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Read "And Finally...the Kingdom of God Is Like This...." Observe how the author encourages readers to find contemporary metaphors for the kingdom of God. Write an essay (1,000-1,250 words) analyzing a Jesus metaphor describing the kingdom of God

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Instructions for assignment The reference for “the Kingdom of God” is located on this first sheet. Then you will have to use two other scholarly sources. I have the rubric on the next pages. Read "And Finally...the Kingdom of God Is Like This...." Observe how the author encourages readers to find contemporary metaphors for the kingdom of God. Write an essay (1,000-1,250 words) analyzing a Jesus metaphor describing the kingdom of God as well as creating your own metaphor. Analyzing the Jesus metaphor, 1. Choose one parable used by Jesus to describe the kingdom of God. 2. Explain how this metaphor would have made sense to the 1st century audience of Jesus. 3. Take into account the historical/cultural significance, theological intent, and the impact of the parable or metaphor on the original audience. Create a contemporary parable for the kingdom of God: 1. Explain how this same meaning and impact might be communicated in your contemporary context. 2. Explain how the changed metaphor is faithful to the teaching of Jesus on the kingdom of God. In addition to the Bible and the assigned article, you must use at least two other scholarly sources. Stanton, G. (2002). The Gospels and Jesus. Oxford: OUP Oxford. ("The Kingdom of God") in The Gospels and Jesus, by Stanton, from the Oxford Bible Series (2002). 1 Unsatisfactory 0.00% 2 Less than Satisfactory 65.00% 3 Satisfactory 75.00% 4 Good 85.00% 5 Excellent 100.00% Essay logically explains how this metaphor would have made sense to the 1st century audience of Jesus based on the textbook, Bible, and other scholarly resources. Essay clearly explains how this metaphor would have made sense to the 1st century audience of Jesus based on the textbook, Bible, and other scholarly resources. Essay thoroughly explains how this metaphor would have made sense to the 1st century audience of Jesus based on the textbook, Bible, and other scholarly resources. 80.0 %Content 20.0 %First Essay does not Essay Century Audience provide an inadequately explanation of explains how how this this metaphor metaphor would would have have made sense made sense to to the 1st the 1st century century audience of audience of Jesus based on Jesus based on the textbook, the textbook, Bible, and other Bible, and other scholarly scholarly resources. resources. 20.0 %Historical/Cultur al Significance, Meaning, and Impact CoT 1.2 Essay does not Essay provides Essay provides a Essay clearly Essay provide an an inadequate logical explains and thoroughly explanation for explanation for explanation for provides explains and the the the supportive provides historical/cultura historical/cultura historical/cultura references for relevant l significance, l significance, l significance, the supportive theological theological theological historical/cultura references for intent, and intent, and intent, and l significance, the impact of the impact of the impact of the theological historical/cultura original Jesus original Jesus original Jesus intent, and l significance, metaphor/parabl metaphor/parabl metaphor/parabl impact of the theological e. e. e. original Jesus intent, and metaphor/parabl impact of the e. original Jesus metaphor/parabl e. 20.0 %Meaning Essay does not and Impact of explain how the Changed Metaphor changed metaphor/parabl e would be communicated with the same meaning and Essay Essay logically Essay clearly Essay inadequately explains how the explains how the thoroughly explains how the changed changed explains how the changed metaphor/parabl metaphor/parabl changed metaphor/parabl e would be e would be metaphor/parabl e would be communicated communicated e would be communicated with the same with the same communicated with the same meaning and meaning and with the same impact as the original Jesus metaphor in a contemporary context. 20.0 %Translation of Metaphor for Contemporary Audience meaning and impact as the original Jesus metaphor in a contemporary context. impact as the original Jesus metaphor in a contemporary context. impact as the original Jesus metaphor in a contemporary context. meaning and impact as the original Jesus metaphor in a contemporary context. Essay does not Essay Essay broadly Essay clearly Essay provide an insufficiently explains how the explains how the thoroughly explanation of explains how the changed changed explains how the how the changed changed metaphor/parabl metaphor/parabl changed metaphor/parabl metaphor/parabl e is faithful to e is faithful to metaphor/parabl e is faithful to e is faithful to the teachings of the teachings of e is faithful to the teachings of the teachings of Jesus on the Jesus on the the teachings of Jesus on the Jesus on the kingdom of kingdom of Jesus on the kingdom of kingdom of God. God. kingdom of God. God. God. 17.0 %Organization and Effectiveness 6.0 %Thesis Development and Purpose Paper lacks any discernible overall purpose or organizing claim. Thesis is insufficiently developed or vague. Purpose is not clear. Thesis is apparent and appropriate to purpose. Thesis is clear Thesis is and forecasts the