Scenario: if all of us lived at the K-Life house and we had always lived there, but someone moved in and started living with us and ruling over us...what would you do?
1. Dig a tunnel underneath the house and live there
2. Fight! Push them out. do whatever it takes to get rid of them.
3. Join them.
4. Mind your own business, take care of your own problems.
This was the scenario that Jesus walked into when he began his ministry. The Romans were occupying Jewish land and the Jews were divided in how to respond to it.
if you chose 1...you could be called an Essene. They left town and lived in caves in the desert
if you chose 2...you were a Zealot. You created rebellions and tried to push off the Roman army.
if you chose 3...you were a Sadduccee. You played your cards out and hoped that you could maintain your wealth and stay at peace with the Romans
if you chose 4..you were a Pharissee. You believed Romans occupied your land because of your disobedience to God. if you put a big list of rules together and followed them, then your obedience would lead to God's blessing.
So which one was Jesus?
None of them. He headed out to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. In so doing, he aligned himself with a man whose message was "Repent! or destruction will come!"
This was not a popular message. Today followers of Jesus bare the weight of an unpopular message. Perhaps you've felt the weight in your own heart. Can you identify with this video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA
Tune in next week as we see Jesus go off in the desert to be tempted just as we are today.
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