Much has been made, and even more written, about the “Historical Jesus.” What would be good to know is whether the historical Jesus is the real Jesus. (Point of clarification: If you’re irreverently religious like I am, you probably know lots of Jesus and church jokes, comprising the oevre of the “Hysterical Jesus.” Jesus did lots of stand up, but the gospel writers didn’t dwell heavily on his humor.)
Just what does it mean to claim we know something about the historical Jesus? One thing historians constantly teach is that our understanding of history is nowhere near the same as an understanding of time in the 1st century. Thatap where the hopefully humorous title of this piece comes from. Our bro Jesus had no Go-Pro attached to his halo. He did not brag about the 10,000 steps from Bethany to Jerusalem on his Fitbit. Today, we’re not really sure something has really happened unless itap captured by somebody on film. What we see is what is real; philosophically, we are an age of phenomenologists. We’ll take some things on authority — say, the existence of Australia, if we’ve never been there. But most of what might make up our interior, spiritual life, we have to experience for ourselves.
“The Modern Phase of the Search of the Historical Jesus” began with a book by that name written by Albert Schweitzer — yes, the Albert Schweitzer — in 1906. He wrote it as biblical-historical criticism the year before he studied for his medical degree. Later he would become a great humanitarian for his healing work in Africa. Caution: studying the historical Jesus may turn you into a Christian who does heroic work. Or not. It depends on whether you decide to imitate Jesus or just learn about him.
Schweitzer’s book examined the various versions of Jesus at the end of the 19th century. Jesus seemed to change character and charisms according to the personal inclinations of his biographers. Schweitzer proposed that we need to attend more to the personal convictions of Jesus — in other words, get back before the layers of interpretation and theology from eons of writer and preachers, and discover again what Jesus actually said and did. So that, he hoped, we would imitate Jesus. Follow him!
In the 20th century a scholarly, skillful parade of thinkers and writers tried to peel back the veil of history and uncover the historical Jesus. For many, that meant trying to discover what the life of a typical Jewish man in first century Palestine was like. That included a social, economic, political, cultural and religious worldview. Once they figured that out, what did Jesus accept of that, and what did he challenge?
Many of these scholars banded together into The Jesus Seminar, a group that tried to find scientific ways to determine what Jesus said and did. They did this by voting on how sure they felt that a Bible passage was close to Jesus’ way of preaching and living. Many folks have challenged, indeed, denied that this process worked. Nonetheless, the Seminar participants came up with their consensus. And then most of them went out and wrote their own books, with their own biases and beliefs, about the historical Jesus.
Besides the scriptures themselves, the detectives into the 1st century also use secular texts that mentioned Jesus or his early followers. They plumb Roman historians, sponsor and visit archeological digs that might reveal the social culture of that time, study the anthropology, empires and wars that shaped the place, and find parallels to what the scriptures claim. They also found disparities. I won’t pretend to have read even most of these works, but as an avid, appreciative reader of many, I’ll try to summarize what they say about the aspiring, perspiring, totally Jewish rabbi and apocalyptic prophet named Jesus.
John Dominic Crossan, a brilliant scholar, cogent writer and a leader of The Jesus Seminar, has written so many books, but the one most relevant is Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography. He says there are two significant recurring themes for understanding Jesus: free healing and open dining. No brokers or intermediaries are needed to be healed, and that includes the apostles. And anyone can dine with Jesus, all are welcome at the table of the Reign of God. His is a Kingdom of Nobodies: beggers, women, tax collectors (who collect for the Romans, not Israel), sinners, formerly possessed and blind, the outcast and lepers.
There are writers that try to embrace both the nuggets of knowledge and piles of scholarly conjecture of the historical Jesus crowd while trying to honor and hold on to what 2000 years of reflection and yes, dogma, have produced. James Carroll, a columnist for the Boston Globe, tries to differentiate but hold close both the historical Jesus and the Real Jesus Christ of faith.
Here is Carroll’s summary of what Jesus taught. “Respect for everyone he met. The preference of service over power. The rejection of violence…. Forgiveness as the response to the inevitability of failure. Suffering understood as part of life. Trust as the other side of anguish. A permanent thankfulness. Communion over loneliness. Death not as an end, but a beginning.” James Carroll, Christ Actually.
The point that stuck with me most is that itap not enough just to know a lot about the historical/real Jesus; Jesus expects us to follow him, that is, imitate him. Do the stuff he did; thus he continues alive in us. His Spirit lives in and through us. God acts within our own lives, through our offering an open table and an open, healing heart. His disciples were taught how to do this, and then sent out two by two to try it in the dusty villages of Judea. They were astounded to find they could do it, people understood and bought it, healing, dining, sharing. And this was well before Calvary and an Empty Tomb.
I sometimes fear that my own tombstone will read: “Spent way too much time on Jesus.” That would feel like an indictment that I wasted life here. But I think that it would be a waste only if I just spent time reading and studying about the guy. My life will be good if I actually try to live as he lived, teach what he saw, live with two ounces of the love, compassion and forgiveness he pulled off in his life here, in his time. I’d be satisfied for the tombstone read “Tried to Go Follow the Guy with the Halo.”