Feminist:
A feminist presents Jesus as supporting the cause of women's
liberation. Jesus' concern and attitude towards women presented in the Gospel
recognizes the dignity of women as dignified human beings. And the vision of
the reign of God that Jesus envisioned was all-inclusive, including women,
sinners, the poor, and prostitutes. For them, Jesus is a prophet, a liberator
and a reformer who removes the patriarchy.
According to Rosemary Radford Reuther, Jesus presents a sharp contrast
that equates the Davidic Messiah with his coming reign of God. Rather, he
radicalized the coming reign of God as a time of vindication of the poor and
oppressed. So the vision of God's reign is neither nationalistic nor worldly,
but a time to overcome all domination and subjugation. In this light, it
presents Christ as a liberator who calls for the condemnation of the male
privileged system/society. The continued assertion of Jesus' masculinity has
symbolic meaning for a male-centered patriarchy that has no meaning for women.
Jesus as the Christ/Messiah represents a liberated humanity, shedding
hierarchical privilege and speaking on behalf of the oppressed. He claimed that
Jesus' role of freedom was not in his humanity, but in his rejection of
authority and the search for a new life in him and mutual empowerment. She
wisely states that the feminist construct of Christ in redeeming woman is not
to define the gender symbols of Jesus as female (as a man does), because in
Christ there is a new humanity, both male and female.
Dalit: The image of the Dalit
Christ as "abandoned" resonates throughout Dalit Christology. Jesus'
Dalitness is best symbolized by the agony on the cross. Jesus becomes a Dalit
in the fullest possible sense of the term as a "broken, crushed, divided,
torn and divided man." The sense of God's abandonment is reflected in
Jesus' cry of condemnation: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me. The
sense of abandonment by God is at the core of Dalit experience and
consciousness. By sharing this experience, Jesus becomes a Dalit and this is an
example of a Dalit Christology based on the epistemological premise of pain and
pathos. Dalit Christology consistently identifies Jesus as a Dalit and as a
suffering servant in terms of Jesus' brokenness, which reflects the brokenness
of Dalits. The Dalit Christ is also understood as the savior of the Dalits from
their oppressed condition. As M.E Prabhakar writes: "For Indian Christian
Dalits, to know Jesus Christ is to realize that the God of Jesus will save them
from inhumanity, social oppression, economic exploitation and cultural
subjugation".
Tribal: The image of
Jesus as a liberator and restorer of culture resonates strongly in the lives of
the tribes. In the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5:1-11ff.), Jesus addressed his
disciples regarding the nature of God's kingdom. His preaching suggested that
the coming of God's rule would challenge existing political, economic, and
social orders. The mighty shall be crushed, the lowly shall be exalted, and the
kingdom of God shall be theirs. From this kingdom perspective, the depiction of
Jesus as the Liberator becomes very real to the Tribes in the context of their
historical struggle for self-determination and their quest to reclaim their
culture.
Conclusion
To conclude, "recovering Jesus from his practice of God's
rule" means for us to conceptualize who Jesus is from the perspective of
Jesus' kingdom. Remaking Jesus allows us to engage in his vision for the poor,
oppressed, marginalized, etc., and their place in the "Kingdom of
God," helping to conceive of Christ in a new way.
So as you try to re-image Jesus, ask yourself questions like: What
does Jesus say about God's rule; who will join RoG? How he envisions himself in
his RoG practice and how we should relate this to our condition. You may ask
questions like: What does Jesus say about RoG and a Children? RoG and Women,
RoG and Poor, RoG and Rich, RoG and Oppressor, RoG and sick, etc. These
questions will help you figure out who he is to you from the perspective of the
kingdom.
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