Book Review: Jesus of Israel

Who was Jesus? All Christian faiths look to him as their Lord and Savior. In the first century, he was given the title of Messiah, which means “anointed,” and because so many Jews spoke Greek, he was called by the Greek word for anointed—christos, or Christ. That is how he is known among English-speaking peoples today, as Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus. Was he God, as many Christians believe, or the Son of God, or merely a highly principled teacher of morality? That is the question addressed in “Jesus of Israel,” by independent scholar Marchette Chute. She finds the answer in Jesus’ own words, mainly in the gospel of John. At 116 pages, JESUS OF ISRAEL is relatively short. Nonetheless, it is a work of deep thought and the result of considerable study by someone who has spent a lifetime living with the Bible and contemplating its true meaning. A lifelong reader of the Bible myself, I learned a great deal from this book, as well as her other two Bible commentaries, THE SEARCH FOR GOD, and THE END OF THE SEARCH

Outside of the four gospels, next to nothing is known about Jesus’ life and ministry. The author looks to these four accounts for answers, as well as to other contemporary materials: a translation of Josephus, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and, from the Apocrypha, the “Book of Enoch” and “The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.”

Ms. Chute is not the first scholar to point out the considerable differences between the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and the gospel of John. Some have questioned whether or not the author of John is in fact “the beloved disciple.” The author makes a compelling case that it is this very John, who also wrote I, II and III John, and the Book of Revelation. John was the beloved disciple because he best understood Jesus’ message, as his incisive writings indicate. John did something no other writer in the New or Old Testament ever did. He defined God. The prophets and the apostles had all attempted to explain the relationship of God to his worshippers. John went straight back to the source and began with God himself. “God is spirit” (John 4:24). “God is light” (I John 1:5). “God is love” (I John 4:8).

And what of Jesus? In John’s gospel, Jesus defines himself as “a man that told you the truth” (John 8:40). Again and again it was in the name of this truth that Jesus acted, and that his one function was to make it manifest. “For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth” (John 18:57). Anyone who understood his message could do what he did. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12). When he said this, Jesus had already explained what he meant by believing in him. “He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on Him that sent me” (John 12:44).

All four gospels make it clear that Jesus was able to heal the sick and raise the dead. Says the author, “the first three gospels, insofar as they explain the matter at all, give the impression that Jesus had been given a supernatural power to defy physical law. Only in the Fourth Gospel are these acts of Jesus presented as the inevitable result of his message, the message that brought freedom from every form of bondage, because it was the truth about God.”

What accounts for the differences between the synoptic gospels and John’s gospel? A fair amount of it had to do with the influence of the Pharisee’s teachings, which affected all Jews, and affected the writings of Mathew, Mark and Luke in a way that did not affect John’s account. The Pharisees were teaching the doctrines of "The Book of Enoch" and "The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs", which are not found in the Old Testament and were in fact written in the second and first century B.C. According to "The Book of Enoch", the Messiah would be set on “a throne of glory to judge mankind.” The sinners would be destroyed, but the elect would be established “in the light of the eternal light.” In each of the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, "The Book of Enoch" is echoed in descriptions of the Day of Judgement that are attributed to Jesus. “There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars. . . . And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and glory” (Luke 21: 25, 27). Yet Luke records a statement by Jesus which wholly contradicts this Jewish doctrine. “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, lo here! or, lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”

The Fourth Gospel makes it clear what Jesus meant by the kingdom of God. It was not a supernatural event, to be ushered in by angels and clouds of fire during some time in the future. It was an inward kingdom, here and now, born of the knowledge of the presence of God. “Very, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born . . . of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-7). “God is a spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). It was in teaching and in demonstrating this new way of worshipping God that earned him the wrath and condemnation of the Pharisees, and ultimately a death sentence.

Jesus had not come as a political conquerer. As he told Pilate, his kingdom was “not of this world” (John 18:36), and the salvation he brought was not freedom from Rome but freedom to enter God’s kingdom, not by death, but by understanding the truth Jesus taught. Death had no terror for Jesus, and he overcame death when he raised the boy who was being carried on a bier to his burial place, when he raised Lazarus, who had lain in the grave four days, and when he raised himself from the tomb three days after he was crucified.

Writes the author: “From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus had found that many men would rather believe in him than in the message he brought. He gave all honor to God; they tried to give honor to him instead.” Further on she writes: “And having given everything to God, keeping nothing back for himself, he walked as the only free man in Israel.”

- END -