Reply #74: If Jesus Had Lived,

[On the Road]

I do wonder if he would have led a violent revolution, or at least supported one.

Certainly imagery like the Son of Man coming on the clouds suggests military-style vengeance. Jesus had a lot more angry and vengeful sayings than beatitudes.

A lot of Jesus' methods were common to revolutionaries of the day. Keeping the message peaceful, diverting anger from the Roman political authorities to the Jewish religious authorities, working in the countryside to gather popular support, talking of a future kingdom in generalities.

Jesus said that it impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jesusalem. But the Old Testament prophets were rarely killed, and almost never killed in Jerusalem. He may have referring been to revolutionaries like Judas of Galilee, who was from Jesus' area and whose revolution was about the time of Jesus' birth.

Possibly what Jesus was doing in Jerusalem was trying to get himself arrested, believing either that there would be an uprising or that God would intervene. His cry of "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me," taken at face value, suggests he was expecting a different result.

I know that's a stretch for most believers and nonbelievers alike. Just trying to understand Jesus in his historical context.