So along comes Jesus of Nazareth. He was not the only man ever to
have come forward as the promised “Messiah.” Jesus also uses the words
“Son of God,” the “Kingdom of God,” and “redemption.” In doing this he
maintains the link with the old prophets. He rides into Jerusalem and allows
himself to be acclaimed by the crowds as the savior of the people, thus
playing directly on the way the old kings were installed in a characteristic
“throne accession ritual.” He also allows himself to be anointed by the people.
“The time is fulfilled,” he says, and “the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
But here is a very important point: Jesus distinguished himself from the
other “messiahs” by stating clearly that he was not a military or political rebel.
His mission was much greater. He preached salvation and God’s forgiveness
for everyone. To the people he met on his way he said “Your sins are forgiven
you for his name’s sake.”
Handing out the “remission of sins” in this way was totally unheard of.
And what was even worse, he addressed God as “Father” (Abba). This was
absolutely unprecedented in the Jewish community at that time. It was
therefore not long before there arose a wave of protest against him among the
scribes.
So here was the situation: a great many people at the time of Jesus
were waiting for a Messiah who would reestablish the Kingdom of God with a
great flourish of trumpets (in other words, with fire and sword). The expression
“Kingdom of God” was indeed a recurring theme in the preachings of Jesus—
but in a much broader sense. Jesus said that the “Kingdom of God” is loving
thy neighbor, compassion for the weak and the poor, and forgiveness of those
who have erred.
This was a dramatic shift in the meaning of an age-old expression with
warlike overtones. People were expecting a military leader who would soon
proclaim the establishment of the Kingdom of God, and along comes Jesus in
kirtle and sandals telling them that the Kingdom of God— or the “new
covenant”—is that you must “love thy neighbor as thyself.” But that was not
all, Sophie, he also said that we must love our enemies. When they strike us,
we must not retaliate; we must even turn the other cheek. And we must
forgive—not seven times but seventy times seven.
Jesus himself demonstrated that he was not above talking to harlots,
corrupt usurers, and the politically subversive. But he went even further: he
said that a good-for-nothing who has squandered all his father’s inheritance—
or a humble publican who has pocketed official funds— is righteous before
God when he repents and prays for forgiveness, so great is God’s mercy.
But hang on—he went a step further: Jesus said that such sinners were
more righteous in the eyes of God and more deserving of God’s forgiveness
than the spotless Pharisees who went around flaunting their virtue.
Jesus pointed out that nobody can earn God’s mercy. We cannot
redeem ourselves (as many of the Greeks believed). The severe ethical
demands made by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount were not only to teach
what the will of God meant, but also to show that no man is righteous in the
eyes of God. God’s mercy is boundless, but we have to turn to God and pray
for his forgiveness.
I shall leave a more thorough study of Jesus and his teachings to your
religion teacher. He will have quite a task. I hope he will succeed in showing
what an exceptional man Jesus was. In an ingenious way he used the