A “grown-up” Christian faith begs a
question. Is what it says about Jesus true? N. T. Wright’s Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He
Matters says that it is true. Wright’s
thoughts suggest a new vision of Jesus, which he hopes will help people
understand their lives today in a new way.
The book has three parts. It defines Wright’s questions about Jesus and
suggests that they are difficult to answer.
It then explains the focus, goals, and method of Jesus public career. Finally, it suggests why Jesus still matters.
Wright uses the image of a “perfect
storm” coming from three directions. The
first direction is Rome. Rome was the
primary world power. It considered Caesar
divine and called him the “son of god.” Rome
also needed the Middle East – where Jesus lived – for grain supplies. The second direction is the Jewish
people. Rome thought the golden age was
in the past. The Jews thought it was yet
to come. The Jewish people looked
forward to a time when a good rescuer would oppose an evil oppressor. The third direction is how Jesus thought he
fit with the first two directions.
Israel expected the messiah to come in power and glory. Jesus claimed to do so, but had a completely
different definition of power and glory.
Jesus stood in a line of prophets who said that Israel’s vision for
itself and God’s vision for Israel were at odds.
Simply
Jesus
can now propose questions. First, Jesus
did nothing that people expected the king and messiah to do. He was also crucified with the mocking title
“King of the Jews” above his head. Why should
anyone take this title seriously then?
Second, how do we say that Jesus is in charge while the world seems to
be completely out of his control?
For Wright, the answers begin with the
idea of Jesus initiating a “new Exodus.”
The Jewish people knew the Moses account well. There was an oppressive ruler against a
chosen leader for the Israel. God was
victorious, sacrifice was necessary for rescue, rescue gave Israel a new way to
live, God was present, and Israel received the Promised Land.
In the new Exodus, Jesus was the
rescuer. He announced that God – instead
of Caesar – is king. Jesus was
initiating a campaign to implement a new kingdom. In this Exodus, Jesus’ is the representative
of Israel, but the oppressive ruler is greater than Caesar. Instead, evil itself is the oppressor and
Jesus’ kingdom opposed evil through repentance and faith. Jesus’ kingdom would fix the world, fix
people, welcome the wrong sorts of people, and offer forgiveness.
Because the oppressor is evil in general
instead of a specific person (no doubt though that Caesar and Pharaoh were part
of this evil), Jesus’ death becomes a necessary part of the battle. In Jesus’ death, the creator God absorbed the
worst of anti-creator evil. God’s
Kingdom came because Jesus led the new Exodus through death. His resurrection was the beginning of a new
creation.
Wright’s suggestion is that we view life
through the perspective of this new creation.
We must make a choice. Some
people choose the old creation and its methods – selfishness and revenge. Others say that this does not work and choose
Jesus’ new creation and is methods – love, reconciliation, hope, and forgiveness. If we choose Jesus’ new creation, we call
Jesus Lord. We also recognize our role
in how Jesus exercises his rule. That is
why Jesus rescues us. Acknowledging this
is how we worship God. The church says
that only God is sovereign. This
certainly contradicts normal respectable society, but the church must be
willing to stand behind the statement. The
church, it seems, is how God intends to exercise his rule. It will absolutely make mistakes while trying
to choose Jesus’ new creation, but this does not negate the reality of the new
creation. We must be willing to listen
to our own prophets while we strive to reflect God to the rest of creation.
I am glad I read this book and see a
couple points of value. First, Wright provides
a good explanation of why talking about Jesus is difficult. Jesus lived as if he were in control and
redefined rules. We are not used to seeing this type of behavious. His context also had a different worldview
than ours. In addition to a different
context, he spoke in a way that challenges our assumptions, primarily in his
use of the word “god”.
This summary is important because it can
help provide language for how we think about Jesus. Let’s apply this idea to how Christian
teaching can lead its followers to become advocates for social justice. Jesus’ description of God, for example,
suggests a personal being that is concerned with how we treat one another. The parables of The Sheep and the Goats and
Lazarus and the Rich Man demonstrate this.
An interested God who is concerned about how we treat each other stands
in contrast to two dominant gods today – the god who is over there without much
interest in what happens here and the god who isn’t particularly concerned with
what we do as long as we say “sorry” afterwards. Only one of these three Gods would demand
justice.
The second value is that the book helped
as I continue to reflect on Wright’s teaching about why Jesus’ life before his
death and resurrection is important for Christians. (Still, if any readers notice a problem with
my understanding, please help me out in the comments section.) Wright’s use of the word “campaign” was
helpful. Jesus was starting a new
balance of power in the face of an existing regime. Jesus’ life before Easter matters because of
the value he places on forgiveness in his new balance. Forgiveness removes people from exile. Jesus’ life demonstrated that having God in
the role of King would characterize the regime change Jesus initiated. Jesus’ life matters because it shows what a
world that abandons evil will look like.
This is a challenging book. It is well worth the challenge and I
recommend that you give it a look.
This post originally appeared on my former blog ajdickinson.blogspot.ca. The date stamp is for the date of the original posting.
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