comprehensive development of and contains the the paper. essence of the Thesis is paper. Thesis descriptive and statement makes reflective of the the purpose of arguments and the paper clear. appropriate to the purpose. Paragraphs are generally competent, but ideas may show some inconsistency in organization or in their relationship to each other. A logical progression of ideas between paragraphs is apparent. Paragraphs exhibit a unity, coherence, and cohesiveness. Topic sentences and concluding remarks are appropriate to 17.0 %Organization and Effectiveness 6.0 %Paragraph Development and Transitions Paragraphs and Some transitions paragraphs and consistently lack transitions may unity and lack logical coherence. No progression of apparent ideas, unity, connections coherence, or between cohesiveness. paragraphs are Some degree of established. organization is Transitions are evident. inappropriate to purpose and There is a sophisticated construction of paragraphs and transitions. Ideas progress and relate to each other. Paragraph and transition construction guide the reader. Paragraph structure is scope. Organization is disjointed. purpose. seamless. 17.0 %Organization and Effectiveness 5.0 %Mechanics of Writing (includes spelling, punctuation, grammar, language use) Surface errors Frequent and are pervasive repetitive enough that they mechanical impede errors distract communication the reader. of meaning. Inconsistencies Inappropriate in language word choice or choice (register) sentence or word choice construction is are present. used. Sentence structure is correct but not varied. Some Prose is largely mechanical free of errors or typos mechanical are present, but errors, although they are not a few may be overly present. The distracting to the writer uses a reader. Correct variety of and varied effective sentence sentence structure and structures and audiencefigures of appropriate speech. language are employed. Writer is clearly in command of standard, written, academic English. 3.0 %Format 1.0 %Paper Format Appropriate (use of appropriate template is not style for the major used and assignment) appropriately or documentation format is rarely followed correctly. Appropriate Appropriate Appropriate All format template is used, template is used, template is fully elements are but some and formatting used; There are correct. elements are is correct, virtually no missing or although some errors in mistaken; lack minor errors formatting style. of control with may be present. formatting is apparent. 2.0 Sources are not %Documentation documented. of Sources (citations, footnotes, references, bibliography, etc., as appropriate to assignment and style) Documentation of sources is inconsistent or incorrect, as appropriate to assignment and style, with numerous formatting errors. 100 %Total Weightage Sources are documented, as appropriate to assignment and style, although some formatting errors may be present. Sources are Sources are documented, as completely and appropriate to correctly assignment and documented, as style, and format appropriate to is mostly assignment and correct. style, and format is free of error. Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. 12 the kingdom of god Mark, Matthew, and Luke all stress that Jesus the ‘prophet–teacher’ referred to the kingdom of God frequently. The opening verses of Mark’s gospel are terse but dramatic. Mark’s account of John the baptizer, of the baptism of Jesus, and of the temptation of Jesus by Satan pave the way for the first words of Jesus himself: ‘Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news” ’ (Mark 1: 14–15). For Mark the evangelist the central theme of the preaching of Jesus is “the kingdom of God has come near”. In his much expanded version of that summary Matthew includes his characteristic phrase ‘the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 4: 12–17). Matthew’s phrase (which is never found in the other gospels) reflects a Jewish writer’s avoidance of direct reference to ‘God’, though Matthew does in fact use the phrase ‘the kingdom of God’ four times (12: 28; 19: 24; 21: 31, 43). In two important passages Matthew summarizes the ministry of Jesus in Galilee as ‘proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people’ (4: 23 and 9: 35). Matthew stresses that the disciples are sent out by Jesus with exactly the same message: they are to heal and to proclaim the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 11: 1, 7–8); Luke makes the same point, but uses ‘kingdom of God’ (Luke 9: 2; cf. 10: 9). In three summary passages Luke also emphasizes that the kingdom of God was central in the proclamation of Jesus (4: 43; 8: 1; 9: 11). In the important opening scene in Luke’s account of the ministry of Jesus (Luke 4: 16–30, see above, pp. 86–90) the evangelist stresses that the coming of Jesus marked the fulfilment of the promises of Isa. 61: 1–2. The word ‘kingdom’ is not used, though many of the main points of this passage are related to ‘kingdom’ sayings which Luke includes elsewhere. In the very last verse of Acts (28: 31) Luke summarizes the preaching of Paul as EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. 