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BASEL CHRONICLES | EDITORIAL | APRIL 2021

mourning; rend your hearts and not your
clothing (Joel 2: 12-13a). With a strong

sense of urgency, Joel calls for the entire
community to gather, suckling infants,
children, and aged alike, to fast, weep,

and plead for God's mercy.

In this season of Lent, is not Israel's plea
our plea too? Should we not cry out to

God by denying our self? Should we not
try to recollect, the ways in which we
have denied God, our neighbours, and

nature? Should we not give up on holding
to our false selfhood, that is resisting

from correcting ourselves?

Self-denial is at the Heart of The
Kingdom’s Message: The year before

the birth of Jesus, Jewish dissidents
from northern Palestine, seized a Roman

weapons arsenal in the town of
Sepphoris, four miles northwest of
Nazareth. They used the weapons to join

the revolts against Roman rule, going on
across Palestine after the death of Herod,

the Great. After entering Sepphoris,
clearing it of rebels, and killing many

residents, the Roman legions burned
down the city and sold many survivors

into slavery. As part of putting down the
broader revolt, they crucied 2,000

Jewish rebels. Crucixion thus was a
vile form of punishment executed by the

Romans, the Persians, and the
Assyrians. This involved three aspects

that are communicated to the public: 1.
Persecution 2. Public display 3.

Warning to others.