"Jesus Was Political, Not Partisan: Revolutionary Ministry" (Pt. 2) by Rev. Jillian Hankamer

August 10, 2025

Ezekiel 46:3, 2 Kings 15:5, & Malachi 3:8-9,

John 15:3, and Matthew 18: 21-35

1. Intro

            -Talked last week about Jesus’ roots as Jewish man in colonized land

                        -all elements of his roots that contributed to him being a political revolutionary

                                    -role of high priests, prophetic tradition, etc.

            -Going to move this week to focus on Jesus himself and world as it was during his life

            -Elements come together to make it clear that Jesus was political

-as with last week, can’t over everything, so will focus on: taxation & debt, city vs. country, marginalization of Galileanans, and “People of the land”

-Must say first that as author Obery M. Hendricks, Jr. notes in The Politics of Jesus, “...more than any other factor, it was the Roman colonial occupation of Israel that created the setting for the formative years of Jesus. The suffering that the Romans visited on the Jewish people was so pervasive and so brutal that its influence on the political consciousness and social witness of Jesus inescapable…until his last earthly breath, Jesus was…an oppressed Roman colonial subject with all that meant.”^[1]

2. Taxation & Debt

-Taxation was significant issue as we see in Jesus’ confrontation w/Pharisees in Matt 22

“Teacher, we know you have integrity, teach the way of God accurately, are indifferent to popular opinion, and don’t pander to your students. So tell us honestly: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?””

            -Roman governors treated their territories like cash cows so often that it became a joke

                        -Syrian governor Ventidius “entered rich Syria poor and left poor Syria rich.”^[2]

-Israel faired no better w/governors Balerius Gratus (15-26 CE) and Pontius Pilate (26-36 CE)

-Roman taxation requirements were compounded by religious taxation

-Prior to return from Babylonian exile, “no tithes or offerings were required of Jews for the support of the priests.”^[3]

-After exile, “...offerings from which the priests derived their income increased until they made up some twelve different classes of tithes and offerings.”^[4]

-”It has been esteemed that the combination of secular and religious taxes consumed up to 40% of the peasants’ subsistence.”^[5]

-Understandable in an area of farming there was nothing left for farmers after basic consumption

-Leads to next contributing factor for Jesus: debt

                        -Good comparison is American sharecroppers

                        -Terrible consequences of defaulting on debt is reflected in Matt 18

                                    -describes 2 ways  in which lender could collect

                                                1. debtor would be sold into slavery

-some sold their oldest child to stay and take care of the remaining family

-others “committed suicide to avoid enslavement and the torture that often accompanied it.”^[6]

-practice of torture seen in Matt 18, though often translated that master has servant thrown into prison

-more accurate translations that the master delivers indebted workers “to the basanistais”^[7] or torturers

2. “In cases of extraordinary default, the lender could enslave the debtor’s wife and children…members of the extended family and all their possessions…if [that] still didn’t satisfy  the debt, the lender could even enslave the debtor’s neighbors.” ^[8]   

-one case of an entire village being emptied this way

-An indication of the effects of taxation and debt can  be seen in Jesus’ words

-Again in Matt 18, “Jesus clearly mentions debt default as if was a reality w/which everyone was familiar…”

-when asked by disciples how to pray, Jesus says, “Forgive us our debts…”           

-word for “debts” doesn’t appear often in NT, but “when it does…it refers to debt or other legal obligations, not ‘trespasses’ as the KJV translates it.”^[9]

-”forgive” = “release”

-”which would mean Jesus’ instruction to his disciples is that their prayer should be ‘release us [from] our debts.’”^[10]

-In short, Jesus was aware and concerned about financial and economic situation of his people

II.         City vs. Country

-Historian Ramsay MacMullen writes that relations between city and country folks at this time, “...[were] not friendly. The two worlds regard[ed] each other as, on the one side, clumsy, brutish, ignorant, uncivilized; on the other side, as baffling, extortionate, arrogant.”^[11]

-Specifically in Jesus’ context

-city folks - particularly from Jerusalem and Temple priests - “counted their urban location and proximity to the Temple…as [entitlement] to superior  social status  over the country folk.”

-John 7:15 - Jerusalem priests assume Jesus must be illiterate

-country folks avoided cities, usually only going for “matters of commerce or imperial obligations, or…to participate in the various pilgrimages.”^[12]

-felt out of place in cities

-cities were places of Roman garrison, condescending priests, imperial courts, public executions, unattainable luxuries

-”...many of the absentee landlords who exploited the peasants and tenant farmers were rich Jerusalem priests.”^[13]

                        -Gospels never mention Jesus entering any city but Jerusalem

                                    -Not even other Galilean city Tiberias

                                    -Mark 1:45 - Jesus intentionally avoids cities

                                    -metaphors he uses are clearly agrarian

-”...In general, the social setting of Jesus’ ministry [is] characterized by a pronounced social and cultural divide between…city dwellers and…country dwellers who were the immediate compatriots of Jesus.”^[14]

-This can only have “heightened Jesus’ sense of alienation from the urbane Jerusalem priests and compounded his sense of the marginalization and exploitation of his people.”^[15]

