Liberation and Resistance

Readings: EZ 37:21-28; JN 11:45-56

The tensions named in the gospel today just seem so real to me.

Jesus’ notoriety was spreading and some of the local Jewish leaders (the Sanhedrin) were concerned. What is interesting is that they are concerned, not so much with what Jesus is doing but by the stir that he is creating.  Crowds are gathering and people are feeling energized.  So they say, “If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation.”

That’s the line right there that we need to focus on.

Let’s recall that Jesus, his fellow Jews, local religious leaders and everyone living in Palestine lived under Roman occupation.  And the Romans were brutal occupiers when they wanted to be.  The Romans often let their subjects do their own thing UNTIL they threatened Rome’s economic or political power.  A person like Jesus bringing crowds together and talking about a revolution of love was pushing it.  So the religious leaders start thinking that maybe eliminating one person was better than losing the little that they had.

Also recall what was mentioned in the first reading from Ezekiel.  Israel had a longing to be unified as a nation under a great leader and hoped to one day enjoy peace and prosperity on their own soil.  For a nation that has been conquered, split and dispossessed, this is a deep longing. I am sure that many of the Jewish religious leaders were trying to play the ‘long game’ against Roman occupation and figured they could wait the oppressors out.  Someone like Jesus could seriously set them back with his “too much, too soon” agenda.

Today’s readings, for me, are a clinic on what oppression and trauma do to people and their relationships.

Some of us may know this from our own families.  We may have had a family member who grew upset or violent, and we were afraid of them somehow.  So we’d manage our own behavior and try to manage the behavior of others in order not to upset the person and stay safe.  We may have also been raised to be “nice” and not cause a stir or upset people.  So when we feel that others are bothered by what we’re doing (even if we believe in it and know that it is right), we temper it, regulate it or stop it entirely.

That’s a lot of what I see in the gospel.

Oppression does very damaging things to human relationships and often pits the oppressed/harmed against each other.  So here we see Jesus who continues to speak out about injustice, the misuse of power, oppression and a ‘new world order’ (that he calls the kin-dom of God).  His contemporaries – who themselves are subject to much the same oppression (even though they may have a bit more power from their religious status) –  are not only religiously offended by some of what he’s saying, they are afraid of what he’s saying because they know that it’s likely going to get him killed and maybe get ALL of them killed.  This is not just a political or religious disagreement they have with him.  They are afraid of what his actions will bring in terms of Roman attention and retribution.

Every movement for liberation encounters resistance.  We expect that it is resisted by those in power, but it is also frequently resisted from members of the oppressed group itself that is seeking liberation.  This is not because people do not desire their own or collective freedom.  It is because people are afraid, have different strategies for liberation, prioritize different things, etc.   It can also be because people have internalized their own oppression and now use the tools of the dominator against members of their own group (sometimes called lateral violence).  This is, perhaps, one of the most damaging and disheartening impacts of oppression on oppressed groups.

For today, spend some time thinking about liberation – yours and everyone else’s.  What do you notice in yourself when you hear others speaking about their freedom?  Have you ever felt afraid of taking certain steps towards your own freedom or felt fear because of the steps that others were taking?  What else comes up for you after this reflection?

Just take some quiet time to be with it.