The final Gray lecture by Tom Wright was not quite as full of juice as the first one, nevertheless, there were some good points along the way.  This lecture was entitled,  ‘How God Became King’  (on earth, as it is in heaven).   We might say of course—- look out the window, clearly the Kingdom hasn’t come yet.  The proper question to ask however– is What does it look like when God is running the show?  Are we talking theocracy, and if so what sort?  Which God are we talking about?  If its the God who is revealed as suffering and vulnerable in Jesus Christ, that’s a different sort of kingdom, a different sort of reign, a different sort of God.

Without question, the phrase Kingdom of God, in first century Israel, had political implications and ramifications.   There were the anti-tax riots of the Zealots ( plus change, plus le meme chois— think Tea Party with weapons), and the Zealot’s slogan was no Kingdom but God’s.  They looked to the Psalms and Is. 40-55. They sang Maccabean victory songs and celebrated that victory at Hanukkah.  They are waiting for that story to come to a conclusion.  And the shock is, the Gospel writers are saying to Zealots and others— it may not look like it, but we just got there in Jesus.  What does it look like when God exercises his sovereignty in the world.  God rescuing the world and his people from the Devil.  At this point Tom explained that his view is that the Devil is sub-personal struggling towards personhood  (so more than just an intentionless evil force, but less than fully personally in the positive sense).   God is rescuing his people from usurpers.  Human rulers are in the thrall of the Devil.  

Then Tom made three  key points: 1) the battle for the kingdom climaxes on the cross. ; 2) the signs of renewal are the harbingers of God becoming king; 3) Jesus explains what he is doing vis a vis the kingdom, in his parables.  The parables are not earthly stories with a heavenly meaning.  They are told to keep the audience guessing so they will not foreclose too soon the question of who Jesus is and how God becomes king in Him.   Tom calls this inaugurated eschatology— the end has come in Jesus, but it has not yet climaxed.  As a side comment he stressed that those who suggest that some of the NT is written as a response to the delay of the parousia, have badly misunderstood the NT.  On the one hand, some of those folk assume resurrection never happened to Jesus. But if in fact it did, then there is no delay in the eschaton, it has already begun to happen. The other problem is that some have assumed the NT is into date setting for the second coming.  This however is specifically rejected by Jesus himself (Mk. 13.32 and par.).  An event cannot be ‘delayed’ if no specific timetable has been set for its appearance in the first place!!  (These last couple of sentences are my expansion on what Tom was saying).   In light of this how can we read the 4 Gospels with new eyes?

1) John’s Gospel— the reason Jesus’ story matters is because Israels story matters.  Jesus is the temple, the place where God and humankind come together. The kingdom of Jesus matters— see the confrontation with Pilate and the argument about king and kingdom.  Jesus and then his disciples fulfill Israel’s vocation to be a light to the world.

2) in the Synoptics God becomes king through Jesus and his words and deeds. We need to realize that in the Bible heaven is just the control room of earth. Jesus goes to heaven not to escape earth, but to enter the throne room and take control of earth.  At his baptism Jesus becomes Israel’s messiah, Mk. 1-8 is about Jesus finally being recognized as Messiah.  He will be crowned king, ironically, on the cross.   Tom told a little story in light of the ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem saying…. ‘I would have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks’.  He points to the story of how the hen protects its brood from the fire in the hen house , by covering them entirely so they will survive, and taking the fire upon herself.

At the close of the lecture, Tom made several more points: 1) read the Gospels as wholes, not just the soundbytes here and there; 2) his reading of the Gospels allows each to resonate and make their own points; 3) but they all make in common the point— this is how God becomes king, humiliating the powers.  Side note, Tom said, Colossians with its Christus victor motif shows this same theology— Christ becomes ruler over the world and the cosmos through his death, res. ascension.  He added “If you think Colossians is post-Pauline, well, I hope you are taking something for that.”

How we read the Gospels is a measure of how we see our own mission. What does it mean that Jesus is Lord? What does it mean to say we are saved to be Kingdom entrepreneurs?  What would it look like if Jesus ran Durham N.C.?  (Indeed—– he might prefer running Chapel Hill).