inferiority.
-You would even be given cheaper wine in cheaper cups, and everybody knew about this. It’s just the way things worked.
-If you're a low status, you're not allowed to speak at a party until everybody of higher status has spoken.
-If you're low status, you don't get to interrupt somebody of high status. If you're high status, you get to interrupt low status people anytime you want to. Again, just the way things worked!
Even the giving of gifts reinforced status. Rich people might build public baths or parks or buildings.
-Their names would go on them, and, not unlike today, it was done to display their own status.
-In fact, gifts were never free in the ancient world.
-A wealthy person might offer a gift as a sign of, "I got wealth; I got status," but there was a string attached.
There was a reciprocal dynamic that was invoked when a gift was given, where the receiver was expected to reciprocate.
-In fact, sometimes, just to show off, a rich guy might deliberately ruin a less rich guy he did not like…
-by inviting him to a banquet and then giving him a gift that was so expensive that the less rich guy would go bankrupt trying to reciprocate!
Plutarch, an ancient Roman writer, wrote, "Most people think that to be deprived of a chance to display their wealth is to be deprived of wealth itself."
-So they would look for expensive stuff to buy, clothes with expensive labels, chariots that were really expensive, just to let everybody know, "I'm a rich guy. I can afford it."
-Isn't that a goofy culture? Can you imagine one time people actually lived that way?
Titles were a big deal. In fact, they would generate honorary titles for themselves because life was all about receiving honor.
-It was about winning glory, which came from your status.
-Let me read an ancient document that had been displayed at one time all over Rome.
-It's called The Deeds of Divine Augustus (emperor Caesar Augustus), written by… you got it…Emperor Augustus!
"Three times I triumphed adoration. Twenty-one times I was named emperor. The Senate voted yet more triumphs for me, which I declined because of victories won by me. The Senate voted thanks to the immortal gods. Fifty-five times in my triumphs, nine kings or children of kings were led before my chariot. I have been counseled 13 times. I was highest-ranking senator for 40 years. I held the office of Pontific Maximums. All citizens with one accord unceasingly prayed in every holy place for my wellbeing."
Well good for you! Good to be Emperor!The crazy thing, though, is that this kind of self-praise wasn't considered embarrassing.
-Plutarch actually wrote a book called How to Praise Yourself Inoffensively.
-Wouldn't that be a bestseller in our day? Who wouldn't want to buy that book?
-Now “the way of the hero”may reflect a number of wonderful qualities: courage and excellence and persistence, overcoming obstacles,self-discipline, and self-mastery.
But they weren't so big on humility! Humility was not an admired quality. It was not considered desirable.What was desirable was greatness.
-In fact, historian, Robin Fox, wrote, "Among pagan authors, humility had almost never been a term of commendation.
-It belonged with ignoble and abject characters, modest little men with much to be modest about. Men, great men, should cherish no humble thoughts about their nature."
That's kind of how they thought about humility in that day.You see, life in the ancient world was about greatness. And yet…
-There is a carpenter in a humble little country called Israel who's going to play by an entirely different set of rules.
-He said to His friends one day, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord over themand their high officials exercised [or you could say flaunt] authority over them."
Of course they did.That's what the world was about. It's all about climbing up on the pecking order.
-No Roman would have been offended by what Jesus said. It's like they wouldn't have taken that as something derogatory.
-They would say, "Yeah, of course. That's us. Man that's our system. That's how we pursue greatness and excellence."
-The whole point of making it to the top of the pecking order is that you get to peck those below you.
-But… "Not so with you,"Jesus said, not so with you!
"Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave…"
"…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."
He's saying, "Now there is this way over here, but I'm making a new community with a newway,
-and so, in the kingdom of God, there'll be the way of the saint."
-You see, asaint doesn't try to grab worth through an endless race of achievement, but just receives worth by grace.
-A saint does not choose as an ultimate value self-fulfillment, but self-giving love.
A saint doesn’t seek glory, but gives glory to a glorious God. A saint doesn’t impose her will on an impersonal world;
-but surrenders her will to a loving, good God
-You see,a saint like Abraham would never have been a hero in Greece or Rome. But in a place called Israel…
-he becomes a model for a new way of life, a life lived in covenant relationshipwith a good and loving God.
In Jesus, this other way, this way of one called loved by God, thisway of humility & servanthood,
-wouldstand in stark contrast to the pecking-order world around Him. Jesus’ whole life is about this.
-It started with the doctrine of the incarnation, God becoming human, so that He could bare the sins of the ones He created on His own back in order to die and be resurrected and restore us back to Himself.
-On His last night, nearing the final moments ofHis life, He is so concerned His followers get this that He models it in a way no one could have imagined…
“Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.4So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist,5and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.John 13:3-5
What He's saying to them is, "You might not fully get it now, but you will. You will soon understand what it really means to live.
-You’ll understand what a hero is really looks like in the kingdom of God.
-Now you’ll see the heart of the Heavenly Father on display."
-In fact, I think they began seeing everything differently from that moment on…
That what made Jesus so different from the heroes of the Roman world wasn’t a weakness, but a sign of greatness & strength.
-What about His clothes?When Jesus was born, the angels come to the shepherds and they say, in Luke 2:12…
-"This shall be a sign unto you: you shall find thebabe wrapped in swaddling clothes."
-You don't get swaddling clothes at Neiman Marcus. They're the rags a peasant would wrap her baby in.
That Jesus comes into the world in swaddling clothes… It’s no mistake. In fact,"That will be a sign to you!"
-He came into the world born of impoverished parents in a filthy animal stable…
-And the night before His death, He takes off His outer garment… and wraps a towel around Himself.
-It's what a slave did. Who is this guy? What kind of hero is this?
What about His occupation? Jesus worked most of His life with His hands, did menial labor as a carpenter.
-No hero in Greek or Roman literature did this. But Jesus was a different kind of hero.
-Now, you know that washing feet is a really important part of ancient life. It was a really important act of hospitality.
-And yet, it was a thoroughly demeaning job. And so, as you can imagine, it was always done by slaves.
In fact, even in Israel, it was considered so demeaning that a Jewish slave could not be forced to wash anybody else's feet.
-There is a first century story in Israel of a couple named Joseph and Aseneth.
-Aseneth is the bride, and she is so in love with her husband that he comes home and she actually goes to wash her husband's feet. He's stunned by this.
He says, "No, no, no. Don't do that. Get up. A servant will do that." She says to him, "No. You are my lord from now on. Your feet are my feet.
-Your hands are my hands. Another woman will never wash your feet." Isn't that a beautiful story?
-Joyce wouldn’t think so either because here’s what you never read: You never read about any husbands washing their wives' feet. It simply wasn’t done.
There’s another really extraordinary story about some disciples. They loved their rabbi so much they try to wash their rabbi's feet.
-You never read of a higher status person washing the feet of a lower status person.
-You never read of a rabbi washing his disciples' feet. Well, in all of history, there is One… this rabbi, who by the way, is the Messiah;