4.24.2004
From PoMoXian on the Kingdom
This recent post on PoMoXian is from Chris Criminger. I thought it worth sharing.
Hi everyone,
I have been doing some studying on Jesus and the kingdom of God. Jesus view of the kingdom was very different and in conflict to other views around him (from Qumran separatism, Herod's political kingdom, and the Zealots or Sicarii military revolt option). Jesus kingdom teachings did not conform to the expectations of his day. He warned about God's coming judgment and vindication of true Israel. Jesus was not founding a new church because Israel was already one (the people of God). His intent was reforming Israel from the inside (not forming a different community altogether). The kingdom story that Jesus preached can not be reduced to individual ethics or individualized responses to God's grace. Jesus words and message was always within the context of community.
Here was one of Jesus most radical and acted out parables . . . Jesus befriended not only the oppressed (contra liberation theologians) but also their oppressors. One of his disciples was a tax collector; he healed a daughter of a Roman soldier who represented the military enemy of Israel; He touched people who were viewed as unclean like Lepers and social lepers like prostitutes; while he also dined and ate with Pharisees and members of the religious parties of Judaism who stressed ritual purity. Jesus neither plays our power political games nor the politics of polarization. Jesus welcomed anyone who was willing to follow Him.
Lastly, I like what Philip Yancey says about Jesus and the Kingdom in his "The Jesus I Never Knew." Yancey says, "Jesus pattern of behavior disappointed all who sought a leader in the traditional mold (political and succes driven models). Jesus, tended to flee from, rather than cater to, large groups. He insulted the memory of Israel's glory days, comparing King Solomon to a common day lily. The one time a crowd tried to crown him king by force, he mysteriously withdrew. And when Peter finally did wield a sword on his behalf, Jesus healed the victim's wounds . . . Jesus was talking about a strangely diffferent kingdom and Jesus was rejected, in large part, because he did not measure up to the national image of what a Messiah was supposed to look like."
"Despite Jesus plain example, many of his followers have been unable to resist choosing the way of Herod over the way of Jesus. The Crusaders who pillaged the Near East, the Conquistadors who converted the New World at the point of a sword, the Christian exploration of Africa who cooperated with the slave trade------we are still feeling the aftershocks from their mistakes . . . And whenever the church has intermingled with the state (the Holy Roman Empire, Cromwell's England, Calvin's Geneva), the appeal of the faith suffers as well. Jesus own metaphors of the kingdom describe a kind of 'secret force' that works from within. He said nothing of a triumphant church sharing power with the authorities" (pp.241, 246).
Yancey goes on to say, "This trend troubles me because the gospel of Jesus was not primarily a political platform . . . a democracy may give Christians every right to express themselves but we dare not invest so much in the kingdom of this world that we neglect our main task of introducing people to a different kind of kingdom, one based solely on God's grace and forgiveness" (p.247).
Jesus message of the kingdom was nothing short of a revolution of grace!
Grace and peace - Chris Criminger
This recent post on PoMoXian is from Chris Criminger. I thought it worth sharing.
Hi everyone,
I have been doing some studying on Jesus and the kingdom of God. Jesus view of the kingdom was very different and in conflict to other views around him (from Qumran separatism, Herod's political kingdom, and the Zealots or Sicarii military revolt option). Jesus kingdom teachings did not conform to the expectations of his day. He warned about God's coming judgment and vindication of true Israel. Jesus was not founding a new church because Israel was already one (the people of God). His intent was reforming Israel from the inside (not forming a different community altogether). The kingdom story that Jesus preached can not be reduced to individual ethics or individualized responses to God's grace. Jesus words and message was always within the context of community.
Here was one of Jesus most radical and acted out parables . . . Jesus befriended not only the oppressed (contra liberation theologians) but also their oppressors. One of his disciples was a tax collector; he healed a daughter of a Roman soldier who represented the military enemy of Israel; He touched people who were viewed as unclean like Lepers and social lepers like prostitutes; while he also dined and ate with Pharisees and members of the religious parties of Judaism who stressed ritual purity. Jesus neither plays our power political games nor the politics of polarization. Jesus welcomed anyone who was willing to follow Him.
Lastly, I like what Philip Yancey says about Jesus and the Kingdom in his "The Jesus I Never Knew." Yancey says, "Jesus pattern of behavior disappointed all who sought a leader in the traditional mold (political and succes driven models). Jesus, tended to flee from, rather than cater to, large groups. He insulted the memory of Israel's glory days, comparing King Solomon to a common day lily. The one time a crowd tried to crown him king by force, he mysteriously withdrew. And when Peter finally did wield a sword on his behalf, Jesus healed the victim's wounds . . . Jesus was talking about a strangely diffferent kingdom and Jesus was rejected, in large part, because he did not measure up to the national image of what a Messiah was supposed to look like."
"Despite Jesus plain example, many of his followers have been unable to resist choosing the way of Herod over the way of Jesus. The Crusaders who pillaged the Near East, the Conquistadors who converted the New World at the point of a sword, the Christian exploration of Africa who cooperated with the slave trade------we are still feeling the aftershocks from their mistakes . . . And whenever the church has intermingled with the state (the Holy Roman Empire, Cromwell's England, Calvin's Geneva), the appeal of the faith suffers as well. Jesus own metaphors of the kingdom describe a kind of 'secret force' that works from within. He said nothing of a triumphant church sharing power with the authorities" (pp.241, 246).
Yancey goes on to say, "This trend troubles me because the gospel of Jesus was not primarily a political platform . . . a democracy may give Christians every right to express themselves but we dare not invest so much in the kingdom of this world that we neglect our main task of introducing people to a different kind of kingdom, one based solely on God's grace and forgiveness" (p.247).
Jesus message of the kingdom was nothing short of a revolution of grace!
Grace and peace - Chris Criminger
