Suppose you were given the enormous task of changing the world.  However, there are a few rules you must follow.  You cannot use radio, television, modern forms of print, any form of modern advertisement (no color, catchy logos, or unusual pictures), no post offices, no telephones, or modern forms of international connections—none of that existed anywhere in any context.  You must begin in a non-nation with a people who used to be a powerful nation, but have for centuries been a conquered people.  You must begin among a people who are despised and considered arrogant by most other people. You must begin in poverty in a poverty setting.

How would you change the world with those restrictions under those circumstances?  Assuming you thought this monumental task was possible, and you accepted the challenge, is it safe to say you would maximize what was possible?

How would you go about the task?  Would you collect the best known men in the world?  Would you convince them of your strategy, make sure they thoroughly understood what you wished to do, and blanket the world with well coordinated information?  Would you go to the brightest, the best, the wisely trained, and the wealthy first in the confidence such people would inform and influence the people who were beneath them? Would you try to combine politics and your objective?  Would, if possible, you use conquest to control those who were the most resistant to your ideas and objective?

Jesus did none of that. He began with twelve men, most of whom came from the least influential people and least religious place among these conquered people.  He had no credentials and sought none.  He began, as Americans would say, a “grass-roots” movement that focused on the most unlikely people.  The people associated with Jesus were so unlikely that they were often rejected as weird, unacceptable, and lacking credibility among the prominent of their own society.

The twelve men Jesus selected at times did not get along with each other.  At times they were suspicious of each other, or jealous, or resentful.  On more than one occasion they argued among themselves as they tried to decide who was the most important.  When Jesus revealed his own arrest, suffering, and death, they were so consumed with their own expectations they refused to listen to him.  They did not even understand his objective, let alone agree with it.

Perhaps this parable provides us some insight.  The parable is found in Matthew 11:16-19 at the conclusion of a tribute Jesus gave to John who baptized.  In Jesus’ lifetime, there was no mechanical refrigeration—no refrigerators and no freezers.  Nor were there many means available for food preservation—most means were limited to the use of salt and the use of drying, no canning, no cans, no pressure cookers.  Since food preparation was primarily a woman’s task, women made frequent (daily) trips to the market place, and they took their children with them.  The children entertained themselves at market with games.  One game they played centered on funeral practices.  When flutes played a dirge at death, the mourning began.  Since professional mourners were often hired, the ritual of mourning was well established.  As in many games children play, some child would cry out, “You are not doing it right!”  Frequently it would be the child or children who could not be pleased.

Jesus used this well known happening to illustrate a point.  John looked unusual because he wore unusual clothing with hair that was not cut and a beard that was not trimmed.  He ate locust (ugh!) and wild honey (ouch!), not one’s typical diet then (see Luke 1:15-17 and Matthew 3:4).  The Jewish people who rejected him and his message declared he was to be explained as demonic, not as a godly person speaking a divine message.  Because John was “demonic,” he was to be ignored.

Jesus was in total contrast.  While John was a picture of the poorest of the poor and evidently followed some elements of the Nazirite vow for a prolonged period, Jesus lived as typical Jews lived.  He ate the food the common Jew ate and drank as the common Jew drank.  However, at times he associated with “the wrong people”—Jews who collected taxes for the Romans and sinners (Jews who refused to practice the religious traditions of Israel).  Because Jesus did common things and associated with the “wrong people,” he was to be ignored.

Just like the marketplace children, these people could not be pleased.  Because they did not like and could not explain John or Jesus, they “explained away” their messages.

Jesus did not begin a world movement because all the Jews agreed with him.  He began a world movement because it was God’s intent, and Jesus was totally devoted to God’s will.  The world was and is changing because the unique God is at work.

For Thought and Discussion

1. What was not available to Jesus as he began a movement to change the world?

2. Who would people commonly select for that monumental task?

3. Describe the efforts of Jesus as he established his movement.

4. State and explain the parable in Matthew 11:16-19.

5. How did children entertain themselves when they went to market?

6. Discuss the funeral game they played.

7. How did Jesus use this game to illustrate his point?

8. Contrast Jesus and John.  Those who rejected both did so on what basis?

Link to Teacher's Guide Lesson 8

Copyright © 2009
David Chadwell & West-Ark Church of Christ

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