April 14, 2025
MM#403--Holy Week's Great Misunderstanding: When Liberation Theology Gets Jesus Wrong
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Palm Sunday presents us with a profound theological question that goes beyond waving branches and shouted hosannas: Was Jesus Christ a political revolutionary? Through Pope Benedict XVI's illuminating work "Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week," we untangle this complex debate that has shaped Christian understanding for decades.
Liberation theology, which emerged from Latin America during times of socioeconomic inequality, portrays Jesus as a champion of the oppressed who directly challenged Roman rule and religious elites. The imagery is compelling – a humble teacher riding a donkey into Jerusalem while crowds cheer, seemingly fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy about a king who would liberate the people. For communities suffering under oppression, this revolutionary Jesus offers a powerful model for social action.
But Benedict presents a fundamentally different perspective. Without minimizing Jesus's concern for justice, he argues that viewing Christ primarily as a political revolutionary profoundly misunderstands His divine mission. The donkey wasn't a subversive jab at Roman imperialism but revealed a kingdom "not of this world" based on God's peace rather than worldly power. Similarly, the temple cleansing wasn't inciting class struggle but restoring God's sacred presence. Throughout his ministry – from the temptations in the desert to the Sermon on the Mount – Jesus consistently rejected violence as His path.
This distinction matters deeply. If Jesus is merely a social reformer, Christianity becomes just another ideology rather than a transformative encounter with the living God. While liberation theology admirably emphasizes justice, Benedict warns it risks missing Christ's deeper spiritual purpose. On this Palm Sunday, we're invited to unite faith and action without reducing the Son of God to human political categories. Join us as we explore how properly understanding Jesus's entry into Jerusalem transforms our approach to both faith and justice today. How might your view of Christ's mission shape your own spiritual journey?
Key Points from the Episode:
• Liberation theology emerged from Latin America, interpreting Jesus through a lens of social and political liberation
• Pope Benedict's three-volume series on Jesus Christ is respected across Christian denominations for its theological depth
• Benedict argues Jesus deliberately rejected the zealot approach of violent revolution
• The symbolism of riding a donkey fulfilled Zechariah's prophecy but represented God's peace, not political subversion
• The temple cleansing was about restoring God's presence, not instigating class struggle
• Framing Jesus as merely a social reformer risks reducing the Church to an NGO rather than the body of Christ
• While liberation theology's commitment to justice is admirable, it can miss Christ's deeper spiritual mission
Keep fighting the good fight and get your mojo on.
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00:07 - Welcome to Theory to Action
00:26 - Introducing the Palm Sunday Question
01:11 - Liberation Theology Context
03:28 - Pope Benedict's Three-Volume Series
05:01 - The Donkey's True Symbolism
08:07 - Jesus vs. the Zealots
12:22 - Reflection and Conclusion
WEBVTT
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Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.
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Now here's your host, david Kaiser.
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Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute.
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As today is Palm Sunday, we're going to cover some Christian theology here.
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We're going to dive into the question that's been debated for decades was Jesus a political revolutionary?
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We're going to look at it through the perspective of Pope Benedict XVI in his book Jesus of Nazareth, holy Week, volume 2, where he addresses claims of liberation theology, specifically the idea that Jesus' entry into Jerusalem was a revolutionary act against Roman and Jewish authorities.
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Now, liberal and liberation theologians, gustav Gutierrez and John Sobrino, often portrayed Jesus as a champion of the oppressed, calling for systematic change.
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But is that really accurate?
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So today, palm Sunday, we're going to break down Pope Benedict's take and why he argues that this view misses the bigger picture.
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Now, first, some context misses the bigger picture.
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Now, first, some context.
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Liberation theology emerged in the Latin America region, especially during times of poverty and injustice, and it interprets Jesus's life through a political lens of social liberation, and that's why we're taking this entry Jesus's entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday for today's podcast episode.
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You got crowds waving palms, shouting hosannas, liberation theologians often see this as a bold political statement.