204 | jesus in gospel tradition ‘proclaiming the kingdom of God’; in this way he draws attention to the continuity between the message of Jesus and the preaching of the early church. (See also Acts 8: 12; 14: 22; 19: 8; 20: 25; 28: 23.) In John’s gospel, however, matters are very different, as they are in so many other respects. Whereas the synoptic gospels contain numerous references of various kinds to the kingdom of God, in John ‘kingdom’ occurs in only two passages. In his reply to Nicodemus Jesus says, ‘Unless one is born anew, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’ (3: 5; cf. also 3: 3). This saying is closely related to Matt. 18: 3 and to other ‘entering the kingdom’ sayings in the synoptic gospels to which we shall refer in a moment. In the other passage, which is quite unrelated to the synoptic ‘kingdom’ sayings, Jesus explains to Pilate that his kingdom (or, better, ‘kingship’) is not of this world (18: 36); in the synoptic gospels the kingdom or kingship belongs to God, not Jesus. It has sometimes been suggested that the fourth evangelist has transposed the ‘kingdom’ sayings of the synoptic gospels into another key and has used as an equivalent phrase his own favourite term ‘eternal life’. This is only partly true; the differences in the ways these two phrases are used are more striking than the similarities. The synoptic evangelists not only use the term ‘kingdom of God’ (or ‘of heaven’) in their summaries of the proclamation of Jesus, they reinterpret ‘kingdom’ sayings of Jesus partly by setting them in particular contexts and partly by rewording them in their attempts to clarify them. In so doing they have made it very difficult for the modern student of the gospels to reconstruct with confidence this central strand in the teaching of Jesus. Later in this chapter we shall consider in some detail two striking examples. Jesus and the kingdom There is almost universal agreement that Jesus taught frequently about the kingdom of God. Most scholars would go further and claim that the ‘kingdom’ sayings give us vital clues to the overall intention of Jesus. But at that point unanimity stops. The teaching of Jesus on the kingdom of God has been understood in a wide variety of ways. Why has there been such diversity of scholarly opinion? There are two main reasons. First, Jesus left no clear explanation of his precise meaning. EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. the kingdom of god | 205 And even if we assume that his listeners would have known immediately just what Jesus meant when he referred to the ‘kingdom of God’, we are no further ahead, for it is not at all easy to work out how villagers in Galilee would have understood the phrase. And secondly, as we shall see, Jesus seems to have used ‘kingdom of God’ in several different senses. For more than a hundred years now, individual scholars have tended to fasten onto one strand of the sayings as ‘central’ or ‘dominant’ and then either ignore the other strands or claim that they go back to the early church, not Jesus. In many cases it is possible to see that theological concerns have won out over careful attention to the evidence in all its variety. In the last two or three decades of the nineteenth century A. Ritschl’s views were very influential: he saw the kingdom of God as human society organized through action inspired by love. This approach, which emphasizes human initiative and the gradual permeation of society by the kingdom, is still reflected in phrases such as ‘extending’ or ‘building’ the kingdom which are often used by Christians today. In 1892 J. Weiss vigorously repudiated such views. Weiss believed that Jesus was strongly influenced by the apocalyptic thought of his day. The kingdom was no moral cause, but a reality to be initiated by God in the immediate future, ‘the breaking out of an overpowering divine storm which erupts into history to destroy and to renew, and which man can neither further nor influence’. Was Jesus, as Weiss suggested, an apocalyptic prophet who expected God to bring the present age to an end within his lifetime? Or was C. H. Dodd correct in his insistence in his Parables of the Kingdom (1935) that for Jesus the kingdom had actually come with his own actions and words? Dodd claimed that in contrast to the speculations on the future found in the apocalyptic writers, Jesus declared that ‘the eschaton [end-time] has moved from the future to the present, from the sphere of expectation into that of realized experience.’ Over the past fifty years some scholars have rejected or modified radically both these approaches. Others have tried to plot a middle path: Jesus proclaimed that the kingdom was in some ways partly present in his actions and teaching (or was already making its impact felt in the present), though its full and final disclosure still lay in the future. What did Jesus mean? We must start with the use of the phrase in the Scriptures and in later Jewish writings. For this was the backdrop for both Jesus himself and his listeners. Rather surprisingly, however, the precise EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. 