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.That is why they thought the end was comingin their day, that Jesus himself was soon coming back from heaven tosit in judgment on the earth.This is contained in Paul s writings, theearliest Christian documents we have.The early Christians, like Jesusbefore them, and John the Baptist before him, were apocalypticallyminded Jews, expecting the imminent end of the age.Jesus ethical teachings need to be placed in that apocalyptic con-text.Many people understand Jesus as a great moral teacher, and ofcourse he was that.But it is important to recognize why he thoughtpeople should behave properly.In our day, ethicists typically arguethat people should behave in ethical ways so that we can all get alongfor the long haul, in happy and prosperous societies.For Jesus, therewasn t going to be a long haul.The end was coming soon, the Son ofMan was to appear from heaven, imminently, in judgment on the 162 j e s u s , i n t e r r u p t e dearth, the Kingdom of God was right around the corner.The reasonto change your behavior was to gain entrance to the kingdom when itcame.It was not in order to make society a happy place for the foresee-able future.The future was bleak unless you sided with Jesus anddid what he urged, in which case you could expect a reward when Godintervened in history to overthrow the forces of evil and set up hisgood kingdom on earth, which would happen very soon.The Deeds and Activities of JesusUnderstanding Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet who anticipated thejudgment of this world and the imminent appearance of the King-dom of God helps us make sense of the deeds and activities of Jesusthat can be established as historically probable, on the basis of ourvarious criteria.The BaptismIt is almost certain that Jesus began his public ministry by beingbaptized by John the Baptist.This is attested to in multiple inde-pendent sources, both early and later, and is not the kind of traditionthat a later Christian would make up.I think the significance of thebaptism makes sense only within an apocalyptic context.Jesus hadlots of religious options available to him, as did other Jews of his day.Some Jews joined the Pharisees, who were intent on keeping the lawof God as carefully and conscientiously as possible (that was whyGod had given the law so it could be kept); others joined monasticcommunities like those of the Essenes, who produced the Dead SeaScrolls, and were intent on preserving their own purity apart fromthe corrupting influences of the world around them; others sidedwith the Sadducees, aristocratic power players in Palestine who con-trolled the Temple and its sacrificial practices and who served as theliaison with the ruling Roman authorities; others were particularlyzealous for the Holy Land and urged a religious and military rebel- Liar, Lunatic, or Lord? Finding the Historical Jesus 163lion against Rome, in order to establish Israel as a sovereign statewithin the land that God had originally given them.Jesus did not join any of these groups.Instead he sided with Johnthe Baptist, an apocalyptic prophet who was urging people to pre-pare for the day of judgment, which was to appear in the very nearfuture.Why did Jesus side with John? Because he agreed with hismessage, not with the messages of all the others.Like John beforehim and his followers afterward, Jesus was an apocalypticist.The Twelve DisciplesThere can be little doubt that Jesus chose twelve followers to bea kind of inner circle around him.The twelve are attested to invarious Gospel sources as well as by Paul and Acts.In addition, onesaying, about the twelve ruling the twelve tribes of Israel in thekingdom, passes the criterion of dissimilarity.But why did Jesuschoose twelve disciples? Why not nine? Or fourteen?It was not so they could have a disciple-of-the-month club.It ap-pears to have been a symbolic gesture on Jesus part.Originally, inthe Hebrew Bible, the people of God the people of Israel had con-sisted of twelve tribes.According to Jesus, these twelve tribes wouldbe reconstituted in the coming Kingdom of God, when the truepeople of God were ruled by the twelve apostles.By choosing twelveclose disciples, Jesus was indicating that those who follow him andhis teachings would be the ones who enter into that future Kingdomof God.Not all Jews would be allowed into that kingdom.Only thosewho mended their ways and adhered to Jesus teachings would sur-vive the coming judgment.Choosing twelve, in other words, was akind of cryptic apocalyptic message [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.That is why they thought the end was comingin their day, that Jesus himself was soon coming back from heaven tosit in judgment on the earth.This is contained in Paul s writings, theearliest Christian documents we have.The early Christians, like Jesusbefore them, and John the Baptist before him, were apocalypticallyminded Jews, expecting the imminent end of the age.Jesus ethical teachings need to be placed in that apocalyptic con-text.Many people understand Jesus as a great moral teacher, and ofcourse he was that.But it is important to recognize why he thoughtpeople should behave properly.In our day, ethicists typically arguethat people should behave in ethical ways so that we can all get alongfor the long haul, in happy and prosperous societies.For Jesus, therewasn t going to be a long haul.The end was coming soon, the Son ofMan was to appear from heaven, imminently, in judgment on the 162 j e s u s , i n t e r r u p t e dearth, the Kingdom of God was right around the corner.The reasonto change your behavior was to gain entrance to the kingdom when itcame.It was not in order to make society a happy place for the foresee-able future.The future was bleak unless you sided with Jesus anddid what he urged, in which case you could expect a reward when Godintervened in history to overthrow the forces of evil and set up hisgood kingdom on earth, which would happen very soon.The Deeds and Activities of JesusUnderstanding Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet who anticipated thejudgment of this world and the imminent appearance of the King-dom of God helps us make sense of the deeds and activities of Jesusthat can be established as historically probable, on the basis of ourvarious criteria.The BaptismIt is almost certain that Jesus began his public ministry by beingbaptized by John the Baptist.This is attested to in multiple inde-pendent sources, both early and later, and is not the kind of traditionthat a later Christian would make up.I think the significance of thebaptism makes sense only within an apocalyptic context.Jesus hadlots of religious options available to him, as did other Jews of his day.Some Jews joined the Pharisees, who were intent on keeping the lawof God as carefully and conscientiously as possible (that was whyGod had given the law so it could be kept); others joined monasticcommunities like those of the Essenes, who produced the Dead SeaScrolls, and were intent on preserving their own purity apart fromthe corrupting influences of the world around them; others sidedwith the Sadducees, aristocratic power players in Palestine who con-trolled the Temple and its sacrificial practices and who served as theliaison with the ruling Roman authorities; others were particularlyzealous for the Holy Land and urged a religious and military rebel- Liar, Lunatic, or Lord? Finding the Historical Jesus 163lion against Rome, in order to establish Israel as a sovereign statewithin the land that God had originally given them.Jesus did not join any of these groups.Instead he sided with Johnthe Baptist, an apocalyptic prophet who was urging people to pre-pare for the day of judgment, which was to appear in the very nearfuture.Why did Jesus side with John? Because he agreed with hismessage, not with the messages of all the others.Like John beforehim and his followers afterward, Jesus was an apocalypticist.The Twelve DisciplesThere can be little doubt that Jesus chose twelve followers to bea kind of inner circle around him.The twelve are attested to invarious Gospel sources as well as by Paul and Acts.In addition, onesaying, about the twelve ruling the twelve tribes of Israel in thekingdom, passes the criterion of dissimilarity.But why did Jesuschoose twelve disciples? Why not nine? Or fourteen?It was not so they could have a disciple-of-the-month club.It ap-pears to have been a symbolic gesture on Jesus part.Originally, inthe Hebrew Bible, the people of God the people of Israel had con-sisted of twelve tribes.According to Jesus, these twelve tribes wouldbe reconstituted in the coming Kingdom of God, when the truepeople of God were ruled by the twelve apostles.By choosing twelveclose disciples, Jesus was indicating that those who follow him andhis teachings would be the ones who enter into that future Kingdomof God.Not all Jews would be allowed into that kingdom.Only thosewho mended their ways and adhered to Jesus teachings would sur-vive the coming judgment.Choosing twelve, in other words, was akind of cryptic apocalyptic message [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]