We continue in chapter 7 of Jesus and the Victory of God (pp. 244-319) on the stories of the kingdom, with a “controlling story” of invitation, welcome, challenge, and summons (p. 245). This post focuses on welcome (pp. 264-74).
In the post on invitation, we saw that Jesus is inviting his hearers to believe “that Israel’s God is acting climactically in the career of Jesus himself.” (p. 262, emphasis original) What they historically expected was happening in Jesus. And almost as shocking as his claims was his welcome of sinners.
Wright goes through precisely defining what is meant by sinners, which includes those of “uncertain ancestry,” tax collectors, prostitutes, and others who were not strict adherents to the Torah (pp. 265-67). What Jesus offered these was forgiveness of sins, which “is another way of saying ‘return from exile’.” (p. 268, emphasis original) Wright quotes a number of OT passages to demonstrate the tight coupling between forgiveness, new covenant, and return from exile. When you read ‘forgiveness of sins’ in the gospels, this is another way of saying ‘the inauguration of the kingdom.’ To quote Wright, “The point is that Jesus was offering the return from exile, the renewed covenant, the eschatological ‘forgiveness of sins’—in other words, the kingdom of God. And he was offering this final eschatological blessing outside of the official structures, to all the wrong people, and on his own authority. That was his real offense.” (p. 272, emphasis original)
There’s the rub. This Jesus fellow is doing all of these things outside the official channels, through unapproved means, by his own authority. He is “replacing adherence or allegiance to Temple and Torah with allegiance to himself.” (p. 274) This is no small thing to a first-century Jew! Both Temple and Torah were ordained by God!
One of the stark lessons in all of this is just how easy it is to get fixated on that which we (rightfully) believe is ordained by God and completely miss what He is doing now, which may include replacing that very ‘ordained’ thing. The old covenant must give way to the new. And like all acts of God, He will do it in a way we do not expect. He will invite those we may not like. He may end our favorite traditions and create new, uncomfortable, practices. He may even do the unthinkable, die by crucifixion and claim that is His victory!
Next time we will continue with challenge.
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