CONVERSION

Jesus grew up in a small village named Nazareth. Nazareth was located in a region in which poverty was widespread. The people with whom Jesus grew up with were overly burdened with Roman taxes, temple tithes, and other levies that forced many of them into brutal poverty. They were angry for sure.

The Romans, because of unpaid debts, confiscated their ancestral lands leaving many homeless. It has been estimated that more than 90% of the population of Jesus’ homeland lived in poverty. The world in which Jesus lived as a young boy and man was a harsh cruel world in which many dreamed of better times.

Perhaps this is why we read so much about beggars, poor widows, and sick children in the Gospels. Certainly these conditions of poverty impacted Jesus’ worldview. It certainly was in the background of much of what he taught. This is why I have a difficult time with Christians jumping on popular political bandwagons by berating the poor and painting those on welfare as lazy and undeserving. 

No wonder the expectations of a coming Messiah were so high: A Messiah that would make Israel Great again!

Actually many messiahs arose in and around Jesus’ lifetime yet ended up as utter failures or at worse crucified . The established government would have nothing to do with any movement or person that aimed to take it down. Rome was merciless in this regard.

Now there were basically four responses to Rome’s occupation among the Jews living in Jesus’ day. One was compliance. Do what they tell us to do, don’t make waves and perhaps they will just leave us alone. These were the religious elite, the Temple keepers, and the Jewish establishment. The High Priest Caiaphas was part of this compliant group.

Then there were those who believed it best to disappear and keep below the radarscope: Out of sight, out of mind as it were. These were the Essences who lived in the Dead Sea region far from the center of power in Jerusalem. John the Baptist hung out with these folks. This was the stick-your-head-in the-sand response to Rome.

Then of course there were the fundamentalists of the day who believed that if everyone would just stop sinning and obey the Law then God would wipe out the Romans and Israel would be great again. These were the Pharisees whose religious zeal was second to none. Their world was colored through the lens of sin. Sin was responsible for all the pain and suffering the people were experiencing under Roman rule.

Finally there were the hawks of the day, the zealots whose mantra was: Drive out the hated Romans by military force. These were the hawkish Jews who were looking for a military like Messiah who would restore Israel back to the good old days of David and Solomon. Their war cry was clear: “Let’s make Israel great again!” Jesus even recruited a couple of these hawks to follow him, Simon being one.

Jesus rejected every one of these responses, especially the fourth response. He offered a fifth way: The way of God’s kingdom on earth! God’s kingdom subverts the governments of all kings, prime ministers, and presidents. Yet one cannot see how God’s kingdom operates unless one experiences the conversion necessary to open one’s eyes to God’s presence in this world. Conversion enables one to realize God’s kingdom cannot be co-opted by the world’s political powers or to serve one particular political system. Jesus once said that this kingdom was not of this world.

For so long now we have understood conversion as that moment when we are saved and inherit eternal life. Unfortunately this is a very shortsighted understanding of what it means to be converted. 

The Apostle Paul experienced a conversion that changed everything for him, including how the world was meant to work. His eyes were opened to a totally reordered and rearranged world. A new operating system as it were.

Paul was converted from seeing his world in terms of power and violence to seeing it through the lens of God’s grace and love. In other words, everything that Paul understood as making his world operate came unglued. His conversion deconstructed his old worldview. He gained new eyes to see.

This is why so many today cannot see their world in the same way that folks who have experienced conversion can. It is impossible for them to see with such clarity. Thus we see the same four responses to the global threats today and the one response that speaks the loudest is: Violence must be dealt with and only with further violence. The mantra is clear: Make America strong again. Ironically this approach will just further weaken us as a nation. 

Remember the Scriptures teach us that through weakness we are made strong. That's upside down isn't it?

Yet Paul, through his conversion, came to understand that violence is never redemptive. It perpetuates further violence. War is a hopeless cyclical means to resolve human conflict. Yet we continue down that pathway in hopes of someday creating a lasting peace or eventually eradicating all our enemies once and for all. Conversion exposes this myth of redemptive violence.

To be converted is to have one’s eyes and ears open to the truth of the Gospel. Jesus once said: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” Free from what? Free from the old ways of seeing one’s world. Free from an old worn out worldview that continues to fail all of us.

Conversion frees us to see our world in new ways, hopeful ways, redemptive ways, and best of all, life-giving ways—ways in which God sees the world. To be converted is to be transformed in the way we understand how our world was meant to work according to God’s plan and purpose.

The one who has eyes to see will get this; the one who doesn’t won’t!