Context

Anyone who teaches literature or art - whether it be a novel, a play, a painting or a piece of music - will know that setting the scene for that piece of art is crucial in helping students to understand the world from which the art has emerged. In Drama we have bulky sections of notes titled 'Sociopolitical Context' which go with every play we study because one cannot understand the significance of a play if one doesn't know the world in which it was written. 

'Waiting for Godot' only makes sense when the existential backdrop of trench warfare, concentration camps, atomic fallout and despair in humanity are applied to the general milieu. 'A Dolls House' becomes a tool for protest when one realizes that upper class woman at the time in which it was written were considered possessions handed from father to husband, they had no right to vote and were seldom educated. So when Nora walks out on her husband and three children we understand why original audiences were appalled. And 'The Island' becomes a dangerous weapon that exposes, for the first time, the conditions of prisoners surviving on Robben Island at a time in South African history where even just belonging to a banned organization will land you on the island. 

Context is key to everything. Psychology, anthropology, economics, politics... you name it. And context is key to religion. I suspect that very often in the heat of spiritual fervor religious context is the first thing to get the boot, which really is such a pity. 

And yet, I would argue, as human minds evolve to start understanding how little we actually know about this vast unknown universe that we live in context becomes paramount. As our concept of things seen and unseen, explored and unexplored, grows so too should our awe in God grow. 

Jesus was amazing at putting things into context, of evolving the minds of those around Him to understand a greater context. When He emerged as the Messiah His disciples believed that He would be their Messiah but the context of His sacrifice would be far greater than that. 

I have recently had the enormous privilege of being the first to read my aunt, Shelley Wood Gauld's book 'Yeshua's First Century World : Backdrops to the Gospel Drama.' She has taken 9 years to write this book with her study companion Rabbi Dr Arthur Seltzer. 

I have found the book to be completely fascinating. Certainly my own context of having taught in a Jewish school and having lived in a Middle Easten country has helped build my fascination with the topic but I feel that anyone wanting to explore this pivotal time in history would have a field day with this book. And I'm not just talking about 'religious' people. I'm taking about people interested in psychology, anthropology, economics, politics...

Shelley's book, certainly for me, sheds light on the complexities of the world into which Jesus was born. It sets the context. And it fills in gaps that now make sense. It explores the notion that Jesus was born into an essene community, a context which then explains so much about his parents, his lifestyle and the profound knowledge he had, even as a child. It explores the Semitic gospels and their possible authors. She suggests why so many of the big names like Lazarus, Mary Magdalena, James and co are barely mentioned in Matthew, Mark and Luke. And it's because they were still alive when these books were written and thus they needed to be protected from those who were earnestly trying to wipe out all those closest to Jesus. By this time John the Baptist had already been killed and so his name is used freely. And suggestion is in fact made that Mary Magdalena was the author of one of the gospels. 

But I am actually just grazing the surface of a book that explores the hugely complex Jewish perspective from which Jesus emerged. And I am still processing a lot of the deep Jewish history that cannot, and should not, be summarized in a few short stereotypes and assumptions. Jesus was a Jew who came to free the world. And in that is so much complexity and nuance and wonder. 

Because in Jesus there is so much complexity and nuance and wonder. 

And that is what this book has done for me. It has made sense of the gaps. And it has not horrified me, but challenged me and broadened me. It has rested well with both my mind and my spirit and, if anything, reminded me of the courage our key role players had in both protecting and preserving the legacy of Christ so that all may know Him. 

To understand why a person says and does what they do we have to understand the context of the world in which they live and how that world has shaped them. Jesus was shaped in this world and the next, He came to change this world and the next. The context of the Bethlehem into which he was born posed many challenges to the mission He was to accomplish. And telling His story afterwards was also a challenge to those called to be His witnesses. And it is at this crucial time in history that a broad understanding of Israel, Rome, Greece and the Middle East becomes the backdrop to one of the greatest dramas the world will ever witness. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0639705278?ref_=pe_93986420_774957520