In this lecture, Dom Crossan begins by asking us to compare the hands of Caesar and the hands of Jesus. It sets up everything that follows. On one side, you’ve got Caesar—holding a spear in his left hand (we call it a scepter now, but it descended from the spear), and in his right hand, the orb of the world. Originally, there was a little bronze Nike on top, the goddess of victory crowning him. The message is clear: I own the world because I took it by force.
On the other side, Jesus. Left hand holds a book—not to take you over by force, but by persuasion. And the book is always closed, or if it’s open, it’s facing us, because he’s the norm of the book. He doesn’t need to read it. Right hand? Raised in blessing. Not to own the world, but to bless it.
Two radically different ways of seeing the world. And Dom spent an hour unpacking why that difference got Jesus killed.
This Lent, Go Deeper with Crossan
If this lecture lights something up in you—if you want to spend these weeks before Easter really digging into the historical Jesus, the Galilean context, and what it meant for Jesus to announce God’s kingdom in the shadow of Rome—we’ve got something for you.
Join Dom Crossan this Lent for “Jesus in Galilee.”
This is your opportunity to learn directly from one of the leading scholars on the historical Jesus. Visual lectures, live Q&As, and the kind of depth that will transform how you understand Jesus.
All the info and registration at www.CrossanClass.com
The Matrix of Nonviolent Resistance
Here’s what most of us miss when we read the passion narratives: Jesus didn’t invent nonviolent resistance. He stepped into a tradition that Jewish leaders had been developing for decades.
Dom walks through the evidence from Josephus—and he reads Josephus just as critically as any other text, including the New Testament. What he finds is remarkable: between the two great violent revolts against Rome (4 BCE and 66 CE), there were 70 years of experimentation with nonviolent resistance.
This wasn’t just “non-violence” in the sense of not fighting. This was resistance—programmatic, strategic, deliberate. When a small country faced a massive empire, some Jewish leaders decided, in the name of God, to resist without violence.
Two types emerge:
Prophetic reenactments: Leaders who took people out into the desert to reenact the great salvific events of the past—crossing the Jordan, the walls of Jericho falling. “Surely if we do it now, God will act again.”
Mass nonviolent protest strikes: Against tax censuses, against Pilate’s standards, against using temple money for an aqueduct, against Caligula’s statue.
The most stunning example: In 40 CE, when Caligula ordered his statue placed in the Jerusalem temple (the “abomination of desolation”), thousands of Jewish farmers left their fields at harvest time—or planting time—and sat in protest. They told the governor Petronius: “If we cannot prevail with you, we offer ourselves for destruction. We gladly put our throats at your disposal.”
An agricultural sit-down strike. Unarmed thousands. Families with wives and children approaching a Roman legion camp—the clearest possible signal that they weren’t coming to attack.
This is the matrix into which Dom places John the Baptist and Jesus.
Why Did Jesus Go to Jerusalem?
This is Dom’s second big question, and his answer surprised me.
Did Jesus go to Jerusalem for martyrdom? As vicarious atonement for sin (the Protestant model)? As obedient suffering (the Catholic model)?
Dom’s answer: Watch his actions, not his predictions.
“It was not difficult in the first century to get yourself executed. Antipas would’ve done it in Galilee. Jesus didn’t have to go to Jerusalem.”
So what was he doing?
Dom thinks Jesus was challenged—possibly by supporters and relatives in Jerusalem—to bring his Kingdom of God movement to the capital. “Get out of those hick towns in Galilee. Come up where the action is. If you’re serious about your movement, bring it here where it counts.”
Come up for a demonstration.
And they must have said: “We will supply protective security. By day in the temple, the crowd will be with you. By night at Bethany—get out of the city every night.”
Everything Jesus does makes sense if you read it as someone who expects to get away with it. Not someone seeking martyrdom. If he wanted martyrdom, it could have been arranged by midnight on Palm Sunday.
Two Demonstrations, Not Random Acts
The first demonstration: The entry into Jerusalem. You know this one—we call it the “triumphal entry,” but it’s actually an anti-triumphal entry. Pilate is coming in from the west with extra troops, probably on a horse. Jesus is coming in from the east, from Bethany, on a donkey. Sometimes shown with the foal beside her—a nursing donkey.
This is street theater. Prophetic performance. The subtext is Zechariah: “Your king comes to you, triumphant and victorious, humble, riding on a donkey. He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, the warhorse from Jerusalem. The battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations.”
