Most of what we know about Jesus’ teachings comes after a pivotal moment in eschatology, his baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. After the baptism, he Immediately withdrew into the wilderness where he fasted for forty days, and it was during that time he had his encounter with the devil; it was a time of testing, solitude, and spiritual preparation. After emerging from his experience in the desert, rejecting Satan, his ministry finally begins.
First-century Judea was alive with voices; traveling teachers, prophets, and philosophers roamed from town to town, each with their own band of followers. They preached in marketplaces, debated in synagogues, and stirred conversations in temple courtyards. If they lived today, they might be more like our modern-day political or religious pod-casters or influencers, charismatic figures challenging the status quo with bold ideas and urgent warnings.
I began to notice how religion was increasingly being entangled with politics. The outcome was predictable and divisive. Suddenly, to disagree with a particular political stance, you weren’t just branded unpatriotic but accused of obstructing some grand plan by God for the nation. The rhetoric reminded me of the historical tensions described in the gospels, where power, belief, and authority collided in ways that fractured communities. Pastors echo the words of politicians, elevating judgmental and divisive proclamations, as if they carried the ultimate truth, while the deeper spirit of humility and care seemed absent.
That was when I felt an undeniable pull to respond. Something inside me insisted that the message has been distorted, that the essence of what once inspired me was being overshadowed. The figure I had studied, the one whose words had stirred me decades earlier, was emphatic, compassionate, and unwavering in his concern for those society overlooked: the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the forgotten. To portray him otherwise felt like a betrayal of that legacy.
So here I am, writing these commentaries. Not to preach, not to defend dogma, but to offer clarity where I feel confusion has taken root. My aim is simple: to realign understanding with the original spirit of his message, to remind us, his love for us, all of us,is at its core, and to set things right in whatever small way I can.
