{"id":711,"date":"2019-07-17T10:00:49","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T14:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/?p=711"},"modified":"2019-07-17T20:53:12","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T00:53:12","slug":"staying-awake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/","title":{"rendered":"Staying Awake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Welcome readers! Please subscribe through the buttons at the right if you enjoy this post.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"gray
Photo by Cole Patrick on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In both Matthew\u2019s and Luke\u2019s gospels we read:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:<\/p>\n

\u2018We played the pipe for you,<\/p>\n

and you did not dance;<\/p>\n

we sang a dirge,<\/p>\n

and you did not mourn.\u2019<\/p>\n

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, \u2018He has a demon.\u2019 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, \u2018Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.\u2019 But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.\u201d (Matthew 11:16-19, cf Luke 7.31-35)<\/p>\n

One of the key images in the saying we are looking at is \u201cthe market-place.\u201d In Ancient Greece, the agora, a \u201cgathering place\u201d or assembly, \u201d was the center for city politics, sport, religion, and art.<\/p>\n

Easton\u2019s Dictionary tells us further that the agora was \u201cany place of public resort, and hence a public place or broad street (Matt. 11:16; 20:3), as well as a forum or market-place proper, where goods were exposed for sale, and where public assemblies and trials were held (Acts 16:19; 17:17). This word occurs in the Hebrew scriptures only in Ezekiel 27:13. In early times markets were held at the gates of cities, where commodities were exposed for sale (2 Kings 7:18). In large towns the sale of particular articles seems to have been confined to certain streets, as we may infer from such expressions as \u2018the bakers\u2019 street\u2019 (Jer. 37:21), and from the circumstance that in the time of Josephus the valley between Mounts Zion and Moriah was called the Tyropoeon or the \u2018valley of the cheesemakers.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

So in 1st Century Jewish culture, the agora or marketplace was where social and economic life happened. When Jesus refers to the marketplace, he is describing an economic or civic gathering.<\/p>\n

This Generation<\/b><\/h2>\n

I hear some frustration in this passage. Both John the Baptist and Jesus had cast before the imaginations of their generation a vision of a society that was very different than the society they lived in. They weren\u2019t simply waiting for Rome to collapse before reorganizing; they were working toward a new social order, which Jesus followers referred to as the \u201cEmpire\u201d of God.<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s order, people took responsibility for taking care of people. This was a new social structure subversively seated in the shell of the old Imperial order. This order primarily focused on the local scene rather than the entire Empire and offered a new day for local laborers (see Mathew\u2019s parable in Matthew 20.1-16).<\/p>\n

Their vision involved resource sharing, food distribution, wealth redistribution, and care for the sick. It was a society centered in solidarity, interconnectedness, and interdependence. The point I want you to focus on most is that God\u2019s \u201cempire\u201d was not a future state waiting for Rome to fall or Jerusalem to be liberated. It had begun already<\/i>, while the current power structure existed, to help the very people being exploited. It presented people caring for people in place of hierarchical institutions. It showed people a means, a way, to take care of each other.<\/p>\n

And yet, neither John, nor Jesus, nor their followers could awaken the larger portions of their lethargic society who seemed to be waiting for something big. They were piping and singing and yet the largest sectors of their society would not dance, and they would not cry in response to the children\u2019s wailing. (I think of children who are presently in cages along the U.S. southern border.) They were asleep. Passive. Complicit. Remember, this was a time when Jesus\u2019 followers and John\u2019s followers were, although sizable, still a minority within their larger Jewish communities. We\u2019ll explore further in next week\u2019s saying why Jesus\u2019 group of followers remained smaller.<\/p>\n

The Asceticism of John<\/b><\/h2>\n

Asceticism is a lifestyle of abstinence, temperance, and withdrawal. An ascetic person doesn\u2019t participate in luxury or simple pleasures. Luke seems to hint that John\u2019s asceticism was rebellion against the Priestly aristocracy to which his father belonged.<\/p>\n

John chose a version of Judaism that rejected economic exploitation of the poor in the name of YHWH. And yet he was accused by the religiously wealthy and elite of having \u201ca demon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus the Socialite<\/b><\/h2>\n

Jesus, on the other hand, did not choose the wilderness of the countryside. He chose the larger city metropolises of Galilee. He blessed the poor and pronounced judgment on the rich. (Luke 6:20, 24). Luke portrays Jesus proclaiming thirteen woes (or curses) on that group. Some scholars attribute the origin of the woe oracle to the cultic practices of curses (see Deuteronomy 27:15-26).\u00a0 The book in the Hebrew scriptures that holds the record for \u201cwoes\u201d is Ezekiel and it only includes six.<\/p>\n