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They reference Zechariah's prophecy about a king riding in on a donkey, arguing that Jesus was challenging the Roman rule in the temple elite, fueling hope for a possible uprising.
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It's a powerful image, certainly especially for oppressed communities who see Jesus as that revolutionary figure inspiring action.
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But, like we said, pope Benedict in his second volume of Jesus of Nazareth, published in 2011, offers a different perspective.
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He doesn't downplay the importance of Palm Sunday, but he firmly believes it wasn't about earthly power or political rebellion.
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So where does that leave us?
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Let's unpack Benedict's argument and see why he thinks this revolutionary image of Jesus misses the heart of the gospel in the heart of Christ's mission, of the gospel in the heart of Christ's mission.
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So first let's take a step back.
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Pope Benedict the 16th wrote a three-volume series that dives into the life of Jesus the Christ.
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First volume was in 2007.
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It covers his life from baptism to the transfiguration.
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The second volume, like we said, written in 2011, focuses only on Holy Week.
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And the third, 2012, published in 2012, explores the infancy narratives.
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Now, this series is widely seen as a brilliant blend of historical research and theological reflection.
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Many scholars from across Christianity, no matter their denomination, no matter their theological reflection spectrum, where they fall on that spectrum, whether conservative or liberal, or just wherever they fall on that spectrum.
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Everyone, almost throughout all of Christianity, has praised Pope Benedict's the 16th three-volume set as a meaningful contribution to understanding Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
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So back to this question about liberation, because Benedict begins with the entry itself.
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For that, let's go to our book of the day, jesus of Nazareth, volume 2, holy Week by Pope Benedict XVI.
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Go on to the book.
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For now let us note this Jesus is indeed making a royal claim.
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He wants his path and his action to be understood in terms of Old Testament promises that are fulfilled in his person.
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The Old Testament speaks of him and vice versa.
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He acts and lives within the word of God, not according to the projects and wishes of his own.
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His claim is based on obedience to the mission received from his father.
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His path is a path into the heart of God's word.
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At the same time, through this anchoring of the text in Zechariah 9.9, a zealot exegesis of the kingdom is excluded.
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Jesus is not building on violence.
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He is not instigating a military revolt against Rome.
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His power is of another kind.
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It is in God's poverty, god's peace, that he identifies the only power that he can redeem.
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The only power that he can redeem.
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And again that comes to us in Pope Benedict XVI's Holy Week, volume two book on Jesus of Nazareth.
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So again, let's be sure we capture the nugget of wisdom.
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Here it is again.
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At the same time, through this anchoring of the text in Zechariah 9.9, a quote zealot exegesis of the kingdom is excluded.
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Jesus is not building on violence, he is not instigating a military revolt against Rome.
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His power is of another kind.
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It is in God's poverty, god's peace, that he identifies the only power that can redeem.
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And that's key Now liberation.
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Theologians see the donkey as a subversive jab at Roman pomp.
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Emperors rode warhorses, not beasts of burden.
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But Benedict argues it's deeper than the symbolism.
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Jesus indeed fulfills Zechariah 9.9, which speaks of quote a king humble riding on a donkey.
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But not to rally a revolt, but to reveal a kingdom.
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Quote, not of this world.
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He's deliberate here.
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Jesus isn't mimicking earthly rulers or inciting rebellion.
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The crowds may have wanted a warrior king, but Jesus offers something else entirely.
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And this leads to Benedict's core critique of liberation theology.
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It projects our modern politics onto Jesus, and that's bad theology, in fact.
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Let's go back to the book for another quote.
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According to the thesis of Eisler and Brandon, which led to a great wave of political theologies and theologies of revolution In the 1960s.
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Jesus belongs within this line of the zealots.
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This cleansing of the temple serves as a central proof of this thesis, since it was unambiguously an act of violence that could not have been achieved without violence, even though the evangelists did their best to conceal this.
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Moreover, the fact that the people hailed Jesus as son of David, a harbinger of the Davidic kingdom, is construed as a political statement.
