My recent interactions with persecuted Christians in in the underground church in Iran have got me thinking afresh about Jesus’ outsider, subversive, ‘behind enemy lines’ status. In these days when some calling themselves Christians seek political power and control, we must lean into our stranger and alien status, seeking understanding as to what it means to follow Jesus as the Messiah, and enter his kingdom “not of this world.”
Last week I met with ten Iranians via Zoom, who asked me to take them through Guerrilla Gospel– which my Persian-speaking interpreter communicated as we worked through through the following excerpt from the Preface and Chapter One before doing some other Bible studies.
“Jesus of Nazareth is my inspiration for life and ministry, and what I call “Bible studies” or “guerrilla gospel encounters.” Through his life and teaching recorded in the Gospels of the New Testament, he defines the word gospel, which means good news or liberating message. According to New Testament Scriptures, Jesus is God’s Son, Israel’s Messiah, and the Lord himself in the flesh. He was born into a world marked by oppression and injustice to announce and embody God’s global liberation movement. Like an insurgent, Jesus comes in under the radar, behind enemy lines, and then builds a foundation of trust with a growing entourage of humble followers. He resists the authorities of his day, along with their legal systems, and he calls others to join him.
Jesus incites a revolution that he calls the Kingdom of God. He starts out incognito, but after his baptism at age thirty, he publicly demonstrates an unprecedented authority in his teaching, which is backed up by acts of healing, advocacy, and liberation on behalf of the oppressed, poor, or disenfranchised. In Jesus’ many encounters in the Gospels, he breaks the established rules to advocate for the marginalized. He confronts the powers—both visible and invisible, modeling a holistic spiritual warfare that brings freedom.
I am compelled by the way he loves people so freely and effectively wherever he goes, seeking and finding the lost and forsaken, raising up the downtrodden and hopeless, offering abundant life to all who will follow him. Reading about Jesus in the Gospels inspires me to follow him, to go deep with him, to tune into his instructions in my daily life, and to work with him to reach others with the good news he embodies and proclaims throughout the New Testament.
Following Comandante Jesús
I joke with former gang members involved in Tierra Nueva’s ministry about how Jesus is our comandante, which is Spanish for military or guerrilla commander. He’s the one who calls the shots, instructing soldier disciples in the trenches of warfare to advance the movement as an unprecedented and truly life-giving insurgency, to win over inhabitants, neighborhoods and people groups of the world for the kingdom of God. These friends are used to gang shot-callers or are themselves shot-callers. But they are tired of living in fear, grieving beloved homies killed in drive-by shootings, and spending years of their lives serving long prison sentences. We love that Jesus is an outsider, on the hunt for recruits, eager to go out on missions. We love that he gathers with his confidants in the mountains or in boats, on foot or on the move from town-to-town, stopping along roadsides, visiting people in homes, teaching and healing crowds along the way in fields or synagogues, on beaches or in the wilderness.
Talking like this about Jesus gets us excited. We’ve all seen too many casualties of the fast life of both legal and illegal workaholism, drugs, alcohol, and poverty, gang violence and domestic violence. We’ve had enough of relationship breakdown, children taken by Child Protective Services, incarceration, premature death by suicide, homicide, overdose, and different illnesses. Many of us know firsthand the life-restoring bene- fits of Jesus’ saving help and want to see others benefit too. Being part of a movement of true liberation compels us, giving us a new reason to live— and perhaps even something to die for.
The dictionary definition for “guerrilla” works to a certain extent to describe Jesus and his followers, past and present: “a member of a band of irregular soldiers that uses guerrilla warfare, harassing the enemy by surprise raids, sabotaging communication and supply lines.” In Spanish, guerrilla is the diminutive for guerra (war), which includes the notion of small-scale war. Guerrilla warfare is defined as “the use of hit-and- run tactics by small, mobile groups of irregular forces operating in terri- tory controlled by a hostile, regular force.” The ministry of Jesus is all about reaching and empowering ordinary people and usually involves prolonged struggle against formidable powers. It requires flexibility, adaptability, and being on-point around the clock.
