GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 8:28
Tell me, Who is Jesus?
In a medieval history class, the professor discussed the life and career of the medieval King Charlemagne (i.e., Charles the Great). He told a story about a female freshman student in one of his classes who told him that he was mispronouncing the king’s name. It should be pronounced “Charlie-mag-ne.”
Occasionally, I get a letter addressed to Mr. Claude Block, and it goes into the circular, or in my case, the rectangular file—wastebasket. If the business can’t correctly identify me, I don’t feel inclined to open their letter.
I walked to the teller’s counter in my bank, and the teller, whom I had never met, said, “Good morning, Claude. How are you today?” I don’t think I’m persnickety about things like that, but it was a level of familiarity that was out of place. In one class, a student asked me how she should address me. “Well,” I said, “Professor, Doctor, Reverend, Mister, ‘hey you,’ or people really close to me call me ‘honey.’” She said, “Professor.” I assured her that it was okay.
Walking around the shrines and altars in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples how people described him. “And they responded to him, saying, ‘John the Baptist, and others, Elijah, but others that you are one of the prophets.’” (Mark 8:28) The Pharisees had one opinion about Jesus, the Sadducees another, and King Herod had another; there were many other opinions about the Messiah.
To understand the image Jews of this era had of the coming Messiah, William Barclay, in The Gospel of Mark, studied intertestamental literature. He formed this picture of New Testament Messianic expectations: (1) Before the Messiah came, there would be a time of terrible tribulation. (2) Into this chaos, there would come Elijah as the forerunner and herald of the Messiah. (3) Then there would enter the Messiah. (4) The nations would ally themselves and gather themselves together against the champion of God. (5) The result would be the total destruction of these hostile powers. (6) There would follow the renovation of Jerusalem. (7) The Jews who were dispersed all over the world would be gathered into the city of the New Jerusalem. (8) Palestine would be the center of the world, and the rest of the world subject to it. (9) Finally, there would come the a new age of peace and goodness, which would last forever.
I worked as a teaching assistant in the Department of Religious Studies at a university. In the department, there was a philosopher of religion, a sociologist of religion, and a psychologist of religion, and they all had different views of Jesus. People sitting beside me in church meetings may have views of Jesus that differ from mine. It would be possible, then, to add several more views to the disciples’ list.
Previous
Next
Directory