206 | jesus in gospel tradition phrase ‘the kingdom of God’ is not found in the Old Testament, and it is not as prominent in later Jewish writings as one might have expected. Nonetheless, the phrase encapsulates the declarations of God’s beneficent kingship, and his sovereign, dynamic rule which are embedded in the Old Testament—especially in some Psalms and in some passages in Isaiah. We shall discuss briefly representative passages. Psalm 145: 8–13 is one of many passages in the Psalms which provide the backdrop to the message of Jesus concerning God’s kingly rule. The Psalmist speaks of God’s mercy, steadfast love, and compassion (vv. 8–9). He then announces a threefold assignment for the Lord’s faithful people: ‘They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom, and tell of your power, to make known to all people your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendour of your kingdom’ (vv. 11–12). Here ‘kingdom’ and ‘power’ are almost synonymous. The Lord’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom (v. 13a); in the passage as a whole it is both a present experience and a future hope. Isaiah 52: 7 also announces God’s kingly rule, but in the more specific context of a promise to the exiles. ‘How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns”.’ The four tasks given to the messenger are closely related: they are intended to interpret one another. God is mercifully forgiving and redeeming his people, and will bring them out of exile in a new exodus as they return to a purified Jerusalem. There is no doubt that this and related passages provided a script for Jesus. Some later Jewish writings contain similar themes. Some of the Psalms of Solomon express the hope that God will soon reverse the disaster brought by the capture of Jerusalem by the Roman general Pompey in 63 bc. Several passages speak about God as king, and express the hope that his kingly rule will be made manifest. Psalm of Solomon 17 opens and closes with a declaration of the everlasting kingship of the Lord (v. 1 and v. 46), and uses the phrase ‘kingdom of God’ in verse 3. The central section of Psalm of Solomon 17 is even more significant, though its theme has few parallels in Jewish writings from this period. Here the Lord God is urged to raise up a king, ‘the son of David, to rule over your servant Israel in the time known to you, O God’ (v. 21). The hoped-for human, Davidic king will be the Lord Messiah (v. 32), who will purge Jerusalem from the Gentiles who trample her to destruction (v. 22). EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. the kingdom of god | 207 The Messiah’s kingly role as the one who will put the Romans to flight is clearly subordinate to the Lord God (v. 34). Once again God’s kingly rule is a deep-seated hope, but for the Psalmist in the middle of the first century bc it is not yet realized. In Psalms of Solomon 17–18 there are unusually explicit references to the means God will use to manifest his kingly rule: the Davidic Messiah will exercise a political and military role on behalf of God’s hard-pressed people. Although it was an option for Jesus to fulfil this particular expectation, it is clear that he eschewed violence (Matt. 5: 38–9 = Luke 6: 29–30; cf. also Luke 22: 38) and urged his followers to love their enemies (Matt 5: 44 = Luke 6: 27). Did Jesus see himself as the Davidic Messiah, albeit with a very different role from the one set out in Psalms of Solomon 17–18? If so, Jesus was reluctant to spell out the nature of his messiahship, but his actions and words provided plenty of hints for his followers to reach this conclusion for themselves. We shall return to this point in Chapter 15. These three passages (and other similar ones) affirm God’s kingly rule and express the hope that he will soon act powerfully on behalf of his beleaguered people. The kingdom of God is his sovereign, dynamic rule. More often than not, there is a clearly temporal sense: the kingdom is referred to in the context of hope for the future. The importance of this latter point becomes clear as soon as we turn to Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom of God. Jesus uses such varied phraseology in his kingdom sayings that they cannot be readily analysed, though they do fall into two main groups. Many sayings refer to the kingdom in the temporal sense just mentioned. In some of these sayings Jesus announces that the kingdom will come in the future; in others, the kingdom is near, or has already come. In the other main group there are a number of sayings which have a spatial rather than a temporal reference: the kingdom is a place (or realm) to be entered, to be inherited, to be received, or to be ‘in’. Is the kingdom temporal or spatial? In the relevant passages in Old Testament and later Jewish writings, as well as in the sayings of Jesus themselves, the temporal sense is not only more common than the spatial, but primary. God’s kingdom is his dynamic, EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. 208 | jesus in gospel tradition kingly rule, not a geographical location with boundaries. If the primary sense is temporal, it is possible to explain the ‘spatial’ sayings as an implication of God’s kingly rule. God’s sovereign rule is not exercised in a vacuum, but among his people: so, to ‘enter’, to ‘inherit’, or to be ‘in’ the kingdom means to be among the people who experience God’s kingly rule. However, if the spatial sense is primary, it is not easy to explain why so many sayings have a clearly temporal sense. In Mark 10: 23–5, for example, the phrase ‘enter the kingdom of God’ occurs three times. Jesus says twice over, ‘How hard it is [for the wealthy] to enter the kingdom’, and then illustrates his point with the graphic comparison: ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ The context concerns discipleship, so the kingdom to be entered is not a realm with