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<\/a>Reza Aslan begins of his book,\u00a0Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth<\/em>, with a prescient warning: \u201cScholars tend to see the Jesus they want to see. Too often they see\u00a0themselves<\/em>\u2014their own reflection\u2014in the image of Jesus they have constructed\u201d (xxxi).<\/p>\nI don\u2019t think Aslan had himself in mind when wrote that statement, but you should be warned: the Jesus in\u00a0Zealot<\/em>\u00a0is Aslan\u2019s own false construction.<\/p>\n His central thesis is that the Jesus of history, and the God Jesus believed in, demanded violence in the face of political and religious oppression. Here\u2019s one of the relevant passages:<\/p>\n [F]or those seeking the simple Jewish peasant and charismatic preacher who lived in Palestine two thousand years ago, there is nothing more important than this one undeniable truth: the same God whom the Bible calls a \u201cman of war\u201d(Exodus 15:3), the God who repeatedly command the wholesale slaughter of every foreign man, woman, and child who occupies the land of the Jews, the \u201cblood spattered God\u201d of Abraham, and Moses, and Jacob, and Joshua (Isaiah 63:3) the God who \u201cshatters the heads of his enemies,\u201d bids his warriors to bathe their feet in their blood and leave their corpses to be eaten by dogs (Psalm 68:21-23)\u2014that is the\u00a0<\/em>only\u00a0God that Jesus knew and the\u00a0<\/em>sole\u00a0God that he worshipped.\u00a0<\/em>(122, emphasis in the original.)<\/p>\n The problem that I have with this passage is indicative of the problem that I have with the way Aslan constructs his Jesus. He constantly picks and chooses which verses from the Bible he uses to support his claim that Jesus was a warrior messiah whose goal was to violently overthrow the Roman and religious establishment. He peels away all passages that conflict with his construction so that he can show us what Jesus was truly like.<\/p>\n Well, what Aslan thinks Jesus was truly like.<\/p>\n Now, I have no problem with picking and choosing certain verses over others. I admit, I do it all the time. In fact, the historical Jesus picked verses, too. I\u2019m convinced that followers of Jesus must pick and choose certain verses of the Bible over others, and that we need to learn how to pick and choose those verses\u00a0in the same way that Jesus did.<\/em><\/p>\n What Is the Greatest Commandment? And Who Is My Neighbor?<\/strong><\/p>\n As\u00a0Michael Hardin<\/a>\u00a0points out in his book\u00a0The Jesus Driven Life<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>(and if there is one book you should read about the historical Jesus this year, it is\u00a0The Jesus Driven Life)<\/em>\u00a0when Jesus gained popularity, some of his rivals tried to test him with a question about interpretation. \u201cTeacher,\u201d a lawyer asked, \u201cwhich commandment in the law is the greatest?\u201d This is a crucial moment in the life of Jesus, because, as Hardin states, \u201cAt stake in this conversation is how one interprets the Jewish Scriptures and how one lives out that interpretation\u201d (37). Aslan\u2019s Jesus would have responded as a man of war, \u201cShatter the heads of your political and religious enemies! Kill them! Set yourselves free from your oppressors!\u201d<\/p>\n To be honest, I would have loved for Jesus to have said that. Deep down, I want Aslan\u2019s violent God because I can control that God. I know that that God is for me and against my enemies. The problem is that Jesus didn\u2019t quote anything in the Scriptures about a violent God to describe the greatest commandment. Instead, he referred to love. \u201cYou shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind\u2026And a second is like it: \u2018You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019 On these two commandments hang the law and the prophets\u201d (Matthew 22:34-40). So, according to Jesus, the law and the prophets are there to guide us in loving our neighbors, who we know from Matthew chapter five include even our enemies: \u201cYou have heard that it was said, \u2018Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.\u2019 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.\u201d<\/p>\n Of curse, Aslan never quotes Jesus specifically saying, \u201cpray for those who persecute you\u201d because it doesn\u2019t fit with Aslan\u2019s construction of zealously violent Jesus.<\/p>\n Aslan explains away passage like \u201cLove your neighbor\/enemy\u201d by claiming that Jesus meant his Judean audience should only love their Judean neighbor. Oddly, he does refer to the story of the Good Samaritan to show that Jesus critiqued the religious authorities, but Jesus told this parable in response to the question, \u201cWho is my neighbor?\u201d The point, of course, is that the Samaritan is the one who proves to be the neighbor by showing love to the man in need. Here, Jesus is expanding his followers\u2019 understanding of neighbor. To many of his hearers, a Samaritan was a political and religious rival. In fact,\u00a0Josephus reported<\/a>\u00a0that Judeans and Samaritans had many violent confrontations throughout the first century. The story of the Good Samaritan was Jesus\u2019 narrative way of expanding our understanding of \u201cneighbor\u201d so that our love for neighbor embraces everyone, including our national enemies.<\/p>\n Zealous Like Elijah?<\/strong><\/p>\n According to Aslan, Jesus was zealous like the prophet Elijah. He says that Elijah was, \u201cA fearsome and uncompromising warrior for Yahweh\u2026[who] strove to root out the Canaanite god Baal among the Israelites\u201d (128-129). Famously, Elijah challenged 150 priests of Baal to a contest. Two altars with offerings were constructed. The priests of Baal would pray that Baal would consume their offering with fire and Elijah would pray the same to Yahweh. The priests of Ball fervently prayed day and night, but nothing happened. Then it was Elijah\u2019s turn. The first time he prayed to Yahweh a great ball of fire fell from heaven and consumed the offering and the altar. Then, in the ultimate act of \u201cMy God is bigger than your God!