Unlike modern guerrilla warfare, Jesus refuses physical violence, coercion, and terror (Mt 26:52; Lk 9:55). But like guerrilla activity, Jesus uses unconventional tactics, travels in small, mobile bands (Mk 9:30), recruits from among the outcasts (Mk 2:15), advocates for the oppressed (Lk 13:16), depends on local collaborators for support (Lk 8:3; Jn 12:1-2), and multiplies his followers and thereby his fighting force (Lk 10:1).’
There’s a subversive dimension of Jesus’ presence as God infiltrates the human race. God’s strategy is to be born undercover, behind enemy lines, into a family that is both humble and yet has ties to the people’s hero, King David. Jesus, though, takes the revolution to a new level. Jesus’ first thirty years as a carpenter in Nazareth reveal how keen God is about sleeper-cell beginnings as a way to imbed his yeast-like realm outside the radar of empire. Once activated at his baptism, Jesus embodies an unprecedented authority that attracts adherents, and the movement multiplies amongst the disenfranchised.
Jesus’ main way of operating is to meet up with people wherever he finds them. He is not a commander who runs things from a safe distance, but an on-the-ground, front-line activist. He often takes the initiative, going after people personally. He sees and calls ordinary people—fish- ermen (Mt 4:18–22) and tax collectors (Mt 9:9), including the chief tax-collector, Zaccheus, whom he calls down from a tree, and then invites himself to his house for a stay (Lk 19:1–10). Jesus sees a man paralyzed for thirty-eight years among invalids at a sheep gate, asks him if he wants to be well, and then heals him on the spot (Jn 5:2–9). Jesus also attracts adherents from among more privileged sectors: the Pharisee leader, Nicodemus, who is impressed by his signs (Jn 3:1–2); Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward, Chuza who supports Jesus and the disciples financially; (Lk 8:3) a synagogue official who is desperate to see his dying daughter healed (Lk 8:41); a Roman centurion who begs Jesus to heal his slave (Mt 8:5–9). Are you ready to join up?
Other times, Jesus’ encounters are a bit on the fly, unplanned meetings that seem to be interruptions. Blind people and lepers cry to him for mercy from the roadsides, and he stops to heal or cleanse, teaching as he goes (see Lk 18:35–43; Mk 10:46–52; Mt 8:1–3). People also come to Jesus with the need for deliverance (e.g., Mt 8:16, 9:32–33; Mk 5:2–16). In every case, these encounters become opportunities for Jesus to teach, challenge, and offer immediate relief. In one instance, men cut a hole in the roof and lower a paralyzed man down in front of Jesus and some antagonistic religious leaders, and Jesus spontaneously declares to the paralytic, “your sins are forgiven” (Mk 2:2–7). Then Jesus proves his authority by telling the man to “rise, take up your pallet and go home” (Mk 2:8–11). Such actions inspire discussion and sometimes aggression from Jesus’ enemies.
Jesus often uses the language of guerrilla warfare in his instructions to his disciples, and there’s a combativeness to his words and actions throughout the Gospels. “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you,” Jesus instructs seventy of his fresh recruits (Lk 10:19). He also proclaims violence against unseen enemies: “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8). Since “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one,” Jesus and his disciples must organize a strike force and be adequately equipped for the task (1 Jn 5:18).
Jesus also uses kingdom tactics and an arsenal of weapons that are “not of this world” (Jn 18:36), such as prayer, fasting, forgiveness, love, and the power of God. His armory also includes words, which he and his disciples wield as an integral part of their mission to announce the good news to all of creation (Mk 16:15). Jesus himself says: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Mt 10:34). This sword is elsewhere called “the sword of the Spirit” and is equated with the Word of God (Eph 6:17) as part of the believers’ arsenal (Eph 6:13-17). Hebrews 4:12 states this clearly: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.” Jesus even drives out evil spirits with a word (Mt 8:16).
Jesus’ ministry of the Word includes teaching, preaching, healing, deliverance, and prophecy. Jesus commands his disciples: “Preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give” (Mt 10:7–8). All these actions and others too are part of Jesus’ weaponry. Physical violence is never included in Jesus’ tactics—but rather active enemy love. This love includes the resistance of evil and injustice through exposure and verbal confrontation as well as public non-compliance with unjust laws.
Throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, he is neither a religious nor social insider, but operates outside the circles of Jewish religious organizations and certainly of the Roman Empire. He does not enjoy elevated status within a religion collaborating with the powers, nor is he an accepted leader by the dominant culture. Rather, he lives outside an overarch- ing theocracy, and the kingdom he proclaims is decidedly “not of this world” (Jn 18:36). In fact, in a subversive analogy he compares himself to a thief who comes to burglarize a house (Mt 24:43; Lk 12:39), first tying up the strong man before robbing his goods (Mt 12:29; Mk 3:27). This imagery suggests that the world is like a prison, which implies that Jesus’ mission—and therefore ours—is to engage in prison breaks that will liberate captives rather than reform and take over the prison! Jesus even commissions Peter as head of a movement called church to storm the gates of hell to free captives (Mt 16:18).
Unlike contemporary religions and political ideologies that seek to increase control and domination, Jesus doesn’t call his followers to take up arms in a combatant way to prevent or defend against the kingdoms of this world (Mt 20:25-26). In fact, Jesus rebukes his disciples for trying to defend him with weapons, saying: “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Mt 26:53).
Jesus describes himself as “from above” (Jn 3:31) in contrast to every- one else “from below,” (Jn 8:23) and tells his contemporaries that he will soon leave to a place where they can’t find him (Jn 7:34–36). From his rightful place in this kingdom, he informs us of heaven’s priorities so that we can embody his “on earth as in heaven” agenda (Mt 6:10). Today, in our increasingly post-Christendom world, we must deliberately own our “aliens and strangers” status (1 Pt 1:1, 2:11) by fully embracing our heavenly “no longer strangers and aliens” identity (Eph 2:19). As you follow Jesus, an identity shift happens that will put you at odds with the culture and dominant values around you, leading others to possibly view you as a kind of resister. Jesus describes himself as one who is rejected (Jn 12:48), hated (Jn 7:7, 15:18, 23, 24, 25), and persecuted (Jn 15:20). He promises his followers that they will experience these things as well,4 as he includes them as “not of the world” (Jn 17:14).
In contrast to guerrilla combatants who operate in secrecy, sneaking around the powerful state, Jesus mostly speaks and acts openly in public settings. He teaches in synagogues and in the Jerusalem temple, over- turning the tables of money-changers and directly confronting religious leaders (Mt 21:12-13). “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret,” Jesus tells Pilate (Jn 18:20). Jesus considers the temple his Father’s house (Lk 2:49) and recognizes that “the earth is the Lord’s” (Ps 24:1). Yet when Jewish leaders plot Jesus’ death, he stops moving about in Judea and limits his walking to Galilee (Jn 7:1). When temple leaders in Jerusalem pick up stones to throw at Jesus, he hides himself (Jn 8:59). When they try to seize him, he eludes “their grasp” (Jn 10:39). When Jewish authorities begin planning together to kill him, “he no longer” continues “to walk publicly,” but goes “away from there to the country near the wilderness” (Jn 11:54). The fact that chief priests and Pharisees order the people to inform them about Jesus’ whereabouts in order to arrest him marks Jesus as a subversive troublemaker who must take precautions (see Jn 11:57). So does the fact that he is eventually crucified between two criminals (Lk 23:32).
Jesus’ public ministry only lasts three years before he is arrested and executed as a law-breaker by crucifixion. In that short time, Jesus focuses on living out his Father’s mission. He recruits twelve disciples, who travel with him everywhere, receiving his teaching and witnessing his direct action. Eleven of these disciples are among the 120 who receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus’ explosive life inspires a movement of followers, who—after being empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost—continue to embody and proclaim the kingdom of God.
The life and teachings of Jesus fulfill God’s historic mission to save the world and set the bar for action until he returns. Jesus’ many encounters with people are written up in the New Testament Scriptures to be read and discussed today, inviting and inspiring us towards Christ-like action. Our task is to figure out how we can transmit his rich teaching in similar places on behalf of similar beneficiaries—how we can “get away with a Bible study,” as I’m fond of saying—or with a guerrilla gospel encounter.
