Jesus In A World Of Colliding Empires Volume Two Mark 8 30 16 8 And Implications

At the time of Christ, world politics was an ebb and flow of colliding empires and forces. The world knew only dynastic succession and rule by force. Israel was swept up in this world. Her expectations of deliverance, while diverse, had in common the anticipation of violent liberation by an alliance of God, the expected one (Theo), and Israel’s forces. Her vision included the subjugation of the world to Yahweh. Any messianic claimant would be expected to fulfill this hope. Mark’s story of Jesus must be read against such expectations of military power. Mark knows that Jesus’ plan of salvation differed radically from this. Rather than liberation through revolution, it involved deliverance through humble, loving service and cross-bearing. However, the disciples follow Jesus but do not understand Jesus’ purpose. They constantly expect war. So, the Gospel is then read from Mark’s full understanding and the disciples’ flawed perspective. In this first volume of Jesus in a World of Colliding Empires, Keown backgrounds Mark and the political situations of the world at the time. He then unpacks Mark 1:1—8:29 as Jesus seeks to show the disciples he is Messiah while drawing out the deep irony of their incomprehension.

At the time of Christ, world politics was an ebb and flow of colliding empires and forces. The world knew only dynastic succession and rule by force. Israel was swept up in this world. Her expectations of deliverance, while diverse, had in common the anticipation of violent liberation by an alliance of God, the expected one (Theo), and Israel's forces. Her vision included the subjugation of the world to Yahweh. Any messianic claimant would be expected to fulfill this hope. Mark's story of Jesus must be read against such expectations of military power. Mark knows that Jesus' plan of salvation differed radically from this. Rather than liberation through revolution, it involved deliverance through humble, loving service and cross-bearing. However, the disciples follow Jesus but do not understand Jesus' purpose. They constantly expect war. So, the Gospel is then read from Mark's full understanding and the disciples' flawed perspective. In this first volume of Jesus in a World of Colliding Empires, Keown backgrounds Mark and the political situations of the world at the time. He then unpacks Mark 1:1--8:29 as Jesus seeks to show the disciples he is Messiah while drawing out the deep irony of their incomprehension.

At the time of Christ, world politics was an ebb and flow of colliding empires and forces. The world knew only dynastic succession and rule by force. Israel was swept up in this world. Her expectations of deliverance, while diverse, had in common the anticipation of violent liberation by an alliance of God, the expected one (Theo), and Israel's forces. Her vision included the subjugation of the world to Yahweh. Any messianic claimant would be expected to fulfill this hope. Mark's story of Jesus must be read against such expectations of military power. Mark knows that Jesus' plan of salvation differed radically from this. Rather than liberation through revolution, it involved deliverance through humble, loving service, and cross-bearing. However, the disciples follow Jesus but do not understand Jesus' purpose. They constantly expect war. So, the Gospel is then read from Mark's full understanding and the disciples' flawed perspective. In volume two of Jesus in a World of Colliding Empires, Keown continues to unpack Mark's Gospel (8:30-16:8), in which Jesus teaches the disciples what it means to be a Servant Messiah rather than a military conqueror. The then draws a range of conclusions and applications from Mark for life today.

Intertwined with Mark's story of Jesus are two other story lines: those of the religious authorities (without real authority), and those of the disciples (loyal and uncomprehending.) In this signal effort, Kingsbury traces and interprets all three story lines as found in Mark, chapters 2-4.

The Gospels are magnificent, classic, world-shaping, reverent sketches of Jesus of Nazareth, who, to his followers, became the Christ. The Gospels have many tantalizing gaps in the story of the Jesus who lived, walked, and loved among family members, Galilean friends, and tyrannical religious and political systems. The Gospels are essentially memories of memories of a cadre of devoted followers of Jesus. That said, the four Gospels are all we have of the telling of the Jesus of Nazareth story from about 4 BCE to about 30 CE. Through careful, reverent, well-researched twenty-first-century flights of informed imagination, I aim to fill in some of the historical blanks in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, this unique person, in the words of John Shelby Spong, "full of God." Volume one imagines the Αρχή (beginning) of Jesus of Nazareth. Volume two trumpets the call of Jesus to serve his beloved kingdom of weeds. As the late Marcus Borg had a way of saying, "It may not have happened exactly this way, but it's true anyway." Meet Jesus again for the first time as he grew and served among God's beloved "weeds" in his own time.