Who Is Jesus? A First Testament Perspective

 I’ve spent my life wondering about Jesus; maybe you have too. Like: Does the Bible give an accurate portrait of him? Have we gotten his teachings mostly right? If we could interview him today, would his list of ways that we’ve misunderstood him be short, or long? Jesus is always the first of my answers to the question of historical guests you’d invite to a dinner party, or people you’d be stranded on a desert island with. Beyond the obvious inspirational and miracle-capable benefits of having him there, I just have so many questions for him!

Over the years, I’ve developed a few answers to my own questions; some insights into who Jesus was and is. I’ll tell you a few which have been the most helpful to me, in case they’re helpful for you too. Of course if they’re not, that’s all good; I have no need for everyone to agree with me.

One of my first big insights was: Don’t start with the titles. The titles won’t get you very far, on your voyage of discovery. Son of God, Savior, Messiah — they’re beautiful, and inspirationally powerful, but they’re all metaphors. The titles are binary, Yes or No questions; the only thing you can really ask of Jesus’ titles is, “Was/is he REALLY …?” And bottom line, you can’t ask that question about a metaphor, because the answer will always be No. By definition, metaphors are not literally true. So for me, Jesus’ various titles have been red herrings on the quest to understand him.

Early on in my quest, I did a lot of academic training, specializing in the First (‘Old’) Testament of the Bible, and that training has heavily influenced my understanding of Jesus.

The shorthand version of what I’ve learned is that Jesus’ life and ministry was Gd’s way of saying, “Read my lips!” Basically, theologically, Jesus didn’t introduce anything new about Gd; he didn’t do anything new, which Gd hadn’t already been doing. Forgiveness, salvation, healing, mercy, grace, love — these had been Gd’s business all along, before Jesus was born. Even resurrection I think, was Jesus showing us what Gd perpetually does; he was just the first time we saw a walking, talking version of it, this side of the veil.

Another helpful way to speak of Jesus, I‘ve found, is that the First Testament has these sort of Jungian, hero’s journey archetypes in its key figures — king, priest, prophet, and sage — and all four are useful ways to describe Jesus. These aren’t binary titles, things which Jesus either was or wasn’t; instead, each archetype has centuries’ worth of layered figurative meanings, which provide clues and keys to understanding both who Jesus was, and how the people of his day tried to categorize him, as one of these things. 

The last insight I’ll share with you is about “the kingdom of Gd” — which some say was the core of Jesus’ teaching. From my perspective, that phrase isn’t about having Jesus be the king of your heart, nor about Gd being a divine spark within us. What “kingdom of Gd” conjures for me is the pre-nation, pre-David, pre-Temple time in the history of Gd’s people, when Gd led Gd’s people personally, with no other intermediary than the patriarchs and prophets like Moses, who experienced Gd face to face. I think what Jesus meant by “kingdom of Gd” is to remind people that whatever governmental structures and religious institutions might rule the day, Gd is still a directly available guiding light, shaping and reshaping society from the grass roots upward, rather than from worldly powers downward.

Understanding “the kingdom of Gd” this way still has the same in-your-face power of a personal encounter with Jesus today, here and now. Complaining about the government not feeding the poor? “You give them something to eat,” Jesus still says. Upset about the need for prison reform? Start visiting people there yourself, he’d say. ’Skip the ranting about politics, and just do what you’d do if Gd were the only one in charge.’ It still just smacks you right upside the head; that’s one way you can tell it’s what Jesus meant.

I won’t end with a big finish reveal of the meaning of Jesus in one pithy sentence. But if you invited me to your dinner party as someone knowledgeable about the Bible, as well as being generally clever, witty and fun to be around, these are some of the insights I could share. 

Then I’d help with the dishes, ‘cause my mom and Jesus raised me right.