A Biblical Vision, Part II: Mastering the New Testament Witness to Christ

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A B i b l i ca l Vi s i on, Par t I I : Mas ter i ng the New Tes tament Wi tnes s to Chr i s t

III. Common Traits of Jesus’ Contemporaries Who Opposed His Public Ministry

At his baptism Jesus knew himself to be ‘the anointed with the Spirit.’ Whatever else this meant, it meant equipment with divine power. Except on this assumption, his ‘temptations’ in the wilderness are unreal. His words in the Nazareth synagogue carry the same implication. ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,’ he says, quoting Isaiah 61.1, ‘because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind’ (Luke 4.18f.) Not only his preaching of the ‘good news to the poor,’ he implies, but also his conquests of disease and the devil are inspired by God’s Spirit. His ‘acts of power’ reveal the energizing of God’s Spirit through himself for the saving of sick and sinful men and women. ‘The Father who dwells in me,’ he says in John’s gospel, ‘does his works’ (John 14.10).

~ Archibald Hunter. The Works and Words of Jesus . p. 85.

A. How these contemporaries related to Jesus of Nazareth

1. They all, in one way or another, related to Jesus because of how they viewed him vis-a-vis their agenda in light of Roman rule.

2. Viewed Jesus as a threat to the status quo; none of his opponents advocated him as the true Messiah.

3. Felt that the overthrow and destruction of Jesus would benefit the Jewish nation in its relationship with Rome

4. Received Jesus’ implicit and explicit rebuke and critique for not understanding the times (the root of his opposition was spiritual blindness), Luke 12.54-56 – He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. [55] And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. [56] You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”