The context of a person's life colors what a person hears and sees. I grew up in the midst of Communist Russia threatening to destroy America. My elementary school had a bomb shelter and we practiced hiding under our desks when the sirens sounded. I grew up having witnessed the assassination of a President, civil rights leader, and the former Attorney General of the United States. Vietnam was a controversial war and heroes arrived on our shores to a traitors welcome. I heard of Jesus through that lens.
N.T. Wright explains the context of the world who heard from the mouth of Jesus, "the kingdom of heaven is near." "The Jews of Jesus' day, as is well-known, were living under foreign rule and had been for several centuries. The worst thing about that was not the high taxation, the alien laws, the brutality of oppression and so on, awful though that often was. The worst thing was that the foreigners were pagans. If Israel was truly God's people, why were the pagans ruling over her? If Israel was called to be God's true humanity, surely these foreign nations were like the animals over which Adam and Eve were to rule."
There were three options available to the Jew. One was to escape the culture and live in the caves at Qumran. Their philosophy was to "separate yourself from the wicked world and wait for God to do whatever God is going to do." The second option was compromise. This was taken by "Herod: build yourself fortresses and palaces, get along with your political bosses as well as you can...and hope that God will validate it somehow." The third option was to be a "zealot...say your prayers, sharpen your swords, make yourselves holy to fight a holy war, and God will give you a military victory...over evil."
So when these people heard Jesus say "the kingdom of heaven is near" what did they think that meant?
And today, what is your context as you sit in the seats of the worship assembly? How do you see the world? How do you view world leaders? How do you view hunger and aids? How do you see marriage? How are you hearing the message of Jesus?
The message is the same...the world needs Jesus! How do we communicate this amazing Savior to a world who lives in this context?
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