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Construed as a political statement, and the crucifixion of Jesus by the Romans for claiming to be king of the Jews is seen as definitive proof that he was a revolutionary, a zealot, and that he was executed as such.
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Since that time, there has been a noticeable reduction in the wave of theologies of revolution that attempted to justify violence as a means of building a better world, the kingdom, by interpreting Jesus as a zealot.
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The cruel consequences of religiously motivated violence are only too evident to us all.
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Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity.
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On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivations may be.
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It serves not humanity but in humanity, humanity but in humanity.
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And again, our nugget of wisdom is that those interpret Jesus as a zealot miss the whole point.
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As Benedict wrote, the cruel consequences of religiously motivated violence are only too evident to us all.
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Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity.
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On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist.
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However idealistic its religious motivations may be, it serves not humanity but inhumanity.
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And the Zealots you might recall and the Zealots you might recall, were Jewish insurgents fighting Roman rule.
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Now, the Liberationists might compare Jesus' actions to their zeal, especially since his entry happens near Passover, a time ripe with unrest down through the ages.
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But Benedict points out that Jesus consistently rejects this rule.
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Now, for example, let's talk about the temple cleansing which follows the entry and often fuels more and more of these revolutionary readings.
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Liberation theologies go right to Jesus driving out the merchants as a strike against economic exploitation, tying it to his solidarity with the poor.
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Now, that's a powerful image, granted, but Benedict, cautions against oversimplifying everything connected there.
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Let's go back to the book.
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But what about Jesus?
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Was he a zealot?
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Was the cleansing of the temple a summons to political revolution, to political revolution?
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Jesus' whole ministry and his message from the temptations in the desert, his baptism in the Jordan, the Sermon on the Mount right up to the parable of the last judgment in Matthew 25, his response to Peter's confession point in a radically different direction, as we saw in part one of this book, meaning volume one, where Benedict goes on and on against this notion of Jesus being a revolutionary.
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Back to this quote.
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No, a violent revolution, killing others in God's name was not his way.
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His quote zeal for the kingdom of God took quite a different form.
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We do not know exactly what the pilgrims had in mind when they spoke, while enthroning Jesus, of the coming kingdom of our father David, but what Jesus himself thought and intended he made very clear by his gestures and by the prophetic words that form the context for his actions.
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For Benedict, it's about God's presence and his gestures and his words and his intentions, not about class struggle.
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And what does he say again?
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What's our nugget of wisdom from this passage?
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Jesus' whole ministry, his message from the temptations in the desert, his baptism in the Jordan, the Sermon on the Mount right up to the parable of the last judgment and his response to Peter's confession point in a radically different direction, as we saw in part one of this book.
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No, violent revolution, killing others in God's name was not his way.
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His zeal for the kingdom of God took quite a different form.
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Benedict ultimately warns that framing the cleansing of the temple politically risks what he calls a secular haramunic what he calls a secular haramunic, where Jesus becomes such a proto-Marxist rather than being who he was the Son of God.
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So it's very dangerous stuff to misinterpret and get theology extremely bad, as these liberation theologians do.
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So why does all this matter?
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Benedict's critique isn't just an academic exercise, he believes.
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Misreading Jesus as a political revolutionary distorts faith drastically.
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If Jesus is only a social reformer, then the church becomes a mere NGO, not the body of Christ.
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Liberation theologians and liberation theology has a passion for justice.
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That's noble.
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We certainly can respect that.
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But it risks it deeply risks missing this deeper call that Christ is striving all humanity for.
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So in today's Mojo Minute and on this Palm Sunday, we've explored the critical distinctions Pope Benedict XVI made between faith and ideology, and why understanding Jesus and his true nature as the Son of God and not just a revolutionary figure is essential.
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Liberation Theology's commitment to justice is admirable, but it is misaligned with the church's deeper spiritual mission and Christ's divine call.
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On this Palm Sunday let's reflect on the profound call to unite faith and action without losing sight of Jesus, the Christ and his divine purpose.
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For this week and as always, let's keep fighting the good fight.
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Thank you for joining us.
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We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.
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Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.
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Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.
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