I concur with Ehrman that Jesus saw himself as the king of this coming kingdom, the Messiah,35 but on the back of Jewish restoration eschatology I want to say more than that. Jesus believed that in his ministry and even in his person, YHWH was finally returning to Zion. In light of that premise, it is useful to read afresh a number of episodes from Jesus’ career that illustrate that the lines between divine author and divine agent were becoming blurred. Several stories and sayings in the Synoptic Gospels point toward Jesus’ unique role as a divine agent with an unprecedented authority and who
...more
