He had a different idea, you might have heard His name...

Jesus claimed to act and speak with divine authority. The content and style of his teaching in Mt. 5:21, 27 and Mk. 7:15 showed that he had authority over the Torah (Jewish Law) and could accentuate it and even set it aside if he wanted.[1] For example, Jesus ignored, or deliberately transgressed, traditional Jewish food laws.[2] Another significant indication of Jesus’ divine authority is in Lk. 11:20 where Jesus claimed that his exorcisms proved that God was acting in and through him to bring in the kingdom of God (God’s divine rule). In Lk 17:21b Jesus states, in effect, “God’s imperial rule is right there in your presence”.[3] Jesus believed that the kingdom of God was present in his person and operative through him personally.[4] Jesus not only had a forgiving attitude to sinners, but also claimed a prerogative belonging only to God – that of forgiving sins.[5] He also claimed to be able to determine people’s eternal destiny before God in such verses as Mt. 10:39 and Mt. 19:29. As New Testament scholar Ben Witherington points out:

…how one reacts to Jesus and his actions now will affect one's status at the last judgment. This saying...suggests that Jesus saw his miracles as evidence of the inbreaking dominion of God that should lead people to humble themselves before their God. Jesus, then, is the one who brings the final decisive action of God upon God's people. How one responds will determine one's final status with God. This suggests that Jesus saw himself as the final and decisive mediator between God and God's people. (emphasis mine)[6]

All these historical facts point to a man who believed himself to be in a unique, intimate relationship with God, invested with divine power and authority, doing and saying things that only God could, on a mission to suffer and die, and then later to be vindicated by God and thus bring both salvation and judgment to the world. This same Jesus predicted his death and resurrection in Mk. 10:45 and Mt. 12:40; he would give his life as a ransom for many and be resurrected on the third day. So there is compelling historical evidence that Jesus Christ made fantastic claims about his own identity, role, and power – even to the point of claiming authority over death. It is certain that he said and did these things, and was subsequently executed by the Roman authorities, but did he actually make good his claim to rise from the dead?

(Incidentally, for those who don't know where the blog title comes from, check out the music of Kerry Livgren - formerly of megagroup Kansas).

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[1] Gerhard Lüdemann, The Great Deception: And What Jesus Really Said and Did (Amherst: Prometheus Books, 1999), 88-89; Witherington, 1990, 65.

[2] Funk, 1997, 481.

[3] Ludemann, 1999, 82; Witherington, 1990, 167.

[4] N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1996), 530.

[5] Mk. 2:15-17; Lk. 7:33-34; Mt. 11:18-19.

[6] Witherington, 1990, 167.