#ReExamine Scripture...We May Have Misread Critical Passages

Jesus Was (Not What We Expected...

ADKq_NYi8IJkwvIOzexll0wMs6psof4R8oJOEfye3UlA1ityzw0Q16XJeofMGF-4bFl_eNFYfu3uqwSxnF6t8tfLdNwjhv2x2eLDzHfRITlIR3qYjU-LRnHmXMADYm17EqVF-S110N7qeRBWH2Wsn920wu8u8e-ueL-OEGywvhOjvHA4dT5VXDeJSV05DGfFF4IHSFbJDdQoCgwygjOKAHrvWLwec_Za6fsp1-L8VS0Cml7JWzY4LWitMRfYFeDYQilHPkm5WsAZr430QY8b8RCXZmbqCWIx9zNHUo8q5W7Y14Q_BbK7DhMdtrChh2AphKzQrUxRRw=s0-d-e1-ft#<a href=

Select quotes from Scot's essay:

Too many churches and pastors and others think first about salvation and church growth and status and spiritual gifts, but not enough about Jesus – who he was, what he did.

When I translated the New Testament, with the privilege of labeling each paragraph, I did all I could to make “Jesus” the first word in the header for each paragraph. Every passage is about Jesus, not us.

We may learn discipleship in these passages, but when we turn them into messages about us instead of for us, we break the code for reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And, after the Gospels, the rest of the books in the New Testament.

Each passage truly is about Jesus: Messiah, Lord, Lamb of God, Son of Man, Son of God, Savior, coming King, and the Lion of Judah. The best readings of the New Testament ponder Jesus so thoroughly that we lift our heads from the Bible, close our eyes, and see Jesus – who he is, what he did, and what he is asking of us. It’s a skill we may need to learn, but one thing I can tell you: Jesus Was will help you to become a skilled reader of the Bible who sees Jesus as the message of the Bible.

Jesus Was (Not What We Expected...)

Scot McKnight

My Foreword to Jesus Was (not what we expected but better than we imagined), eds. Susy Flory and Scott Johanningsmeier.

One of the most dramatic moments, at the literary level, in the Gospels is an incident reported in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus had directed his apprentices to go to the other side of the lake so they could get away from a growing crowd. The crowd made Herod Antipas nervous, who lived in Tiberias, an easy distance from Capernaum where Jesus was. On their trip across the Sea of Galilee, a fierce storm erupted. The apprentices perceived they were on the threshold of death while Jesus was sound asleep – it’s an easy scene to imagine because the author is using an ancient technique called ekphrasis, or the purposeful use of vivid language to stimulate the emotions and persuade us, readers or listeners, to embrace Jesus. After expressing dismay with Jesus, the Lord silences the storms. But the most dramatic moment of this vivid scene closes down the curtain on the paragraph. The apprentices in the boat ask, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him?” (Mark 4:35-41). The question, “Who is Jesus?,” is the ultimate question of evangelism. The answer to that question reveals the condition of the one being asked that question.

When I heard from the editors of this volume that students and friends were responding affirmatively to writing essays with the opening title Jesus Was, I was excited as one of their professors, as a professor who tried to motivate students to write, and even more as one who believes the question and the answer at work in this book are fundamental to the health of the church.

Too many churches and pastors and others think first about salvation and church growth and status and spiritual gifts, but not enough about Jesus – who he was, what he did, and therefore our answers to such questions. I am so proud of these essays. Whether one would like other answers to other questions or not, or even if one would affirm what these students affirm differently, the right conversation has been opened up. In this book you will be wondering who Jesus was and is. No subject is more important.

The question and the answer – Who is Jesus along with He is… -- are asked often in the Gospels. Here’s a list of some of them (italics added):

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Luke 5:21).

The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” (7:49)

But Herod said, “I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?” And he tried to see him. (9:9)

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” (Matthew 21:10)

The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?” (John 12:34)

Pharisees and theological experts asked this question. Their implied answer was not the orthodox one. Guests who saw Jesus pronounce forgiveness asked this. Herod Antipas asked the question. With more than a little touch of hyperbole, Matthew informs us that the whole city of Jerusalem was asking this question. And a crowd in the Gospel of John asked the question.

What the various groups were asking was just as diverse: Who but a blasphemer thinks he can forgive sins? Who could have had the powers to heal people and exorcise unclean spirits except for John the Baptist come back to life. After all, he had been decapitated for speaking against Herod’s marriage to Herodias? The powers at work in Jesus must be explained as the powers at work in John. Who in the world would enter the city on a donkey, mocking Rome’s generals who enter with pomp and power displays? Who would enter the city with such a ragtag bunch of Judeans and Galileans acting like the arrival of the king of Israel? Like the messiah? Who speaks of Daniel 7’s Son of Man as if he was the one would ascend before the Ancient of Days?

Jesus stirred people to ask who in the world he could be. When he spoke up in his hometown synagogue, in Nazareth, the question being asked turned into three questions: “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing?” Those questions were chased down with a question similar to the question, Who is Jesus? The locals asked “Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” (Mark 6:2-3). They tripped over Jesus, not at what he had done or what he said. They “took offense at him.”

The best readings of the Gospels concentrate our attention on the central Subject and the premier Actor of each paragraph, who is Jesus. Not a theology, not a creed, not a philosophy, not a theory. A Person. When I translated the New Testament, with the privilege of labeling each paragraph, I did all I could to make “Jesus” the first word in the header for each paragraph. Every passage is about Jesus, not us. We may learn discipleship in these passages, but when we turn them into messages about us instead of for us, we break the code for reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And, after the Gospels, the rest of the books in the New Testament. Each passage truly is about Jesus: Messiah, Lord, Lamb of God, Son of Man, Son of God, Savior, coming King, and the Lion of Judah. The best readings of the New Testament ponder Jesus so thoroughly that we lift our heads from the Bible, close our eyes, and see Jesus – who he is, what he did, and what he is asking of us. It’s a skill we may need to learn, but one thing I can tell you: Jesus Was will help you to become a skilled reader of the Bible who sees Jesus as the message of the Bible.

Upgrade to paid