boundaries, but the people among whom God exercises his kingly rule, whether now or in the future. Does Jesus claim that God’s kingly rule is being experienced ‘in the here and now’ in his own message and miracles, or is the kingdom a wholly future hope? There are a clutch of kingdom sayings which refer to a future coming. Once again only a few representative passages can be noted. The second petition of the Lord’s Prayer asks, ‘Your kingdom come’ (Matt. 6: 10 = Luke 11: 2); the coming of the kingdom is a future hope. A Q tradition (Matt. 8: 11–12 = Luke 13: 28–9) declares that people will come from the east and west and eat in the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the eschatological banquet in heaven Gentiles (or, perhaps, diaspora Jews) will join the patriarchs, but in the final judgement, those who reject Jesus will be rejected by God—and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Here Jesus subverts the expectations of his listeners. He draws on graphic apocalyptic motifs, though in other sayings Jesus distances himself from the apocalyptic traditions popular in some circles which spelt out detailed timetables and scenarios for the future (Mark 13: 32–3; Luke 17: 20). In the opening beatitudes the poor, the mourners, and the hungry are declared to be ‘happy’ or ‘blessed’ (Matt. 5: 3–6 = Luke 6: 20b–21). Why? Because the kingly rule of God reverses their present state. It is not often noted that in the first beatitude the kingdom is a present reality, while in the two following beatitudes the promise is that God will act on behalf of those in need. A present and a future temporal sense are juxtaposed. Several sayings express the presence or the nearness of the kingdom, EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. the kingdom of god | 209 though in each case their precise temporal sense is difficult to determine. In Mark 1: 15, for example, is the sense, ‘the kingdom of God has come’ or, ‘is at hand’, or ‘is upon you’? Protracted discussion has led to the widely accepted conclusion that this verse announces the nearness of the kingdom: it is so near that a response is imperative. The presence of the kingdom is clear in Matt. 12: 28 = Luke 11: 20, Jesus’ declaration that his exorcisms are confirmation of the presence of God’s kingly rule. Luke 17: 20–1, which we shall discuss shortly, also states that the kingdom is a present reality. Several important sayings declare that God’s promises are being fulfilled now in the words and actions of Jesus, even though the phrase ‘kingdom of God’ is not used. When the imprisoned John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus about his role and his intention, Jesus told them to tell John what they had heard and what they had seen. He then elaborated by couching his reply with phrases taken from Isaiah which link together the message and miracles of Jesus: ‘The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them’ (Matt. 11: 4–5 = Luke 7: 22–3; cf. Luke 4: 16–18). A beatitude not included in the Sermon on the Mount runs as follows in its original form: ‘Happy are the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it’ (Matt. 13: 16–17 = Luke 10: 23–4). Jesus’ contemporaries are in a specially privileged position, for they have heard the words and seen the actions which are in fulfilment of ancient hopes. Once again message and miracles are inextricably linked. And once again Jesus claims that his ministry is the fulfilment of Scripture’s promises and hopes. Enough has been said to confirm that there are very varied emphases in the kingdom of God sayings. They should not be squeezed into one mould. Both the future and the present (or nearness) sayings have good claims to authenticity, though their precise relationship to one another is unclear. We turn now to discuss two kingdom sayings which are particularly important and interesting; in both cases, however, they are difficult to interpret. EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. 210 | jesus in gospel tradition The kingdom of God is among you: Luke 17: 20–1 Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.’ This passage is found only in Luke’s gospel. As there is no direct link with either the preceding or the following material, it is a detached saying. It is possible that Luke himself has included the reference to the Pharisees’ question. The first saying about the kingdom raises few problems; ‘things [or signs] that can be observed’ refers to careful observation of premonitions or other indications that the future kingdom is near. Jesus refuses to speculate about the time or the place of the coming of the kingdom and thus parts company with apocalyptic prophets who set out timetables for the signs which would precede the end-time. What did Jesus mean when he said that the kingdom was ‘among you’? The traditional interpretation which was common in the early church is reflected in the translation used in the Authorized or King James Version (1611), and also the NIV (1978): the kingdom is ‘within you’; it is referred to in a footnote in the NRSV as a possible alternative translation. On this view the kingdom is an inward power or reality ‘within you’, ‘within your hearts’. But Jesus can hardly have suggested to the Pharisees that the kingdom was within them. So the scholars who defend this interpretation have to assume that Luke has added the reference to the Pharisees