"The coming of Jesus meant the abrupt end of things as they were." Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, at 84 (2nd ed. Minneapolis Fortress 2001). In the Gospels Jesus announces the coming of the kingdom. "But surely implicit in the announcement is the counterpart that present kingdoms will end and be displaced." P. 84.
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| Grinnell Lake, Glacier National National Park Montana Credit: Jack Schuessler |
Jesus' readiness to forgive sins and eat with sinners and outcasts (Mark 2: 15-17) displaced the power of the religious authorities who kept such outcasts under condemnation. P. 85. As to the Sabbath, "those who managed the Sabbath ... benefited from it." P. 85 Jesus broke that particular "social settlement" when he healed on the Sabbath. P. 85. Jesus crossed social boundaries by his healings and exorcisms, "fearlessly reaching out to those deemed unclean by society ...." P. 86. Jesus' association in public with women "was a scandalous breach of decorum and a challenge to the gender boundaries of the first century." P. 86. Jesus' criticism of the "righteousness of the law" challenged those who used the law in his day "to effectively control not only morality but the political-economic valuing that lay behind the morality." P. 87. Jesus quoted the prophet Jeremiah as he spoke of the destruction of the temple. In critiquing the temple in the tradition of Jeremiah, Jesus struck at the idea of election which "assumed a guaranteed historical existence for this special people gathered around this special shrine." P. 87.
Jesus also challenged the dominant callousness of the culture by treating people with care and compassion. P. 88. But that will have to be the subject of a future post.
Jesus also challenged the dominant callousness of the culture by treating people with care and compassion. P. 88. But that will have to be the subject of a future post.
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