Simply Jesus

     Chapter 9 - The Kingdom Present and Future

1.  Wright begins this chapter with the question, “How can the kingdom be both present and future?”  This was Jesus’ remarkable claim, after all. 

 

How do you answer or explain this question?  Can you draw any analogies where the promise of future events is breaking into and shaping our present circumstances?

2.  First, we have “Judah the Hammer,” whose name suspiciously resembles the head of some ancient mob.  His rule occurred 200 years before Jesus’ ministry took off.  His family, the Hasmoneans, had significant success, but it would not last.  In effect, they set the stage for the Pharisees to interpret and uphold their ancient traditions.

Looking back, how would you contrast Judah the Hammer with Jesus of Nazareth?

3.  Second, we have “Simon the Star,” leapfrogging Jesus by about a hundred years.  His story sounds much like that of Judah…with predictable bad guys and good guys, culminating with some temporary victories.  The chief bad guy was the Roman emperor Hadrian, who transformed Jerusalem into a pagan city.  To the rescue comes Simon bar-Kosiba.  He, too, exercised the familiar agenda of freeing God’s people and rebuilding the Temple.  He would be their true king and Messiah.  At this point, Wright introduces “retrospective and prospective eschatologies,” indicating both a climax of events combined with the dawn or fulfillment of something new.

In any event, Wright says, it came to nothing but even greater suffering.  When the Romans clamped down, he and his forces were chased down and executed in their caves.  Ultimately, he would be labeled as a false messiah, “son of the lie.”  This led subsequent Jews to refrain from any more uprisings…content to let others run the world.

In what ways did Simon’s leadership mimic that of Jesus?

4.  Next, we turn to Herod the (not so) Great.  Wright fills in the blanks concerning a man we know very little about despite familiarity with his name.  Coming from a completely different background and with a much different agenda, Herod still manages to travel down this familiar track.  Aside from the million or so reasons to despise him, he did survive long enough to accomplish a great deal.  As Wright notes, “he shows…what it might have meant for someone at the time to be “king of the Jews.”  Eventually, his health and his reign crumbled.

How did Herod set the stage for Jesus to take on this title?

5.  Finally, we learn of Simon Bar-Giora…yet, another failed king.  He ruled Jerusalem during the period (66-70 AD) leading up to the destruction of the Temple.  He, too, applied the familiar recipe of leadership and agenda.  The Romans made a mockery of his capture and eventual execution in Rome at the hands of Titus.  Simon’s death thus drew close comparisons with Jesus’ death on the cross.  Wright concludes that being “king of the Jews” meant assuming an historical resume. 

 

So then, what were Jesus’ aims for the future?  What battles would he fight and how would he cleanse the Temple?  How would his reign be different, and how would it ultimately succeed?