Jesus 101

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Jesus 101

• 1. Where did Jesus come from?

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Jesus common assumptions

• profession/trade? peasant carpenter
• economic status?
• rural, poor
• geographic location?
• from Nazareth, an
  insignificant place
• political ideas?
• apolitical

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Jesus matrix

• within Roman Empire (this week)
• within Judaism (next week)

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The Roman Empire
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Palestine in the time of Jesus
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your matrix

• Where did you grow up?
• What was the political context?
• What was the geography/land like?
• What was your economic situation?
• How did this matrix of factors shape you?

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Jesus matrix the Roman Empire
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The Emperor

• In those days a decree went out from Emperor
  Augustus that all the world should be
  registered. Lk 21
• ruled from Rome 44 BCE to 14 CE, followed by
  Tiberius (14-37 CE)
• appointed regional rulers, client kings or
  governors

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Caesar Augustus (Octavian)

• Roman imperial theology
• Augustus is Divine
• he has brought peace through victory, Pax Romana
• Titles for Caesar Augustus
• Divine, Lord
• God, Son of God
• God from God
• Redeemer, Liberator
• Savior of the World

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DIVI F (Son of God)

• Show me the coin used for the taxWhose head is
  this, and whose title?...Give therefore to the
  emperor the things that are the emperors, and to
  God the things that are Gods. Mt 2219-21

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Roman client kings and governors

• Herod the Great King of the Jews 37-4
  BCE
• Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, 4
  BCE-39 CE
• Archelaus, Ethnarch of Judea, Samaria, Idumea
• replaced by Roman governors in 6 CE
• Quirinius 6-12 CE
• Pontius Pilate 26-36 CE

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Herod Antipas

• Romanized Galilee
• Romanization through urbanization for
  commercialization
• Upgraded Sepphoris and built new capital,
  Tiberius

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Sepphoris

• Herod Antipas made Sepphoris the gem of Galilee
• Urban center, wealthy
• Under reconstruction during Jesus lifetime
• 4 miles from Nazareth
• Did Jesus travel there, work there?

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Galilee

• under Augustus/Tiberius
• under Herod Antipas
• fertile and beautiful
• history of rebels
• farming and fishing were being commercialized and
  globalized

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Sea of Galilee

• breadbasket of Israel
• fed by the Jordan River, rainfall and springs on
  the northern side
• 13 miles long and 7 miles wide, max 150 feet
  deep 

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Jesus the emerging image

• Jesus of the gospels is a man rooted in the land,
  politics, and ecomonic issues of his day
• peasant carpenterOR artisan in Sepphoris?
• rural, poorOR tri-lingual, urban/Empire
  complexities?
• from Nazareth, an insignificant place OR suburb
  of Sepphoris?
• apolitical OR rival to DIVI F?

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Who is the DIVI F (Son of God)?
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Table discussion

• What of this information was new to you?
• What surprised you?
• How does this enrich your understanding of Jesus?
• What new questions do you have about Jesus as
  seen in the matrix of the Roman Empire?

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Questions?