| 1. The Proclamation of Deliverance | ||||
(Heil has a somewhat broader meaning than any one English equivalent. The translation "deliverance" has usually been chosen rather than "salvation," in accordance with the emphasis of the crisis theologians that Christian salvation is not a possession.) and Call to Repentance | ||||
The message of Jesus is an eschatological gospel the proclamation that now the fulfillment of the promise is at hand, that now the Kingdom of God begins: | ||||
"Happy are the eyes that see what you see ! for I tell you: Many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it; to hear what you hear, and have not heard it." (Luke 10 :23, 24) | ||||
Then the summons to deliverance rings out: | ||||
"Happy are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God, | ||||
If the Kingdom of God is beginning, then the rule of Satan, who now with his evil demons infests the earth, must be ending. And indeed the demons can be seen already in flight; their cause is lost. Jesus and his disciples in the consciousness of their mission drive out demons and heal the sick. A strange word of Jesus to his disciples is recorded: | ||||
"I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the might of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm you " (Luke 10:18,19) | ||||
He answers the doubters: | ||||
"If I by the finger of God drive out the demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you." (Luke 11 :20) | ||||
He who has eyes to see must recognize that God, the stronger, has triumphed over Satan and broken his power; for | ||||
"No one can enter the house of a strong man and plunder it, | ||||
unless he has first bound the strong man." ( Mark 3:27) | ||||
It is true then! The promise of the prophets is fulfilled. | ||||
"The blind see, and the lame walk, | ||||
The time of joy begins: mourning and fasting are | ||||
However little we know of the life of Jesus, if we keep in mind that he was finally crucified as a Messianic agitator, we shall be able in the light of the eschatological message to understand the fragmentary accounts of the end of his activity, overgrown though they are with legend. He seems to have entered Jerusalem with a crowd of enthusiastic adherents; all were full of joy and of confidence that now the Kingdom of God was beginning. It was a band like that which the Egyptian prophet attempted to lead to Jerusalem, which was halted and scattered by a division of troops sent by the Procurator Felix to meet it. Jesus entered Jerusalem, and with his followers took possession (as it seems) of the temple, in order to cleanse the holy precincts from all evil in preparation for the coming of the Kingdom. | ||||
The oldest account of the last meal of Jesus with his disciples (Luke 22:15-18) contains a significant saying: | ||||
"With desire I have desired to eat this passover with | ||||
Even this account has a legendary coloring; but possibly it preserves an old saying in which Jesus affirmed the certainty that he would celebrate the next (Passover?) feast with his followers in the Kingdom of God. | ||||
At any rate his message is based on the certainty: the Kingdom of God is beginning, is beginning now! His own activity is for him and for his followers the sign that the Kingdom is imminent. It is absurd and presumptuous to ask him for a specific sign as evidence (Mark 8:11, 12); his message accredits him. The cleverness of the men of this world is foolishness, since they know, when the fig tree begins to grow green, that summer is coming; they can interpret the signs of sky, clouds, and wind, to predict the weather; but they do not understand the signs of the present age and do not know that it is the last hour. (Mark 13:28, 29; Luke 12:54-56) | ||||
In this last hour, the hour of decision, Jesus is sent with the final, decisive word. Happy is he who understands it and is not offended in him! (Matt.11:6) Decision is inevitable for him or against him: "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters." (Matt. 12:30) Wiser was the queen of Sheba, who of old came to Solomon to hear his wisdom; wiser were the Ninevites, who repented at the preaching of the prophet Jonah wiser than the fools of this generation, who do not understand what is happening before their eyes. (Luke 11:31, 32) But soon, when the Kingdom of God comes, when the Judge of the world, the "Son of Man" appears, Jesus will be justified and: | ||||
"Whoever acknowledges me before men, | ||||
Now is the time of decision: "Follow me and let the | ||||
"For the sake of the Kingdom of God" involves complete renunciation, brings every man face to face with the ultimate Either-Or.( Entweder-Oder: a phrase of Kierkegaard often used by the crisis theologians.) | ||||
To decide for the Kingdom is to sacrifice for it all things else. | ||||
"The Kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid, and in his joy he went and sold all that he had, and bought the field. "The Kingdom of God is like a merchant seeking goodly pearls, who when he found a pearl of great price went and sold all that he had, and bought the pearl." (Matt. 13:44-46) | ||||
"If your eye leads you astray, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it is better that one of your members perish, than that your whole body should be cast into hell." | ||||
"If your hand leads you astray, cut it off and cast it from you. For it is better that one of your members perish, than that your whole body should go into hell." (Matt. 5:29, 30) | ||||
There are people who for the Kingdom's sake have made themselves eunuchs, says Jesus. (Matt. 19:12) The road to deliverance leads through the narrow gate only; the many on the broad way are traveling to destruction. (Matt. 7 :13, 14) This call to decision is the call to repentance. For most men cling to this world, and do not muster energy to decide wholly for God. They do desire the Kingdom, but they desire it along with other things riches, and the respect of other men; they are not ready for repentance. When the invitation to the Kingdom comes to them they are claimed by various other interests. | ||||
"A man prepared a great supper and invited many. And he sent his servant at supper-time to call those who were invited: Come, for now it is ready. And they all began with one accord to excuse themselves. The first said: I have bought a field and must go out and see it; I beg you to excuse me. And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen and I am going to try them; I beg you to excuse me. And another said: I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. And the servant came and told his master these things. | ||||
"Then the master of the house became angry and said to the servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame. And the servant said: Master, what you commanded is done, and yet there is room. Then said the master to the servant: Go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper." (Luke 14:16-24) | ||||
The call to the Kingdom of God is accordingly, as the parable shows, an invitation which is at the same time a demand. Those who are invited must put the Kingdom of God above all other things. It makes its claim not on man's frivolous desire for pleasure but on his will. The word of invitation is at the same time a word of warning: | ||||
"Who of you when he intends to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all that see it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. | ||||
"Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, does not first sit down and consult whether with ten thousand he is able to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? If not, he sends him an embassy while he is still far away and asks for terms of peace." (Luke 14:28-32) | ||||
A man therefore should think seriously before he decides to have anything to do with this invitation. A ready acceptance in words has no value; an act of will is required. | ||||
"Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you whom he is like. He is like a man who built a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon a rock. Then when the flood came, the stream broke upon that house but could not shake it, because it was founded upon a rock. But he who hears and does not is like a man who built a house upon the earth without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, it fell immediately, and the ruin of that house was great." (Luke 6 :46-49) | ||||
How far must devotion and readiness for self-sacrifice be carried? | ||||
"If any man comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 4 26) | ||||
In two brief narratives belonging to the later stratum of the tradition, the church has shown vividly how this decisive Either-Or dominates the preaching of Jesus, how every other interest disappears before the exclusiveness of the demand of God. | ||||
"It happened, as Jesus was speaking, that a woman of the people raised her voice and said: Happy is the womb which bore you and the breast which gave you suck ! But he said: Rather, happy are they who hear the word of God and keep it." (Luke 11 :27-28) | ||||
"And there came his mother and his brothers, and standing outside they sent to call him, for a crowd was sitting around him. And they told him, Your mother and your brothers outside are looking for you. And he answered: Who are my mother and my brothers ? And looking at those who were sitting around him, he said: See, here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." (Mark 3:31-35) | ||||