We continue in chapter 11 of Jesus and the Victory of God (pp. 477-539), beginning the last section of this book on the aims and beliefs of Jesus, focused on Messiahship in this chapter. What does Jesus Himself think He is doing?
Wright’s central argument for this section of the book is that “Jesus applied to himself the three central aspects of his own prophetic-kingdom announcement: the return from exile, the defeat of evil, and the return of YHWH to Zion.” (p. 477) In short, Jesus thinks he is Messiah.
Wright first observes two important points about messiahship in Jesus’ day and later (pp. 481-86). Keeping in mind that Messiah is a royal title—king—the Messiah and Temple go together. David prepares for, and Solomon builds, the temple. Hezekiah and Josiah restore it (p. 483). Herod, who wanted to be king of the Jews, enlarges the second temple. Second, “the king was to be the one who would fight Israel’s battles.” (p. 484) And the Messiah would win them. What kind of messiah is executed by the very force that he is supposed to defeat? He would clearly not be the messiah. Israel had more than a few of these. Both of these points are important because we see Jesus speaking of both, but not in the way of first-century Jewish expectations.
Wright then takes the reader through the various ways Jesus quietly announces he is the Messiah, but Jesus does so as through a veil. I recall a professor observing, with humor, that one of the things Rome did not tolerate was a king it had not elevated. In other words, a fast way to an execution under Rome was to call yourself a king when Caesar had not granted you that title! It is only as Jesus moves to the final confrontation with the Jewish leaders, especially in the last week of his life, that he is more direct about it. The cleansing of the temple was exactly one of those direct actions. “It was the king who had ultimately authority over the Temple. He would be its reformer, its rebuilder.” (p. 492) Jesus’ actions in the temple were a very open claim to Messiahship. That’s a problem for Rome. It’s also an issue for the Jewish leaders, with whom Jesus has disagreed sharply and accused of being part of the problem! But this is what chapter 12 will cover.
This ‘veiled’ announcement through most of Jesus’ ministry has puzzled some scholars (e.g., William Wrede’s ‘Mark’s Messianic Secret’). Perhaps an indication it was invented by the early church? Or maybe Jesus’ Messiah approach, far from being a very public announcement of himself, was more like a seed planted and which quietly grows and becomes a large tree, or like leaven that slowly leavens the whole dough (Lk. 13:18-21). In other words, Jesus’ kingdom approach was, once again, very unkingdom-like! As Wright reminds us, his criterion of double similarity and dissimilarity is an indicator of what is more likely to be historical: Jesus is both similar to his first-century Jewish context (indeed, usually the stories could only occur in this time period) and yet dissimilar to it. I’ll give one concrete example from the chapter (pp. 496-7).
Herod had minted coins representing his rule that had the common Galilean reed on them. I hope bells are going off in your head—to Luke 7:24-35. Jesus asks the crowds about John the Baptist, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken in the wind?” With Herod’s mint in the background, the question becomes clear: Were you looking for a king like Herod? Similarity. Coins, reeds, kings. But John isn’t a king. Jesus instead quotes from Malachi, “I will send my Messenger ahead of You, who will prepare your way before you.” John isn’t just a prophet, he is the prophet who announces the Messiah. Well, then who is the Messiah? Notice Jesus doesn’t explicitly say! He doesn’t need to. You get it if you’re a first-century Jew. But Jesus doesn’t look at all like the expected Messiah. Dissimilarity. Not robes, thrones, or palaces. What is the right response when the messenger, then Messiah, show up? The response must be appropriate to the message and messenger! Instead, Israel is like people who don’t dance to joyful music, or don’t mourn when sad music is played (7:31-32). It’s a generation that won’t respond to what God is doing. This seems to be a theme with Israel (think of all the prophets).
(As a brief aside, I am currently also reading Wright’s book on Justification, and I notice the curious phrase in Lk. 7:29 of the people and tax collectors ‘justifying God.’ With Wright’s thinking on this subject rumbling around in my head, this phrase is far more clear now. How do you ‘justify God,’ if you take the traditional definition of justification? But if justification can, and likely does, mean (in part) ‘God’s faithfulness to his covenant,’ then this fits the context. The people and tax collectors, those who have repented, are seeing and acknowledging that God is being faithful to his covenant through John (the Messenger) and Jesus (the one the Messenger announces). Another Messianic indicator. Wisdom is vindicated by her children! [7:35])
There is much more, but perhaps it is best to finish this chapter by observing how the three central aspects introduced above relate to Jesus. The return from exile happens in and through Jesus—but instead of it only addressing the exile of Israel, Jesus addresses the exile that the entire world has from its Creator. The final defeat of evil will happen when Jesus does battle with the real enemy, defeating not those that occupy the land of Israel, but defeating the adversary who occupies humanity. The return of YHWH to Zion, the rightful king will ‘return’ to rule, not over just Israel, but over the whole earth, as Jesus picks up the Daniel 7 imagery. In other words, Jesus is “Israel-in-person, Israel’s representative, the one in whom Israel’s destiny was reaching its climax.” (p. 538) Jesus is doing what Israel failed to do, what God had covenanted with Abraham, that all the nations would be blessed through him.
Chapter 1: Jesus Then and Now
Chapter 2: Heavy Traffic on Wredebahn: The ‘New Quest’ Renewed
Chapter 3: Back to the Future: The ‘Third Quest’
Chapter 4: Prodigals and Paradigms
Chapter 5: The Praxis of a Prophet
Chapter 6: Stories of the Kingdom (1): Announcement
Chapter 7: Stories of the Kingdom (2)
Chapter 8: Stories of the Kingdom (3): Judgment and Vindication
Chapter 9: Symbol and Controversy
Chapter 10: The Questions of the Kingdom
Chapter 11: Jesus and Israel: The Meaning of Messiahship
Chapter 12: The Reasons for Jesus’ Crucifixion
Chapter 13: The Return of the King
Chapter 14: Results