The spiritualization which we see in the Jesus movement also appears in the Old Testament--for example in Psalm 5:17, "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken and a contrite heart." The conflict between the Jesus movement and its contemporaries was not really a conflict between two different religions, one ancient and the other an alternative version which was freshly in touch with the Spirit. The politics of compassion addressed the two central issues generated by the crisis in the Jewish social world: the growing internal division within Jewish society, and the deepening of the conflict with Rome.

   Jesus' emphasis upon compassion as the ethos and politics of the people of God contravened the barriers created by Israel's social world, made up of its blend of conventional wisdom, holiness, exclusivity, and patriarchy.

   Historically speaking, Jesus sought to transform his social world by creating an alternative community structured around compassion, with norms that moved in the direction of inclusiveness, acceptance, love, and peace. The alternative consciousness he taught as a sage generated a "contrast society," an "alternative consciousness" grounded in Spirit.

   Thus Jesus saw the life of the Spirit as "incarnational," informing and transforming the life of culture. His mission, however, did not simply involve the creation of an alternative community. It also involved him in radical criticism of his culture's present path, warning his people of the catastrophic historical direction in which they were headed. (TUB 176:1)

   From TUB: "When you finally see  Jerusalem being encompassed by the Roman armies after the revolt of the false prophets, then you will know that her desolation is at hand; then you must flee to the mountains." (176:1.4)

Jesus as prophet: Jesus identified with his prophetic predecessors such as Ezekiel and Jeremiah. Like these prophets, his twofold focus was God and the cultural life of his people in a time of crisis. Like them, the pattern of threat, indictment, and call to change ran throughout his ministry. Indeed his passion for the historical life of his people ultimately cost him his own life.

Crisis: the threat to the social world: The mission of Jesus was dominated by a sense of urgency and crisis. He charged his contemporaries with knowing how to interpret the signs of the weather, but not knowing how to interpret the present time. Images and parables of crisis and judgment abound in the Gospels--servants being suddenly called to account; maidens asleep and without oil for their lamps; people finding themselves shut out of a banquet because they didn't respond. He warned his generation that they, in particular, faced a crisis: "The blood of the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, will come upon this generation!"

   But what was the crisis? According to the biblical scholarship that dominated the 20^th century, Jesus thought the end of the world was nigh. But though Jesus did speak of a last judgment, there is no reason to believe he thought it was immanent. Rather, like the prophets before him, the crisis he announced was the threat of historical catastrophe for his society. (TUB 176:1)