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uilt the Christian movement was a basic issue that saying, "The Sabbath was made for man, and notwas central to the message of Jesus Christ. That was man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27)the issue of Law. Such statements enraged the Aristotelian cults ofJesus sought to revolutionize the law by which Sadducees and Pharisees, and it is undoubtedly one ofthe Jews of palestine, and then the world, lived. If the the chief factors that led to his assassination. OtherJews until that time had lived according to a complex manifestations of such action include the well-knownset of rules and regulations handed down from time instance in which Jesus enters the holy temple to expelimmemorial and recorded in the Old Testament the gamblers, money changers, and other evil charbooksof law, and codified and interpreted by Tal- acters--symbolic of the sweeping cleansing of themudic scholars in the most byzantine fashion, Jesus religion of Judaism that Jesus and Philo intended togave to the Jews a new and much simpler Law that bring about.was of a higher order. At the end, Jesus spoke compassionately to eachJust as Philo used Abraham as a symbol of the and every one of his Apostles and disciples, urgentlyfaithful Jew whose life was carefully regulated by trying to make his followers capable of carrying onexplicit instructions such as the Ten Command- the sacred idea that Jesus of Nazareth lived and diedments--whereas Isaac and Jacob represented succes- for. He said:sively higher stages of human consciousness, soJesussought to make the Jews understand that the rule of These things I have spoken to you, being yetReason must come to sup_ersedethe enormously corn- present with you. But the Comforter, which isplex and often silly rules of the Old Testament law. the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will sendin myThis change was stated most explicitly when Jesus name, he shall teach you all things, and bring allwas asked which of the commandments (of the Old things to your remembran6e, whatsoever I haveTestament) was the most important, said to you. (John 14:26)Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the Lord St. Matthew records, in the closing words of histhy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, Gospel, the moving commandment of Jesus, nowand with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest crucified, resurrected and ascended into heaven:commandment."And the second is like unto it. Thou shaltGo ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizinglove thy neighbor as thyself,them in the name of the Father, and of the"On these two commandments hang all theSon, and of the Holy Spirit.law and all the prophets." (Matt. 22:37-40)Teaching them to observe all the things whatsoeverI have commanded you; and 1o, I amwith this statement, Jesus substituted the law of love with you always, even unto the end of thefor the law of retribution that dominated the whole world_.Amen. (Matt. 28:19--20).of the Old Testament. (This was also the content ofthe incident in which Jesus is challenged concerningthe Old Testament's doctrine of "an eye for an eyeand a tooth for a tooth," and Jesus replies with the TOWARD THE UNIVERSALfamous admonition to "turn the other cheek.") Nolonger, said Jesus, must man's sensual passions and KINGDOM OF GODdesires be forcefully held in check by deadly fear ofGod's retribution; instead, man must act from a The crucifixion and death of Jesus of Nazareth putpositive self-conception, motivated by love and not the responsibility for the fledgling new movementby fear, to spread the Gospels to his fellow man. onto the shoulders of the twelve Apostles. The timesAt the same time, Jesus challenged the petty laws were turbulent. The Zealots and other Jewish nationofthe sabbath and other bothersome day-to-day rules alists were attempting to stir up the population, andthat were the object of so much attention by the legal the Roman authorities and local administration werebeagles of the Temple establishment. Laughing at the on the lookout for any troublesome opposition, politprohibitionagainst working on the sabbath, Jesus ical or religious. To be known as a follower of Jesus,asked a gathering, "Which of you, having an ox much less one of the inner circle of the Apostles,fallen into a ditch on the sabbath, would refuse to could be dangerous.help it out?" (Matt. 12:11) On another occasion,Jesus In the immediate aftermath of the crucifixion ofridiculed the foolish superstitions of the Pharisees by Jesus, Peter assumed leadership of the movement. InCAMPAIGNER / August 1980 49
- Page 8 and 9: Behind theMiami Riotsby Felice Merr
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