Books Jesus Read

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Books Jesus Read

Messiah. Why did they not understand that Jesus was the Messiah? They undoubtedly knew the Old Testament very well—why did they seem to misunderstand many parts about the Messiah? The Jews did, in fact, know that God was going to send the Anointed One. Who they thought the Messiah would be, however, was drastically different than who Jesus was. The Maccabean Revolt led many Jews to believe the Messiah would be a political leader who would break Israel free from the oppressive rule of foreign nations. They envisioned a Messiah who would break his people from their bondage through a militaristic uprising. In reality, Jesus did not come to free Israel from foreign nations, but to free all people who would follow him from the bondage of sin. He did not come to overthrow the government, but to overthrow the cosmic powers, the spiritual forces of evil. Reading the Apocrypha can help us understand why many Jews in Jesus’ day and even in our own time remain unconvinced that Jesus was the Messiah. Learning about Spiritual Friendship from the Apocrypha: The Discipline of Spiritual Friendship 5 The last chapter of Books Jesus Read contains teaching on friendship. What friendships do you value? Are you someone who has many friends, or someone who has few friends? How particular are you about who you spend time with?

5 For more information on spiritual friendship, see Aelred of Rievaulx, Spiritual Friendship: Learning How to Be Friends with God and One Another , ed. Hank Voss, Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics 3 (Wichita, KS: TUMI Press, 2022).