Howard Thurman,
FOR THE INWARD JOURNEY, “Jesus and the Disinherited,” pp.128-129
(Friends United Press, Richmond, Indiana: 1984)
“It was this
kind of atmosphere that characterized the life of the Jewish
community when Jesus was a youth in Palestine. The urgent question
was what must be the attitude toward Rome. Was any attitude possible
that would be morally tolerable and at the same time preserve a basic
self-esteem—without which life could not possibly have any meaning?
The question was not academic. It was the most crucial of questions.
In essence, Rome was the enemy; Rome symbolized total frustration;
Rome was the great barrier of peace of mind. And Rome was everywhere.
No Jewish person of the period could deal with the question of his
practical life, his vocation, his place in society, until first he
had settled deep within himself this critical issue.
“This is the
position of the disinherited in every age. What must be the attitude
toward the rulers, the controllers of political, social, economic
life? This is the question of the Negro in American life. Until he
has faced and settled that question, he cannot inform his environment
with reference to his own life, whatever may be his preparation or
his pretensions.
“In the main,
there were two alternatives faced by the Jewish minority of which
Jesus was a part. Simply stated, these were to resist or not to
resist. But each of these alternatives has within it secondary
alternatives.”