rather awkwardly. Elsewhere in the gospels the kingdom is never ‘in the hearts’ of individuals, so this is unlikely to be the correct interpretation of this saying, even though it has been prominent in Christian thought over many centuries. The NRSV (quoted above) reads ‘among you’. The REB also translates ‘the kingdom of God is among you’ (though the notes suggest three other possibilities, including ‘within your grasp’). On this view the kingdom is related to the things Jesus is saying and doing. If so, then this is a rare hint from Jesus that although the kingdom is God’s, his own actions and words are ‘signs’ of its presence among men. The Greek phrase entos humōn may EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. the kingdom of god | 211 possibly mean ‘among you’, but we have very few examples of the phrase. But since there is a common phrase (en mesō) which could have been used to express ‘among you’, its absence here is puzzling if this was the intended meaning. Several scholars have proposed a third possibility. The saying may mean ‘the kingdom of God is within your reach’, ‘it can be shared in by you, if you want it’. Supporters of this interpretation appeal to several examples of the rare phrase entos humōn found in recently discovered papyri in everyday (i.e. non-literary) Greek from the first century. This interpretation makes excellent sense in the context: the Pharisees are invited by Jesus to participate in God’s kingdom. But although this is an attractive solution, it is no more than a good possibility since the precise sense of the examples in the papyri is not clear! Most exegetes and translators conclude that the second interpretation is the most likely but readily admit that certainty is not possible. This saying raises a further dilemma. One of the alternatives listed in the REB notes is, ‘for suddenly the kingdom of God will be among you’. On this view, the kingdom is not present but future. Although this interpretation would allow Luke 17: 20–1 to be linked closely to the verses which follow in verses 22–37, ‘suddenly’ is not found in the Greek at all. Hence most scholars accept that although the precise sense of entos humōn must be left as an open question, the saying confirms that in some sense the kingdom is already a present reality. The kingdom under attack? Matthew 11: 12–13 = Luke 16: 16 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came. (Matthew) The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force. (Luke) This saying has teased scholars for a very long time. It raises immediately the relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist. In Chapter 10 we tried EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. 212 | jesus in gospel tradition to underline the importance of this question for our understanding of Jesus. Luke’s version of this saying seems to separate Jesus and John, as was the case generally in early Christianity: John belongs to the old order of law and prophets. Matthew’s version, however, links John and Jesus closely together, and in this respect at least it is almost certainly the more original version of the saying. Luke’s version is the more straightforward. ‘Everyone tries to enter the kingdom by force’ must refer to the enthusiastic response to the preaching of the good news; the REB translates, ‘everyone forces a way in’. The word ‘everyone’ may be something of an exaggeration; this part of the saying may be referring to the response of tax collectors and sinners, the poor, women, and others on the fringe of society who elbow their way into the kingdom ahead of the Pharisees and scribes. Or, alternatively, the correct translation may be ‘everyone is pressed to enter the kingdom’; the saying would then refer to the urgent invitation of Jesus and would correspond to Luke 14: 23: ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in.’ Matthew’s version of the saying bristles with difficulties. The NRSV translation we have quoted suggests that the appearance of John has sparked off opposition to God’s kingdom which has persisted up to Jesus’ day. Who are the violent people who are taking the kingdom by force? In Matthew the saying follows shortly after a reference to the imprisonment of John the Baptist (11: 2), so the evangelist may well envisage that Herod Antipas (who imprisoned John) is the leading man of violence who has taken the kingdom by force. The Greek verb biazetai, which the NRSV translates as ‘has suffered violence’, is found elsewhere in the New Testament only in Luke 16: 16. It may be translated with an active sense: ‘the kingdom has been forcing its way forward’. The related noun ‘the violent’ is then likely to have a ‘good’ sense: tax collectors and sinners storm the kingdom. If so, then the meaning of Matt. 11: 12–13 is similar to Luke 16: 16. Many scholars have supported this general approach—though with differences in details. However, careful attention to other examples of the three key words in this saying (‘has suffered violence’, ‘the violent’, and ‘take it by force’) in Greek writings from this period has recently tipped the scales in favour of taking the whole saying in a ‘bad’ sense. ‘The kingdom of God is being opposed with violence’. This is almost certainly the original sense intended EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. the kingdom of god | 213 by Jesus. If so, then we are in a world