Scapegoating & the Gospel Story

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they made plans to put him to death (John 11:47–53 ESV).

Caiaphas was prophesying, but he did not mean to prophesy (or did not mean the prophecy). God gave him words that meant something (see Matthew 1:21; 20:28), but Caiaphas imagined a different meaning. His false narrative is essentially a counterfeit Gospel that superficially resembles the real Gospel.

The Birth of the Age of Wisdom

I started my book, Solomon Says, with a discussion of learning to drive as an extended analogy (or perhaps example?) of gaining wisdom. I compared the transformation that occurs in a modern teen who changes from an exclusive passenger to a driver to the transformation to adult maturity and (for a Christian) godliness.

One element that intrigued me about this analogy (or example?) is that it had an obvious parallel to human culture through history. There was a time when no one thought a sixteen-year-olds would often be piloting self-propelled vehicles faster than a mile a minute. That thought would have been considered crazy. Even if the technology was imagined, probably no one would think of controlling such a machine as an everyday skill. It was not considered a part of human potential.

Yet, here we are. We live in an age of mechanized superheroes and invent fantasy characters like Tony Stark/Ironman to make us blind (or because we are blind) to the fantastic miracle that occurred in human history through the automotive revolution.

What do you mean, “prunes”?

“Prunes” is the word used in the ESV and other English Bible translations for a word in Jesus’ discourse in John 15:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit (John 15:1–2 ESV).

The meaning of this passage commonly understood to refer to life’s trials that God sends our way to refine us (like in James 1:2).

But I have to wonder if something more might being also hinted at.

How Blood Moves History Forward

Admittedly, this is a macabre headline, but it does allude to a Biblical issue.

I recently tweeted about Matthew’s Gospel, arguing that Jesus literally told his followers to expect violent death before that entire age was judged. This is explicitly in Matthew 23 and 24, but by the time you read through chapter 10, the message is obvious.

In this post, I want to point out in this post is that this [major!] aspect of Matthew’s Gospel fits with other Biblical patterns.

Jesus & Paul on Israel’s Heritage & Identity

Jesus and Paul do not sound the same but they both have the same basic perspective: That Israel was basically a pagan nation.

There was reason they would be able to assert this. Aside from the frequent periods of pagan worship recorded in the book of Judges, Solomon had officially made the united nation of Israel a polytheist realm. YHWH got demoted from Israel’s only God to the head of a pantheon. In his letter to the Romans (1:18ff), Paul argues that all nations are piling up wrath by turning to idolatry instead of acknowledging God as he has revealed himself in his works. He includes Israel in that verdict, using phrases that point to their own history. The only sin Paul names for which their is no direct Scriptural evidence that Israel was a participant is lesbianism (Romans 1:26).

How does this compare to Jesus’ message during his ministry before the cross?