I’m actually not sure I have anything intelligent to say about The Challenge of Jesus anyway, unfortunately, even though I just finished reading it. I really wanted to like this book, having a number of friends who really liked it. But I definitely had mixed feelings. Part of it was really good, bringing meaning to rather cryptic sayings/actions of Jesus. Part of it was frustratingly sparse, making statements about 1st century Judaism that seemed plausible but without, IMHO, enough substantiating evidence. Part of it just went over my head, using theological jargon/references that the lay scholar just wouldn’t be familiar with. I’m no slouch when it comes to Bible studies, but I’m no seminarian either. For a book that is aimed at a more popular audience, I would have wished for a little more readability. Or maybe it’s just ‘cause I’m a dumb American who doesn’t understand British English?
Anyway, the gist of the book (for me, anyway) was that current Christian thought has missed some of the import of Jesus’s life because we apply his life directly to ours instead of through the lens of a 1st century Jewish community. I’ll certainly grant that I don’t know jack about 1st century Judaism (besides the snippets that I’ve picked up in Bible studies over the years), but I also get the sense that Wright thinks that his own research into Jesus’s life is the most accurate which may very well be true but is hard for my skeptical mind to buy at face value. Perhaps that’s what I found most frustrating about the book.
On the flip side, I think the “Challenge” is real and profound. Jesus definitely came into a context that had certain expectations of what success might look like, but he had a totally different understanding of God’s plan for the redemption of the world through Israel. And, as the prophets of old, his life and death were symbolic of God’s message to Israel and to the world. But because of his special relationship with God, it was not simply symbolic, but actually God acting out his love in a real and tangible way.
Now that “Challenge” comes to us, the church, who must bring a message that is relevant to our cultural context. As always, it’s distressingly unclear what that might look like. But I think the nature of the message is pretty clear after all: “Our task is to announce in deed and word that the exile is over, to enact the symbols that speak of healing and forgiveness, to act boldly in God’s world in the power of the Spirit.”
That’s a pretty good message. That’s good news. How do we communicate it? That’s a good question and the subject of much thought and prayer. But that’s what life is about… Bringing good news to a world that sorely needs it.