far removed from the ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild’ of much popular Christian piety. Whether the original Q version of Matt. 11: 12–13 has a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ sense, it links Jesus and John closely together. Both interpretations imply that the kingdom is in some sense already present in the proclamation of Jesus. What did Jesus mean? At this point we must sum up this discussion of the ‘kingdom’ sayings. The primary intention of these sayings is to declare the reality and power of God’s presence and the response this demands. It was as difficult to speak meaningfully about God in the first century as it is today. Hence it is not surprising to find that the sayings are very diverse: they may be seen as varied ways of speaking about the ‘sphere’ of God’s kingly rule and power. A careful comparison of the kingdom sayings in the gospels with references to the kingdom in Jewish writings which come from the first century does not enable us to speak confidently about ways in which the proclamation of Jesus about God’s kingdom was unique. But such a comparison does lead to a significant conclusion: the extent and diversity of the kingdom sayings in the gospels is surprising. As far as we know (and our knowledge is certainly far from complete), no other first-century prophet or teacher spoke so frequently or in such diverse ways about God’s kingdom. As we have seen, a number of sayings of Jesus declare that the kingdom of God is now present in his own actions and proclamation. They are undoubtedly among the most striking sayings in the gospels, but if they are singled out for special attention the richness and diversity of all the kingdom sayings is missed. Since they are congenial to later Christian theology, which claims that in the life (and death and resurrection) of Jesus God intervened in a new way in human history, some scholars believe that they may have been ‘shaped’ or even created in the early church. But there are strong counter-arguments: many of them are so difficult to interpret with precision that they are unlikely to have been created in the early church; very few of them bear clear traces of later Christian thought. The two sayings we have discussed in some detail provide good illustrations of this important point. EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. 214 | jesus in gospel tradition How may we sum up Jesus’ meaning? The following summary is not intended to be a definition of the phrase ‘kingdom of God’, but it does attempt to do justice to the diversity of the sayings and to the dominant nuances which are found in the Old Testament and in Jewish writings from the time of Jesus. The kingdom of God is God’s kingly rule, the time and place where God’s power and will hold sway. Jesus is primarily concerned with God’s initiative. We do not need to decide whether the ‘present’ or the ‘future’ sense is dominant. In the sayings of Jesus ‘the kingdom of God’ is above all a series of ways of speaking about the reality of God. Jewish thought rarely speculated on the ‘nature’ of God (as did Greek thought); to speak about God was to speak about his relationship to his people, and vice versa. In other words, ‘the kingdom of God’ always carried ethical implications. This is clearly implied in the sayings which refer to the individual’s response—sayings which refer to entry into the kingdom, or to the kingdom as something to be possessed or sought after. Even in the sayings about the ‘reality of God’s presence’ which stress God’s initiative, human response is expected. Mark underlines this point in his summary verse in 1: 15: ‘the kingdom of God is at hand, repent . . .’. The kingdom is always God’s kingdom. Later Christian thought often associated the kingdom with Jesus rather than with God. In the second century Marcion claimed that the kingdom of God was ‘Christ himself’; in the third century Origen wrote similarly. But Jesus did not link himself explicitly with the kingdom. Only a very few sayings suggest this—and they almost certainly do not go back to Jesus himself. For example, Matt. 16: 28, which refers to the Son of man’s kingdom, is Matthew’s redaction of Mark’s ‘kingdom of God’ (Mark 9: 1). (See also Luke 23: 42; John 18: 36.) The kingdom of God is yours To whom did Jesus proclaim his distinctive message about the power and presence of God? In the first of the beatitudes Jesus announces that the poor are blessed, ‘for yours is the kingdom of God’ (Matt. 5: 3 = Luke 6: 20 (Q) ). The word translated ‘blessed’ has rich connotations: it means ‘God’s favour now rests upon . . .’