As we considered in Liking Jesus, But Not Christianity<\/i><\/a>, the wealthy tax collectors responded to John and to Jesus and Jesus embraced and welcomed them. Jesus includes a tax collector among his disciples and after Zacchaeus repents of stealing and promises to redistribute his wealth, Jesus says, \u201cToday salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham\u201d (Luke 19:9).<\/p>\n

Those like Zacchaeus, whom the religious wealthy labeled as \u201csinners,\u201d shared the same economic class with them. The religiously wealthy and the tax collectors differences were in their feelings toward Hellenism and its influence in Judaism, but economically, they were very much the same. The well-to-do more fundamentalist rich regarded themselves as morally superior to those who were listening and responding to John and Jesus. They gathered around Jesus and he shared bread and wine with them. Yet his only reward was that those who saw themselves as superior to that crowd viewed him as a glutton, a drunk, and a chum of tax collectors and sinners. This couldn\u2019t have been said about John. But it was said about Jesus.<\/p>\n

Asleep<\/b><\/h2>\n

A meme came across one of my news feeds last week that I think summed up the scenario nicely. It stated, \u201c1% control the world. 4% are sellout puppets. 90% are asleep. 5% know and are trying to wake up the 90%. The 1% doesn\u2019t want the 5% waking up the 90%.\u201d If we were to view 1st Century Galilee through the lens of those categories, Jesus would certainly have been a part of the 5% calling for nonviolent resistance to Roman and Jewish oppression of the poor, and for a just distribution of food and resources. Our passages above teach us that the religious authorities refused to respond positively to John and Jesus, and instead undermined their influence in order to keep the \u201c90%\u201d asleep.<\/p>\n

Sophia\u2019s Children<\/b><\/h2>\n

Just as a tree is known by its fruit, Luke\u2019s version of this passage ends with, \u201cWisdom is vindicated by her children.\u201d I love the feminine imagery used for wisdom in this.<\/p>\n

In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures), the Greek word for wisdom in Proverbs 8 is \u201cSophia.\u201d Feminine imagery for wisdom has an intriguing history in Hellenistic Judaism. Philo of Alexandria was a philosopher and a contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth who lived from 25 BCE to 50 CE. As a Hellenistic Jew, Philo attempted to harmonize Platonic philosophy with Judaism. He used the Greek word logos to represent Sophia (or wisdom), and in the gospel of John, this became the word used to describe Divine Wisdom and the mysterious form of a pre-existent Christ. Sophia has a long history with feminine imagery for the Divine and affirms that women bear the image of God just as much as men.<\/p>\n

I like the fact that Luke\u2019s gospel community preserved this scene with Jesus stating that his teachings were an expression of the way of Sophia. Within a 1st or 2nd Century context, this would have subtly subverted social patriarchy.<\/p>\n

Today<\/b><\/h2>\n

I am overwhelmed by two thoughts as I\u2019m writing this, especially in the context of what is presently taking place in the U.S. regarding immigration. First, how deeply asleep those who are comfortable in our society are today: people don\u2019t seem to really desire justice as much as they desire comfort, and as long as they are comfortable, they will trade almost anything, even if grave human rights violations are taking place on their southern border and in larger cities around the nation. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, how awake those are who are deeply discomforted by the present atrocities. In the gospels, they would have been referred to as the \u201cpoor,\u201d the \u201chungry,\u201d the \u201cmourning.\u201d Howard Thurman referred to them as the \u201cdisinherited.\u201d They are the oppressed, marginalized, and subjugated. They live with urgency about justice, out of necessity, that those who are comfortable in privileged positions fail to understand. And when any attempt at waking up society is made, a multitude of methods (shame, status quo explanation and apologetics, social exclusion, and coercion) tell people to simply roll over and go back to sleep. In the above passage, we are considering is Jesus\u2019s call to WAKE UP!<\/p>\n

Wake up to the call of living compassionate, involved lives with those presently suffering from injustice, violence, and oppression. Wake up and \u201cput your hand to the plow\u201d alongside those who are working for their own liberation. Wake up to the reality that we are not free till everyone is free. Wake up, and, in the words of this week\u2019s saying, \u201cdance\u201d with those rejoicing in hard-won victories, \u201cmourn\u201d with those whose victories are yet future, and work, work hard, toward that day imagined in Micah where \u201ceveryone\u201d will one day \u201csit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid\u201d (Micah 4:4).<\/p>\n