IV.        Marginalization of Galileans

-Galileans had even more reason “to distrust and resent city folk…”^[16]        

            -unlike Judea to the south, Galilee was agrarian

                        -exceptions being Hellenized cities of Sepphoris and Tiberias

            -Galileans “were even more marginalized and more stigmatized”^[17]

1. “Galileans had a distinctively accented pronunciation of Hebrew that caused them to slur their words in what was thought to be a ‘country’ way.”^[18]

-” resulted in mispronunciations that made Galileans objects of ridicule.”^[19]

-example: woman meant to say “Come, I will give you milk” but sounded like “Companion, butter devour you.”^[20]

2. Rabbinic writings show Galileans were barred from leading communal prayer outside of Galilee b/c of accents

            -”expression ‘Galilean fool’ was common.”^[21]

-see this in Gospel when Petere is recognized as follow of Jesus in Matt 26 b/c of accent

                                    3. Galilee was province furthest away from Jerusalem

                                                -made it farthest from Temple control

-meant “Galileans were thought to be less diligent in their

rendering of tithes and offerings to the priests.”^[22]

-priests responded to their perception by becoming bitter toward those from Galilee

V.         “Ammi Ha-Aretz”/People of the Land

            -Priests also responded by “branding the Galileans ‘ammi ha-aretz’”^[23]

-Literally means “people of the land” - “those who derived their livelihoods from agricultural pursuits.”^[24]

            -In Ezekiel 46:3 and 2 Kings 15:5

                        -”term is used to refer to the entire nation of Israel.”^[25]

                        -began to have “a distinctly negative connotation”^[26] by end of Exhile - 539 BCE

-this is seen in Nehemiah 10:30 when returning exiles learned that those who stayed ntermarried w/Gentiles

-became fully negative by first century “designating all Jews who did not abide by the prescriptions of the Law, especially statutes regarding tithes and offerings.”^[27]

-Not w/out reason - sometimes Galileans didn’t meet all tithing requirements

-likely b/c “their impoverished existence forced them to do so”^[28] not out of disrespect for faith

-non-observance was often only option for people to feed families

-But as tithes and offerings were priests’ main income, Galileans not paying affected priests’ livelihoods

            -eventually this “flared into outright hostility”^[29]

-historian Josephus tells of aristocratic priests sending servants directly to threshing floor to collect

-Due to this, “am ha-aretz” “came to be deeply derisive in meaning; it implied the lowest character.”^[30]

            -to be called this was to be called a thief who stole from God

-this is why priests “did not consider it possible for an “am ha-aretz” to have good character or to be of sound intelligence.”^[31]

-Not overstating things to understand “am ha-aretz” as “Hebrew equivalent to the “n” word.”^[32]

V.         Conclusion

            -Where does this leave us?

                        -as w/last week this is alot of info

                        -can’t deny Jesus was deeply concerned w/those marginalized and mistreated

-Luke 6:20 - Sermon on the Plain - Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”

-John 15:3 - “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”

                        -”Jesus validated their worth and counterbalanced”^[33] negative judgement of elites

-”He tenderly told his rural compatriots to love themselves for who and what they were, rather than deny the distinctiveness of their class and culture in order to fit”^[34] unrealistic, unjust, impossible expectations

-might not seem as though compassion and respect for personhood is political behavior

-might not seem like respecting people and seeing the reality of their humanity rather than ascribing meaning to stereotypes is political behavior

-But if we understand Jesus as the political revolutionary I’m arguing he was and is, then all of these things are political behavior modeled on him

-Good News this morning is also our challenge and hopefully inspiration: As Oery M. Hendricks says so well,

“By the measure Jesus gives us…it is not religious practice, or memorization of scriptures, or even faithful attendance at church or temply by which our lives are judged. It is simply this: whether we have tried to relieve the plight of the hungry and dispossessed and those stripped of their freedom; whether we have tried to change this war-torn world to a world free from oppression and exploitation; so that all of God’s children might have life and more abundantly.”^[35]

^[1] Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted, Three Leaves Press, 2006, pg. 55.

^[2] Ibid, pg. 63.

^[3] Ibid, pg. 64.

^[4] Ibid.

^[5] Ibid.

^[6] Ibid, pg. 65.

^[7] Ibid.

^[8] Ibid.

^[9] Ibid.

^[10] Ibid.

^[11] Ibid, 68.

^[12] Ibid, pg. 69.

^[13] Ibid.

^[14] Ibid.

^[15] Ibid, pg. 70.

^[16] Ibid.

^[17] Ibid, pg. 60.

^[18] Ibid, pg. 70.

^[19] Ibid.

^[20] Ibid.

^[21] Ibid.

^[22] Ibid, pg. 71.

^[23] Ibid.

^[24] Ibid.

^[25] Ibid.

^[26] Ibid.

^[27] Ibid, pgs. 71-72.

^[28] Ibid.

^[29] Ibid.

^[30] Ibid.

^[31] Ibid.

^[32] Ibid, pg. 73.

^[33] Ibid.

^[34] Ibid.

^[35] Ibid, pg. 9.