Jesus Christ And The IPOB (Part 1) -By Rev. Fr. John Oluoma

As of 2019, Google records that Israel has 74.2% of their population practicing Judaism, Islam had 27.8 % and my dearest Christianity came dismally third with 2.0% 🙁🙄🤔😢. A cruel fact to the sensibilities of, perhaps, some Christians.

This is the land where Jesus Christ was born, lived and ministered, these are his kith and kin, yet they gave him just a paltry 2.0% of believers. ‘This life no balance and these Jews no get joy at all’, falling the hand of their brother Jesus.

It means that if there were 20 religious people in Israel, 16 would be jews(same thing as believers in Judaism), 4 would be Muslims and only 1 would be a Christian. Statisticians in the house can correct me please. With these naked facts, can we say that Jesus failed in Israel?

It depends on what one is looking for. Jesus succeeded in his mission, which is the Redemption of mankind. Becoming christians(believers in Christ Jesus) or making his Jewish brothers and sisters Christians wasn’t his job, it’s their own job and the job of his disciples.

It is still pedagogically and logically valid to inquire why either Jesus ‘failed’ to make his Jewish folks Christians or why the Jews chose to ‘fail’ to become Christians🤔. This is the gist of this, hopefully, short piece I have titled JESUS AND THE IPOB.

Most jews refused to accept Jesus Christ as messiah or savior because he was both deliberately passive and aloof to the yearnings of the IPOB. Just like Nigeria, the jews were under political and military oppressors from Rome. There was only one need in the heart of every Israelite then, there was only one aspiration in their hearts, there was only ONE NEED for the messiah in their minds: the conquest and expulsion of the Romans. This is the only reason, or the ultimate reason for their expectation and preparation for the coming of the messiah.

Boom, the virgin got pregnant and delivered him. They heard, but were a bit disappointed that his birth was so ordinary that only animals witnessed it. Well, years later he bursted into the scene and gave them a glimmer of hope with the unprecedented miracles and wonders he did. They got excited and thronged around him hoping that he will eventually ginger.

Imagine the IPOB’S disappointment when the ‘messiah guy’ started teaching things that have no bearing with kicking the butts of the Romans. He would even be frugal with criticism against the political class but profligate with hitting at the religious leaders. Disappointment started turning to resentment and anger against the messiah dude.

In Lk 13:-1-5 they brought him a report of some IPOB guys whose blood Herod wasted in python dance. Definitely this should infuriate this messiah guy to start the uprising and miraculous expulsion of the wicked rulers. Did he disappoint? Yes, he did in the most gruesome words no IPOB wants to hear from a messiah: “do you think that these Galileans slaughtered by Herod were worse sinners than the rest of you? No, and unless you repent, you will all perish like them”. Goddammit, is this what our messiah dude can say in the face of our ordeal 😭? He didn’t even curse the C in C who gave such order and the army chief who executed, he was rather sermonizing the beleaguered.

In Mtt 14, Jesus got the news of the beheading of De Baptist, his own cousin for simply saying the truth. What did he do? He left for a quiet place, to mourn or pray. The only place he had a lazy harsh word for Herod was in Lk 13 where he called him fox after he was told that Herod was after his life. Fox? this is all Jesus could call this badass fellow? Fox isn’t even that bad, we have Fox News and media in the USA, a very successful enterprise.

The IPOB couldn’t imagine how a guy who could walk on water wouldn’t walk into the palace or baracks and slay the enemies. Their disappointment turned to frustration and anger. They decided this Jesus must go down the dirt. In fact, a messiah should be too powerful for death, so let’s kill him, if he dies he ain’t no messiah. The IPOB got their wish, he died. That’s it, he can’t be a messiah, at least not ours.

The IPOB took their fate in their own hands, they violently rose against their oppressors. Rome responded with the most brutal of forces, Jerusalem was razed to the ground, the jews were scattered all over the world, Jesus went back to heaven, his disciples continued his message, but the jews had their minds already made up, so only few of them became Christians even after 2000 years, obi ndia shiri ike o.(use Google Translator here😎)

N.B
since some of us are allergic to long reads, I will stop here for today. Part 2(conclusion) of JESUS AND THE IPOB will be posted tomorrow, stay tuned.