“Jesus recognized fully that out of the heart are the issues of life and that no external force, however great and overwhelming, can at long last destroy a people if it does not first win the victory of the spirit against them. Jesus saw this with almighty clarity. Again and again he came back to the inner life of the individual. With increasing insight and startling accuracy he placed his finger on the ‘inward center’ as the crucial arena where the issues would determine the destiny of his people.”
-Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, Beacon Press, p. 11

Many decades ago while living in Brooklyn, NY I went to a church service at the House of the Lord church around Christmas time. Rev. Herbert Daughtry was the minister of this church, and I knew of him as a national African American leader of the progressive movement. At the time he was President of the National Black United Front. I had followed him through my participation in demonstrations and rallies in New York City against racially-based police brutality, the closing of hospitals in low-income, predominantly people of color communities and on other issues.

I can visualize Rev Daughtry speaking with great passion and power about the fact that Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t born in a mansion or a palace but a barn: homeless, poor, an immigrant. He was “illegitimate,” born to a mother pregnant before marriage. He grew up not as a teacher or rabbi or scholar but as a carpenter, a worker with his hands. And yet this man, one of “the least of these,” became one of the most impactful people of the past 2000 years.

Jesus grew up in Palestine during a time when armed revolutionaries, Zealots, were attempting to overthrow brutal Roman rule. There’s little doubt that at least one of his core team, his disciples, was a Zealot or close to them. Yet Jesus’ way of dealing with Roman occupation was different.

One way to get a deeper understanding of his life is via the very popular TV series, The Chosen. Over the first four years of its being shown it has portrayed the creators’ view of the reality of Jesus’ life, based on the New Testament. He is shown traveling throughout what is now the West Bank healing, speaking, teaching, building an organizational network and movement. I have my criticisms of this series, particularly its repeated portrayal of questionable miracles as facts, but overall it’s a valuable resource to understand Jesus’ historic activities 2000 years ago.

Another valuable resource for understanding this period of history is the book, Foundations of Christianity. This work, published in 1908, is a 472 page, impressive historical analysis by European socialist leader Karl Kautsky of the earliest days of the “Jesus movement.”

Kautsky raises up the fact that, based on Biblical verses found in the book of Acts, this movement “aimed to achieve a communistic organization: ‘And all that believed were together and had all things in common; and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as every man had need. . .’

Regarding women, he writes that: “With the dissolving, or at least the loosening, of the traditional family ties, there necessarily resulted a change in the position of women. Once she ceased to be bound to the narrow family activities, she was enabled to devote her mind and her interests to other thoughts.” 

Understanding the importance of organization to efforts to transform society, Kautsky identified something which he saw as “why the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth had such an impact not just in the early First Century AD but for the next 2000 years: Jesus was not merely a rebel, he was also a representative and a champion, perhaps even the founder of an organization which survived him and continued to increase in numbers and in strength. It was the organization of the congregation that served as a bond to hold together Jesus’ adherents after his death. It was not the faith in the resurrection of the Crucified which created the Christian congregation and gave it its strength but, on the contrary, it was the vigor and strength of the congregation that created the belief in the continued life of the Messiah.” (1)

Kautsky is not the only internationally prominent socialist leader who appreciated the importance of the Jesus movement. The most prominent revolutionary of the 20^th Century in the Western Hemisphere, Fidel Castro, might have appreciated Howard Thurman’s perspective on Jesus quoted above. In 1985, in an interview with Chilean priest Frei Betto, he spoke of his Christian mother and grandmother:

“I always listened to them with great interest and respect. Even though I didn’t share their concept of the world, I never argued with them about these things because I could see the strength, courage and comfort they got from their religious feelings and beliefs. Of course, their feelings were neither rigid nor orthodox but something very much their own and very strongly felt. It was a part of the family tradition.” (2)

As someone who identifies with the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as of value, repeatedly, on a personal level, I have also found that this identification has been helpful as I work to build a revolutionary movement for positive social change. When I am speaking with people, including those hostile to my views, I have found that being up front about how his life and death have enlightened and strengthened me has been helpful to get people to consider what I am saying. People are often taken aback when I do this, but almost never in a bad way.

In this Christmas season, this “birthday season” for Jesus of Nazareth, I hope more and more of us will meditate on the importance and continuing relevance of this great man.

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21^st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com

1. 21^st Century Revolution: Through Higher Love, Racial Justice and Democratic Cooperation, pps. 4-5
2. Ibid, p. 16