The second demonstration: What we call the “cleansing of the temple.” Dom insists this is wrong. Jesus isn’t cleansing it—he’s symbolically shutting it down.
And here’s the key: the money changers aren’t doing anything wrong. If you’re a pilgrim wanting to make an offering, you need to change your currency. That’s their job. But Jesus is making a point about the temple’s collaboration with Roman imperial power.
The phrase “den of thieves” doesn’t mean the temple is where thieving happens. A den is where thieves run for safety after they’ve done their thieving elsewhere. Read Jeremiah 7. This is what almost got Jeremiah killed. Jesus is doing the same thing.
How Rome Handled Resistance
Here’s where it gets really important.
For violent resistance, Rome crucified the leader and his major supporters. That was the whole point—a horrible carnival of death so people would see what happens.
For nonviolent resistance, Rome only crucified the leader. The civil law was explicit: “The authors of sedition and tumult—those who stir up the people—shall according to their rank be crucified, cast to wild beasts, or deported to an island.”
That’s exactly what happens to Jesus. And to John of Patmos (deported). And to Ignatius of Antioch (wild beasts).
The Roman strategy: Crucify the leader and the followers will disappear.
Which is why, by the end of the first century, both Josephus and Tacitus have to explain why it didn’t work with Jesus. “Those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. And the tribe of Christians to this day has not disappeared.”
We crucified the leader. And it didn’t work.
The Core Question
Dom ends with the parabolic dialogue between Jesus and Pilate in John’s gospel:
“My kingdom is not from this world. If it were, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over. But my followers do not fight.”
That’s not passivity. That’s not withdrawal. That’s the core difference between the rule of God and the rule of civilization. One is based on nonviolent resistance to violence. The other is based on the monopoly of violence.
Which side are you on? Caesar or Christ?
That was the basic question they were asking then. It might be the basic question we need to ask now.
Join the Online Lenten Class with John Dominic Crossan!
This lecture is just a teaser. If you want to spend these weeks before Easter going deeper—understanding the historical matrix, the Galilean context, the radical politics of Jesus’ movement—Dom is teaching a class.
“Jesus in Galilee” starts this Lent.
Visual lectures. Live Q&As. The chance to learn directly from one of the most important New Testament scholars of our time.
This is the kind of scholarship that changes how you read the Gospels. It changed how I read them. It might change how you follow Jesus.
Register now at www.CrossanClass.com
What can we actually know about Jesus of Nazareth? And, what difference does it make?
For over five decades, Dr. John Dominic Crossan has been one of the world’s foremost scholars of the historical Jesus—rigorously reconstructing the life, teachings, and world of a first-century Jewish peasant who proclaimed God’s Rule in Roman-occupied Galilee. His work has shaped an entire generation of scholarship and transformed how millions understand the figure at the center of Christian faith.
This Lenten class begins where all of Dom’s work begins: with history. What was actually happening in Galilee in the 20s CE? What did Herod Antipas’ transformation of the “Sea of Galilee” into the commercial “Sea of Tiberias” mean for peasant fishing communities? Why did Jesus emerge from John’s baptism movement proclaiming God’s Rule through parables—and what made that medium so perfectly suited to that message?
Only by understanding what Jesus’ parables meant then can we wrestle with what they might demand of us now.
Preview Livestream - Tuesday, January 27th (10am PT / 1pm ET) Watch here!
4 Visual Lectures - Each pre-recorded video lecture features Dr. Crossan’s masterful teaching, drawing on decades of historical research and his many visits across the Holy Land.
5 Livestream QnAs - Each week includes a live question and answer session with Dr. Crossan and Dr. Tripp Fuller—your chance to engage directly with one of the world’s leading Jesus scholars.
Online Group - Connect with other participants in the private Facebook group and access all lectures and livestream replays on the Class Resource Page.
Join Us at Theology Beer Camp 2026!
Look—most church conferences can be, let’s be honest, painful. Bad coffee, weird carpet, breakout sessions that make you question your life choices. We do things differently. Theology Beer Camp is three days of incredible speakers, honest conversations, craft beer, and a community of people who actually want to wrestle with the big questions. We laugh, we learn, we argue, we pray—and yeah, (and some of us) drink delicious beer while we do it. This October—the 8th through the 10th—we’re gathering in Kansas City, and I want you there. If you’ve ever wanted to join us—or if you’re ready to come back—this is the time to grab your ticket. Head to TheologyBeerCamp.com and lock in your spot: beer, theology, and some of the best conversations you’ll have all year.
