I fear that Jesus is often treated merely as a wisdom Guru who gave some really good advice on how to live. That is the impression I get when the Sermon on the Mount, for instance, is preached. Even Jesus’ parables are minimalized. I hear people say that they were very clever stories to make points about how you should live your life–”earthly stories with heavenly meanings.”
The problem with all of this is that it denies Jesus’ role as the Jewish messiah. It ignores the unique, climactic, and decisive work of God through Christ on behalf of Israel.
When the gospels are read, it is unfair to them to treat them like a collection of timeless truths provided to have a good life and go to heaven after we die. A reading of the gospels that ignores both the historical context of 1st century Judaism and the uniqueness of Jesus’ vocation contradicts Paul’s words:
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw– each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
(1Co 3:11-14)
Jesus is a foundation on which we build. Our job is not to build another foundation by taking on the exact same vocation as the Christ. Rather, it is to use the foundation as a model for the building.
Obviously, this makes reading and interpreting the gospels more difficult. It involves creativity, imagination, and, most importantly, the guiding of the Holy Spirit.
Our task is to implement his unique achievement.
