Central to Jesus’ message and activity was the
kingdom of God. Almost 40 years ago, John Reumann, a Lutheran scholar
and professor, wrote:
“Ask any hundred New Testament
scholars around the world, Protestant, Catholic, or non-Christian, what
the central message of Jesus of Nazareth was, and the vast majority of
them—perhaps every single expert—would agree that his message centered
in the Kingdom of God” (Jesus in the Church’s Gospels, Fortress Press, 1968).
Since then the consensus of scholarship has not changed. The kingdom of God was Jesus’ passion—passion
in the sense of what he was passionate about. And because Jesus is for
Christians the decisive revelation of God, Jesus’ passion discloses,
reveals, God’s passion. Jesus’ passion is God’s passion: the kingdom of
God.
What did Jesus mean when he used this phrase?
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© 2013 Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