. But who are the poor to whom Jesus declares God’s favour or blessing? Matthew modifies the first beatitude to ‘blessed EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. the kingdom of god | 215 are the poor in spirit’; the words are now addressed to the spiritually poor—those who are poor before God. Luke has in mind those who live in poverty (this is confirmed by the woe addressed in 6: 24 to those who are rich and Luke’s emphasis elsewhere on those who are literally poor). So Luke and Matthew have rather different understandings of ‘the poor’. How did Jesus use the term? In Matt. 11: 5–6 = Luke 7: 22–3 ‘the poor’ have good news preached to them—and this causes offence. Who took offence at Jesus and on what grounds? There are several passages in the gospels which record criticism levelled at Jesus. In a Q saying Jesus refers to the taunt thrown at him by his unspecified opponents: ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ (Matt. 11: 19 = Luke 7: 34). Mark 2: 16–17 records the critical questioning of the scribes of the Pharisees: ‘Why does Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ In Luke 7: 36–50 we read that Jesus accepted the devotion and faith of ‘a woman of the city who was a sinner’ (v. 37); this also led to critical comment from a Pharisee (v. 39). Luke 15: 1–2 (which in its present form comes from the evangelist himself) also refers to the complaints Pharisees and scribes levelled against Jesus as a result of his table fellowship with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus’ acceptance of tax collectors and sinners is well attested: the examples just cited come from three strands of the gospel traditions: Q, Mark, and ‘L’ (Luke’s special traditions), as well as from Luke the evangelist. A specific link between Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom and his acceptance of tax collectors and sinners is made in Matt. 21: 31: ‘Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.’ Hence we may be confident that ‘the poor’ to whom the kingdom is promised include the tax collectors and sinners. In extending table fellowship to tax collectors and sinners Jesus acted out his proclamation of the kingly rule of God; this is an example of a prophetic action referred to in Chapter 11. Sharing a meal with a friend today is often no more than a convenient way of consuming food. In the Graeco-Roman and Jewish worlds of the first century, however, eating food with another person was far more significant socially: it indicated that the invited person was being accepted into a relationship in which the bonds were as close as in family relationships. One normally invited to meals only people whom one considered social and religious equals. EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. 216 | jesus in gospel tradition Some of the first-century conventions associated with table fellowship are sketched vividly in Luke 14: 7–14. This passage concludes with a surprising reversal of the customary expectations of reciprocity in hospitality: ‘But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’ Followers of Jesus are urged to do exactly what he himself did: to extend table fellowship to those whom most would shun. ‘Why does Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ (Mark 2: 16). This criticism is levelled at Jesus by the scribes of the Pharisees when they see whom Jesus has invited to share meals with him. In his reply Jesus insists that he has not come to invite to table fellowship those who consider themselves to be law-abiding (‘righteous’) but ‘sinners’ (Mark 2: 17). In an independent tradition, Luke records similar indignant criticism (15: 1–2) and links to it the reply of Jesus in the form of the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son (15: 3–32). The Q tradition in which Jesus himself quotes a jibe thrown at him is even more important: ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ (Matt. 11: 18–19 = Luke 7: 34). Jesus accepts the legitimacy of this accusation, so his actions are quite deliberate. The accusation is the finale of a lengthy set of sayings of Jesus (Matt. 11: 2–19 = Luke 7: 18–35; 16: 16) in which one of the central issues is the coming of God’s kingly rule. When the jibe is read in context it becomes clear that the opponents of Jesus failed to see that his table fellowship with tax collectors and sinners was an implication of the coming of the kingdom. Who were the tax collectors and sinners? The tax collectors in Galilee were despised not because they were colluding directly with the Romans (though that would have been the case in Judaea), but because in their abuse of a long-standing system of collecting tolls and duties they were blatantly dishonest. Strictly speaking they were toll collectors or tax farmers; they were not collecting direct taxes. As E. P. Sanders (1985) has stressed, the ‘sinners’ were not simply apathetic about religious observance, they were those who intentionally ignored God’s commandments. So Jesus insisted on accepting openly in intimate table fellowship those who were notorious for their dishonesty or their high-handed rejection of the law. Those who were physically disabled, lepers, and those possessed by EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196 Copyright © 2002. OUP Oxford. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. the kingdom of god | 217 demons were also considered to be on the fringe of society. In some circles they were shunned because they were considered to be ritually impure. Numerous traditions in the gospels confirm that Jesus took a special interest in such socially and religiously marginalized people. We shall return to the miracle traditions in the next chapter, but for the moment we may note that those who were sick in body or mind are closely related to ‘the poor’, and to the tax collectors and sinners. To them all, both by actions and by proclamation, Jesus declared, ‘the kingly rule of God is yours’. EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/29/2018 12:00 PM via GRAND CANYON UNIV AN: 478397 ; Stanton, Graham.; The Gospels and Jesus Account: s8333196
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