\u201d Elijah seized and slaughtered all 150 priests, because, as Aslan avers, \u201che was \u2018zealous\u2019 for the Lord God Almighty\u2019\u201d (129, quoting 1 Kings 19:10).<\/p>\n Connecting that story from Elijah to Jesus is fallacious. After all, the closest comparative story in the Gospels is found in Luke 9:51-56. When Jesus sent messengers to the Samaritans, the Samaritans refused to welcome them. When the disciples James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, \u201cLord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?\u201d The parallel to Elijah is obvious, made even more so by the fact that many ancient manuscripts end the question with, \u201cas Elijah did?\u201d (See\u00a0New Interpreter\u2019s Study Bible<\/em>, 1873.) The disciples, like Aslan, expected Jesus to be zealous\u00a0like Elijah was zealous<\/em>. But Jesus had the same response whenever his disciples desired violence. As Luke says, Jesus \u201cturned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.\u201d Again, Aslan never mentions this story, because it is a counter-narrative to the Elijah and Baal story, and it challenges any notion of a violent Jesus.<\/p>\n Those Who Live By the Sword Die By the\u2026Oh Right\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Aslan\u2019s retelling of the events at the Garden of Gethsemane is egregious beyond measure. He states that Jesus commanded his disciples to bring swords because he knew a fight would break out. After all, according to Aslan, \u201cJesus was no fool. He understood what every other claimant to the mantle of the messiah understood: God\u2019s sovereignty could not be established except through force\u201d (122). And so as Jesus was arrested in the garden, his disciples looked on, and, as Aslan recounts the story, \u201cOne of them draws his sword and a brief melee ensues in which a servant of the high priest is injured\u201d (146). The impression that Aslan provides is that Jesus wanted his disciple to respond with violence. Of course, he never quotes Jesus rebuking his errant disciple, \u201cPut your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword\u201d (26:52), nor does he quote Luke\u2019s version of Jesus\u2019 arrest, \u201cThen one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, \u2018No more of this!\u2019 And he touched his ear and healed him\u201d (22:50-51).<\/p>\n It turns out that Jesus was no fool. He knew that those who live by the sword die by the sword, that violence only breeds more violence, and that the best way to respond to violence is to say \u201cNo more of this!\u201d<\/p>\n Resurrected for Vengeance or Peace?<\/strong><\/p>\n As I continued to read\u00a0Zealot<\/em>, one question kept nagging me. Aslan frequently mentions that there were numerous failed messiah\u2019s during the first century, who all attempted a violent revolution against Rome. If Aslan is right in his assertion that Jesus was a failed violent revolutionary messiah just like the others, then why were his disciples the only ones who continued to believe in their Messiah\u2019s cause? Aslan answers this question by claiming the disciples were reinvigorated by the resurrection, because Jesus\u2019 \u201cresurrection confirmed his status as messiah\u201d (165).<\/p>\n The interesting thing about Aslan using the resurrection to support this claim is that he never references a resurrection story. Of course, that\u2019s because all the resurrection stories undermine his claim that Jesus was a violent revolutionary. Aslan\u2019s Jesus would be resurrected for the purpose of vengeance. But the resurrected Jesus has nothing to do with vengeance, but everything to do with peace. The resurrected Jesus speaks to Mary in a garden, enters a closed room full of the very disciples who abandoned him in his time of need, and talks with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He never says, \u201cOkay guys. This time I\u2019ve got some serious powers. It\u2019s time for vengeance!\u201d Rather, he says, \u201cPeace be with you.\u201d<\/p>\n And then Jesus sent his disciples, as he sends us, into the world to offer that peace to everyone. It\u2019s a peace that has nothing to do with violence, but everything to do with nonviolent love.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n [divide]<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n (For more on Aslan,\u00a0click here<\/a>\u00a0to read my colleague Suzanne Ross\u2019s reflection on his interview with Fox News.)<\/p>\n (Much of this article is influenced by Michael Hardin\u2019s book\u00a0The Jesus Driven Life: Reconnecting Humanity with Jesus<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0James Alison<\/a>\u2019s adult education book and video series\u00a0Jesus the Forgiving Victim: Listening to the Unheard Voice<\/a>.<\/em>)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reza Aslan begins of his book,\u00a0Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, with a prescient warning: \u201cScholars tend to see the Jesus they want to see. Too often they see\u00a0themselves\u2014their own reflection\u2014in the image of Jesus they have constructed\u201d (xxxi). I don\u2019t think Aslan had himself in mind when wrote that statement, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1651,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[79,107,127,129,137,161,205,213],"class_list":["post-343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-michael-hardin","tag-mimetic-theory","tag-nonviolence","tag-reza-aslan","tag-violence","tag-zealot"],"yoast_head":"\n