Let others call you a \u201cfriend\u201d of those labeled as outsiders in our time as tax-collectors and sinners were in the time of Jesus. Let them accuse you as they did John and Jesus of having a \u201cdemon,\u201d being a \u201cglutton,\u201d or being a \u201cdrunkard.\u201d These accusations are the status quo\u2019s efforts to keep you quiet, passive, compliant, and asleep. So keep speaking your truth into the darkness of injustice. And may it not be said of any of us: \u201cWe fluted for you, but you would not dance; we wailed, but you would not cry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome readers! Please subscribe through the buttons at the right if you enjoy this post. \u00a0 In both Matthew\u2019s and Luke\u2019s gospels we read:\u00a0 \u201cTo what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: \u2018We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,7],"tags":[1032,1035,1038,1041,1044,624,855,1047,1050,1062,1053,1056,882,1068,678,1065,176,16,323,1059,903,58,849,194],"class_list":["post-711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-immigration-justice","category-social-gospel","tag-99-percent","tag-active","tag-asceticism","tag-asleep","tag-awake","tag-change","tag-children","tag-complicit","tag-demon","tag-detention-centers","tag-drunkard","tag-economic-justice","tag-exploitation","tag-families","tag-immigration","tag-immigration-reform","tag-jesus","tag-liberation","tag-mutual-aid","tag-passive","tag-resource-sharing","tag-social-justice","tag-southern-border","tag-wealth-redistribution"],"yoast_head":"\nStaying awake to injustice is a first step to doing something to change it.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"These accusations are the status quo\u2019s efforts to keep you quiet, passive, compliant, and asleep. So keep speaking your truth into the darkness of injustice.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Staying awake to injustice is a first step to doing something to change it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"These accusations are the status quo\u2019s efforts to keep you quiet, passive, compliant, and asleep. So keep speaking your truth into the darkness of injustice.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Jesus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HerbMontgomeryofRHM\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-17T14:00:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-18T00:53:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1222\/2019\/07\/SJSA.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Herb Montgomery\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HerbMontgomery\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Herb Montgomery\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/\",\"name\":\"Staying awake to injustice is a first step to doing something to change it.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-17T14:00:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-18T00:53:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/#\/schema\/person\/26e337fc68cc87d32a2927e9e42faca4\"},\"description\":\"These accusations are the status quo\u2019s efforts to keep you quiet, passive, compliant, and asleep. So keep speaking your truth into the darkness of injustice.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Staying Awake\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/\",\"name\":\"Social Jesus\",\"description\":\"What a first-century, Jewish prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of making our society a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/#\/schema\/person\/26e337fc68cc87d32a2927e9e42faca4\",\"name\":\"Herb Montgomery\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b010cbc5f6c9ea988c104f693dcc9ef?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b010cbc5f6c9ea988c104f693dcc9ef?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Herb Montgomery\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.renewedheartministries.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HerbMontgomeryofRHM\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HerbMontgomery\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/author\/hmontgomery\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Staying awake to injustice is a first step to doing something to change it.","description":"These accusations are the status quo\u2019s efforts to keep you quiet, passive, compliant, and asleep. So keep speaking your truth into the darkness of injustice.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Staying awake to injustice is a first step to doing something to change it.","og_description":"These accusations are the status quo\u2019s efforts to keep you quiet, passive, compliant, and asleep. So keep speaking your truth into the darkness of injustice.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/","og_site_name":"Social Jesus","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HerbMontgomeryofRHM\/","article_published_time":"2019-07-17T14:00:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-07-18T00:53:12+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1222\/2019\/07\/SJSA.png"}],"author":"Herb Montgomery","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@HerbMontgomery","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Herb Montgomery","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/","name":"Staying awake to injustice is a first step to doing something to change it.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-07-17T14:00:49+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-18T00:53:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/#\/schema\/person\/26e337fc68cc87d32a2927e9e42faca4"},"description":"These accusations are the status quo\u2019s efforts to keep you quiet, passive, compliant, and asleep. So keep speaking your truth into the darkness of injustice.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2019\/07\/staying-awake\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Staying Awake"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/","name":"Social Jesus","description":"What a first-century, Jewish prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of making our society a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/#\/schema\/person\/26e337fc68cc87d32a2927e9e42faca4","name":"Herb Montgomery","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b010cbc5f6c9ea988c104f693dcc9ef?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b010cbc5f6c9ea988c104f693dcc9ef?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Herb Montgomery"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.renewedheartministries.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HerbMontgomeryofRHM\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/HerbMontgomery"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/author\/hmontgomery\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}