Jesus and political activism in the Philippines from a Lukan perspective

Abstract

Jesus’ fulfilment of his ministry led him to become “subversive” in the sight of the Roman authorities and the Jewish religious leaders. However, to the poor and oppressed his teachings and ministry was salvific because his teachings and ministry allowed them to understand the root of their sufferings. Jesus’ ministry is a criticism of the existing Roman and Jewish authorities and at the same time gave direction to the people and ignited them to formulate various relevant options. In dealing with the topic, the writer used Biblical text, particularly from a Lukan perspective to illuminate the historical event. This paper presents the two political stances of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, the violent, and the non-violent, and tried to find the situation on how these options applied during the time of Jesus, and their relevance to the present situation. The picture of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke would challenge the Church to revitalizes its call, and addresses herself to the task she has received. Chapter I of this paper deals mainly the introductory part, which records the Statement of the Problem, the Objective of the Study, the Basic Assumption, the Significance of the Study and the Review of Related Literature. Chapter II presents the Descriptive Analysis of the three Political Options, Pacifism, Non-Violence and Violence/Armed Revolution. The writer here tries to unmask the significance of these positions in line with life’s situation and how the proponents of these positions used the Biblical texts to support their stand. Chapter III unveils the Political Options during the time of Jesus. Thus, it presupposed that the different political options were product of human beings desire to survived. Chapter IV talks about the Political Jesus in Luke. Here, the writer tries to show how the Lukan author reveals the image of Jesus as he deals with the reality of his time. Chapter V seeks to show the picture of Jesus in dealing with the people around him. It tries to show how his attitude brought him to become “subversive” to Rome and the religious leaders. Chapter VI speaks of the Implication of this study in the Philippine Church and the Philippines in general. The writer presents the contribution of the clergy in the struggle of the Filipino people. The Church as a catalyst for change has not been silent in dealing with the issues around her. The last chapter is the Conclusion.