Can you hear those in power trembling? Can you feel the ground shifting? I'm sure they can. They recognize that Jesus has come not just as a good teacher -- he's come to change things, and those in power never like change. The people are gathering around him, and the leaders feel threatened. They're afraid of losing what they have.
It's interesting to hear people today talk about Jesus. Many talk about him in such a way that they isolate his ministry to merely teaching and healing. But Jesus was more than that -- if he had only been that, the Roman and Jewish leadership wouldn't have seen him as a threat. They understood that Jesus wasn't just a teacher -- he'd come to fundamentally change the way we relate to power, the way we relate to one another, the way we practice religion.
If religion is just about power, then it's under threat. But if religion is about genuinely pursuing selfless love and service of others, and chasing a relationship with God above all else, then that recognizes what Jesus is doing and chases it. If we keep that vision of the ultimate reality, when people come from north and south and east and west and sit together under a tree to dine together... that's a beautiful vision that is worth investing our lives in.
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