Jesus and Symbols of His Kingdom (chapter 3, part 2)

"As Jesus subverted the symbols of land, family, Torah and Temple, so he acted in such a way as to replace these with symbols pointing to his own work and agenda" (68).

Well, we're still following along the same theme: throughout his life, Jesus puts a new twist on the symbols mentioned above, making them point to a new kingdom that is (1) all-inclusive, (2) all about forgiveness and love, and (3) starting now and also coming soon, if that makes any sense (perhaps i should say it was born in Jesus's day but was not fully realized and still hasn't been fully realized).

The most interesting aspect of this section yet another return to the story of the Jewish nation's exile (which was obviously still in effect because even though the Temple still stood, they were oppressed by Rome). The story of exile is the story of  sin followed by consequences (exile) and finally forgiveness and restoration. For Wright, Jesus's emphasis on forgiveness is yet another way to signal the end of the exile and the beginning of the Kingdom--sin caused the exile and forgiveness ushers in the restoration.

So, refusing to forgive means you personally are forestalling the restoration, or locking yourself out of the kingdom: "Not to forgive one another would be a way of denying that this great, long-awaited event was taking place; in other words, it would be to cut off the branch on which they were sitting" (70).

This way of thinking about Jesus's message is both exciting and disturbing for me. On one hand, the idea that forgiveness brings freedom opens the door for a long-awaited, glorious future is pretty exciting. But does that detract from valuing forgiveness for its own sake? It feels like Jesus is preaching for his own ends, not to make our lives better and teach us how to live. But perhaps this story of exile and restoration is so universal that everyone has a part in it, even if we aren't all Jewish.