Okay, here we go!
The situation in basically year 0, if we are using BCE (Before the Current Era) and CE (Current Era) to count, is one of Roman occupation in the geographical location of what we call Israel, then commonly referred to as Judea.
Sidebar for a moment: if you look at a map, you can see that relatively small strip of land and understand the constant warring over it was in part because it was the trade route between Egypt to the south and Syria to the north, not to mention all that lovely coastline along the Mediterranean, teeming with fish.
The Roman caesars ruled their empire1 with a brutal hand and levied heavy taxes on the people. (It took a lot of money to build all those roads and wage all those wars.) Also, the caesars were touted as actual divinity deserving of honor and worship, so you can imagine the clash that set up for followers of the One True God.
If I were a Bible scholar, I could give you a clearer picture of the sociopolitical situation at the time, but I’m not, so I can’t. What I can say is, there was clearly an undercurrent of anticipation and hope, as there always had been when the people of Yahweh Elohim were occupied by a foreign power or exiled into foreign lands. They held on to the age-old promises of a king or powerful leader who would come along and save them and restore the people of God back to something like the Golden Era of King David, when they were a power that no foreigners could kick around and they could freely live and worship as they chose. There had been no prophets for 400 years, but, hey, God promised one would be coming who would announce the news of the impending arrival of the long-awaited real leader, the king, the savior who would restore their great nation.
At the time there were plenty of itinerant preachers making the rounds, and there were those who claimed to be prophets bringing a “Thus says the LORD” announcement directly from God.
There was also an undercurrent of resistance to Roman rule and a sort of organized underground (and not so underground) group of Zealots who were damned if they were going to take oppressive Roman occupation lying down. Skirmishes and uprisings were not uncommon.
And…there was also a kind of peace (the Pax Romana) that at least provided stability, and, for not just a few, prosperity, and so a lot of Jews had adapted to the environment and were maybe even making a pretty tidy living in a government job (like tax-collecting).
Much like faith traditions everywhere, there were groups that differed in their approach to, theology about, and practice of their faith. The Sadducees were mainly high priests, wealthy merchants, and well-to-do families of note. They tended to have favorable relations with the Roman rulers and were not above compromise to keep the peace; at the same time, they adhered to conservative interpretation of Jewish law.
The Pharisees were laymen and scholars and came to strong disagreements with the Sadducees over interpreting and applying laws in the Torah. Pharisees tended to take into consideration context and the spirit of the law and sought to democratize worship practices.
The Essenes lived ascetic lives apart from society and adhered to simple lifestyles of manual labor and deep piety. They held all property in common.
Okay, so we are going to try to take a look through eyes that aren’t using the filter of Christianity or Jesus or anything you might have been taught. A challenge, I know, but stay with me here and see if anything lands anew.
Remember that the Bible as we currently have it (both the Old Testament2 which unfolded over centuries, and the New Testament, written during of period of less than 100 years) is a compilation of a whole lot of different myths, legends, poems, stories, and recorded history from many different sources, put together, as one would an anthology or other collection, with an overarching theme.3
The New Testament is a collection from different authors and varying time periods with material written to different audiences for different purposes. In the NT we have the four gospels that appear in this order: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. After the gospels come Acts (the Acts of the Apostles), then a series of letters, mostly Pauline, from which we can glean a sort of history of the early movement (The Way) that would later evolve into Christianity, and ending with a letter rife with apocalyptic visions.
Likely dating of the Gospels is as follows: Mark, written down around 60 CE, Matthew and Luke around 80 CE, John around 90 CE. (Paul’s letter to the Romans predated Mark’s gospel by five years or so.)
Most scholars accept we have no direct eyewitness accounts of Jesus. No one was following him around, writing down everything he did and said. You could read any of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) like “as told to” accounts. That doesn’t necessarily mean the stories aren’t factual. It just means they’ve been through some telling, passed along as important enough to remember and urgent enough to share.
Maybe think of this kind of comparison. Woodstock took place in 1969. You’re sort of a music fan, but you didn’t go. You’ve heard some stories, but 26 years later, in 1995, you sit down to read a just-published article in Rolling Stone featuring interviews with attendees who shared what they recalled about the historic event. Twenty-six years isn’t all that long ago, so you’ll get some stuff that’s burned into their memories and is crystal-clear, and then you’ll get some maybe revised memory, as folks draw on fragments of the event to pull some stories together. Maybe someone made journal notes later. Or the tales have been shared enough that they’ve almost been codified.
I’m not comparing the coming of Jesus with an epic history-making (and some say notorious) rock concert. What I am saying is, in retrospect through the lens of Christianity, the Christ story is considered the most important event in all of history, but at the time of his ministry Jesus was likely viewed by many as just another preacher and teacher. Stories of miracle-working in antiquity were not unheard of. It was common for popular preachers and teachers to have followers — disciples who adopted the teacher’s school of thought and philosophy and traveled with him.
But beyond the relatively small circle of followers, the rest of the world wasn’t aware of Jesus’s short ministry at all. In fact, outside of the New Testament, the only evidence that Jesus ever lived at all comes from a Jewish historian named Josephus who in a book written around 94 CE makes brief mention of "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James" and refers to Jesus’s crucifixion as well as the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist.
Still, all things considered, for Paul to write to the “church” in Rome just 26 years after the crucifixion/resurrection event seems pretty fresh. Heck, I can still recall the surprising perfume of pine trees coming in through my apartment window right after I moved to North Carolina, which was in April of 2000.
Okay, I think that sets the stage for us a bit. Next time we’ll loop back and begin to approach the unfolding story chronologically.
We’re beginning to pull on some threads that eventually will bring the whole tapestry together.
We will talk about the strong Greek influence on the culture next time, but by now the former world power, Greece, had been conquered by the Roman Empire.
You wouldn’t be off base to replace “testament” with “covenant.” Remember that “covenant” is relationship-based love language. Contract is legal language.
The creation love story; the big breakup; tragedy ensues; a promise of reconciliation and restoration.
Juicy gathering of strands! I can’t wait to read what’s next!
I was in Greece last year near where Paul reportedly preached. That really made an impression on me. It's hard to put into words why.