A change of attitude is what Jesus is calling for, not just a confession.
When Jesus was speaking to the Jews in His day, He was addressing people who were under the tyranny of the Roman dictatorship, Caesar was king, and fear and punishment were the motivating ways that he controlled the people of the day.
It was a society of authoritarian rulership where there was no alternate view tolerated and which punished anyone who disagreed with the potentate and his edicts.
Caesar wanted to be worshipped as a god, and he forced everyone to bow down and worship him under penalty of punishment and/or death, There was no room for another God, and with Jesus of Nazareth stepping in on the scene, it was a threat to his claims of ultimate rule and authority.
The Jews of Jesus' day hated the Romans because of their heavy-handed ways of oppressing them and beating them into submission under Roman rule. It was a harsh, cruel, and violent time that Jesus was born into. Herod was obsessed with power and was paranoid of anyone who would claim a higher authority of Kingship over His rule, so he violently eliminated all contenders.
Wise men from the east, not knowing of Herod's paranoia, asked him if Herod knew where the child king was to be born, for they saw an omen in the stars of a Great King that was to be born. This caught Herod unaware, and he lied to the wise men hoping to gain their confidence as a benevolent overseer.
When the
wise men departed, Herod sought out the Jewish scribes and scholars to research
when and where this Messiah King was to be born, "He will be born in
Bethlehem, in the land of Judah," they told him. "Because the
prophecy states (in Micah 5:2):
"But you, Bethlehem, David's
country, the runt of the litter—From you will come the leader who will
shepherd-rule Israel. He'll be no upstart, no pretender. His family tree is
ancient and distinguished." Micah 5:2 (MSG)
Even during
Jesus' birth, there were attempts by Herod to kill Him by murdering every male
child two years and under to stop the rise of a prophesied King who would be
born in Bethlehem. Traditionally this has been called the "massacre of the
innocents." God warned the wise men in a dream not to report back to Herod
what they had discovered.
"When Herod realized that the wise
men had tricked him, he was infuriated. So he sent soldiers with orders to
slaughter every baby boy two years old and younger in Bethlehem and throughout
the surrounding countryside, based on the time frame he was given from
interrogating the wise men."
Matthew 2:16 (TPT)
With Herod's
paranoia was only inflamed by the deception of the wise men, he fulfilled prophecy
by ordering the death of all of the young boys in Judea and made tensions
much worse among the people. Joseph (Mary's husband) was warned by God in a
dream to take to the child by stealth into Egypt to escape the anger of Herod,
which was done in short order. Jesus escaped death, even though many young sons
were murdered as a result of Herod's fear.
The ministry of Jesus was to counter the attitude of the people who either hated or resisted
the Romans so they would begin to see the Romans as God's people too and to love them and
demonstrate forgiveness and love to their oppressors. Jesus was telling the
people that the hatred they felt for the Romans was going to be their undoing
and that the only way to be free was to forgive and love their enemies. Offer
kindnesses for injustice.
"I'm telling you to love your
enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives
you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working
out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives
his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the
good and bad, the nice and nasty". Matthew 5:44-45 (MSG)
Jesus was
telling them that everyone is God's child, not just the good people, not just
the Jews, and it didn't matter what other people's life was like, and it didn't matter
how others responded or reacted, we are to love them as God loves them,
unconditionally. This is hard, but it is the only way. Very few obeyed Jesus'
words about loving their enemies, only a small selective few who followed Him
and His teachings. The majority of the Jews holding on to their hatred of the
Romans only brought calamity upon their heads.
Jesus
predicted it 37 years before it happened. Herod Agrippa II and his sister
Bernice, who heard Paul's testimony at Caesarea (recorded in Acts 26), tried
hard to prevent it, as did the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (the primary
source of first-century information). But the fall of Jerusalem and the burning
of the Temple in A.D. 70 happened nevertheless, and it was a catastrophe with
almost unparalleled consequences for Jews, Christians, and, indeed, all of
subsequent history. It submerged the Jewish homeland for the next 19 centuries
under foreign domination, it helped foster the split between church and
synagogue, and it set the stage for rampant prophetic speculation about the End
Times that continues to the present day. Few episodes in history have had that
sort of impact.
We do have the promise of God's love in our lives, and if we demonstrate the love of Christ for
each other we are showing that we genuinely believe that God loves all people,
not just Jewish or Christian people, not only people that agree with us, or just people who hold our beliefs, but all people!
"The authority of the name of Jesus causes
every knee to bow in reverence! Everything and everyone will one day submit to
this name—in the heavenly realm, in the earthly realm, and in the demonic
realm. And every tongue will proclaim in every language: "Jesus Christ is
Lord Yahweh," bringing glory and honor to God, his Father!"
Philippians 2:10-11 (TPT)
One thing
that we all must realize is that every knee will gladly bow to Jesus either now
or in the future, we are all His children. He loves us, and wants us to come
to Him and return to our family of origin. We are all from the family of
Yahweh.
Be Blessed;
Stephen
Barnett
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