The way of imagination

  “[Jesus] also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?   It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” (Gospel of Mark 4.30-32)      What were Jeremiah and Jesus trying to accomplish?   Both prophets seemed to have dedicated their lives to a fool’s errand.   In the case of Jeremiah, God told him at the moment of his calling that his audience would resist his message (Jer. 1.17-19) and as we read the book of Jeremiah, it often feels like the destruction of Judah is a foregone conclusion.   As for Jesus, he quoted the prophet Isaiah to describe his contemporaries’ inability to understand his teaching (Mk. 4.11-12; cf. Is. 6.9-10).   Both Jeremiah and Jesus called their...

  “Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi. There he put this question to his disciples: “Who do people say that the son of man is?” “John the Baptist,” they replied. “Others say Elijah. Others say Jeremiah , or one of the prophets.” (Gospel of Matthew 16.13-14)        It’s striking to note that when people looked at Jesus, one of the figures from Israel’s past that came to mind was the prophet Jeremiah.   Obviously, there was something about the way that Jesus spoke and acted that reminded people of one of the prophets they heard about when the Scriptures were read in the synagogues.   Was this a mistake on the part of Jesus’ contemporaries?   Perhaps they simply lacked the appropriate category through which to understand Jesus?   Indeed, Jesus could not be contained within any single category from the Jewish thought world; however, it seems clear from the Gospels that Jesus did indeed play the part of a prophet.   As the New Testament...

“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.    If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.  I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days,...

       Eschatology [1] is a notoriously thorny issue within Christian theology.   Not least among the scandals occasioned to a mind formed by, say, the Sermon on the Mount [2] is the spectre of Jesus astride a white horse and descending from heaven to slaughter his enemies at the battle of Armageddon and to – presumably – ride into Jerusalem in his battle-stained robes to claim the throne of David and launch his millennial reign. [3]   Disturbingly, perhaps, for some lovers of Tolkien is the fact that this is precisely how The Return of the King portrays, to coin a phrase, “the return of the king” of Gondor to a besieged White City at the head of the army of undead Oathbreakers to help carry the day at the battles of the Pelennor Fields and the Black Gate [4] , before returning once again to Minas Tirith to be crowned, at his insistence, by Gandalf, upon which (in the Jackson film) King Aragorn invites the peoples of the West to share in “the days o...

“The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, even the blind and the lame will turn you back”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.”   Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, which is now the city of David.   David had said on that day, “Whoever would strike down the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind, those whom David hates.” …David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inward. And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.” (2 Samuel 5.6-10)      Jeremiah’s Temple sermon (7.1 – 8.3) must have struck his audience as patently absurd.   After all, “the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, prophets, and people” (cf. 8.1; 7.2) had biblical evidence that legitimized their royal-Temple ide...