We have to go back to Jesus of Nazareth and ask: How does he go on humanizing this imperial world?
Most fundamentally he challenges us to give priority to mercy; without it, nothing else has any meaning. His honesty toward reality, his will to truth, his judgment on the situation of the oppressed majorities and the oppressive minorities, his call to be the voice of the voiceless against those who have too much voice. His reaction to that reality: defending the weak, denouncing and unmasking the oppressors.
His faithfulness in upholding honor and justice to the very end, in the face of internal crises and external persecutions. His freedom to bless and curse, to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath but also to place human beings ahead of the Sabbath; in short, his freedom to let nothing stop him from doing good.
His vision of an end to the misfortunes of the poor and happiness (therefore, blessedness) for his followers. His embrace of sinners and the marginalized, his sitting at the table and celebrating with them, his joy over God’s self-revelation to them. His signs–only modest signs of the kingdom–and his utopian horizon that took in the whole society, the world and history. And finally, his trust in a good God, close by, whom he called Father, while at the same time he remained attentive to the Father who is God, the unmanageable mystery.
These are marks of the anti-imperial spirit. They hold up to us the ecce homo, “behold the man,” and invite us to go beyond the imperial arrogance of civis romanus sum, “I am a citizen of the empire.”
Jon Sobrino
Source: Where Is God? via inward/outward