jesus solely as a liberator

• Yes


  Many of his teachings focus on helping the poor & dispossessed. He spoke about this more than any other moral issue.
• Jesus was born into poverty
• Jesus being born into poverty


  Shows his support / preference for the poor
• Parable of Sheep & Goats


  • We will be judged upon how much we help / ignore those in need
• At the time of Jesus, the Jewish people lived under Roman occupation, through a client king in the north (Herod) and the Roman leader (Pontius Pilate)
• The Romans were unpopular because they were a foreign occupying power, because of the violence they used to enforce their authority and because of the taxes that they made the Jewish people pay
• Some Jews collaborated with the Romans and benefitted from the occupation
• The situation deteriorated with assassinations, murders and a series of open military rebellions
• The final great revolt in AD 73 led to tens of thousands of Jews being enslaved, over a million deaths and the temple being burnt down
• The Roman occupation was one of many examples of oppression the Jews have faced through their long history
• The story of the Exodus, when God delivered the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt through the leadership of Moses, is re-told and remembered at the feast of Passover
• In Jesus time, when the Jews were again under the oppressive leadership of foreigners, the story of the Exodus gave the Jews hope that God might again send them a Messiah - a saviour
• Many Jewish prophecies told of the coming of the Messiah, and Jesus knew these and appeared to deliberately follow them
• The prophecies stated that the messiah would arrive on a donkey and enter a specific gate in Jerusalem's wall, which Jesus did
• Many Jews hoped that the messiah would be a military leader that would lead a rebellion against Roman rule
• Isaiah: 'Will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with his breath and lips he will slay the wicked.'
• He appeared to deliberately fulfil some of the Old Testament prophecies of the messiah
• When he arrived in Jerusalem people waved palm branches (in remembrance of the Maccabees who liberated Israel two centuries earlier)
• He choose a donkey to ride on (fulfilling the prophecy that the Messiah will enter Jerusalem on a donkey)
• He chose to enter Jerusalem this way at the Passover – the event that celebrates freedom from oppression in Egypt
• This suggests that this was a deliberate attempt to send a message that the long awaited Messiah and King of the Jews had arrived to free Israel from Roman oppression
• When he was arrested he stopped his disciples from defending him, stating that 'those who live by the sword die by the sword'
• When asked whether Jews should pay taxes to the Romans (a key aspect of Roman oppression) Jesus avoids answering, stating 'give Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's'
• When arrested and brought before Pilate Jesus said: 'My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place'
• Jesus emphasized love, forgiveness and pacifism. He told his followers to 'love your enemies', not fight them
• Jesus appeared to have very little, if any, impact on roman rule. He was arrested, tried and executed by the Romans without any real threat to their political authority
• It was the Jewish authorities who encouraged the Romans to arrest Jesus and who encouraged Pilate to crucify him, so they must have seen him as a threat to their authority
• Jesus was critical of those in power: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.'
• Jesus suggested that such leaders put their own status and the strict observance of the law above the higher principle of agape
• Parable of the Good Samaritan

  • Jesus has a Priest ignore the man in need, walking on by, exposing their lack of moral purity, more concerned with their own personal safety, rather than agape / compassion
• Jesus challenged the role of the money lenders in the temple (which the temple authorities had allowed), saying that they had made his father's house a 'den of thieves'
• Jesus turned over their tables and chased them from the temple – this event led to his arrest
• Jesus did not reject or replace Jewish law. Jesus sometimes disagreed with the how the law was applied, but did not seriously break Jewish law
• Liberation theology is a religious and political movement that originated in Latin America in the 1960s
• At this time, many countries in Latin America were ruled by very small wealthy elites who oppressed the majority and kept them in poverty and powerless through fear and violence
• Liberation theologians focussed on Jesus' teachings to help the poor and marginalised in society, arguing that Christians have a duty to help liberate people from oppression
• From this perspective, Jesus is seen as a liberator
• Supporters of liberation theology did not argue he was solely a political liberator, they still believed in his divine status