On Jesus' Intentions
The following is a short paper I wrote for a course on the four gospels at Covenant Theological Seminary; the assignment entailed meticulous recording of every direct statement of Jesus in the gospels and compiling a synthesis of the results in a single two-page paper (hence the abundance of citations). Here it is: What did Jesus set out to accomplish? His own words suggest several objectives. First, Jesus intended to inaugurate the kingdom of God, and to do so as its rightful Lord and promised Messiah (in fulfillment of Israel’s scriptures, cf. Mt. 5.17-18). The manner in which he preached (“as one with authority”, Mt. 7.29 pars.) already hints at this, but Jesus openly declares that he came to preach the gospel of the kingdom (e.g. Mk. 1.14-15, cf. Lk 4.43). Jesus’ message of repentance and the proximity of the kingdom echoes that of John the Baptist (Mt. 4.17, cf. 3.2), but is quickly distinguished by several statements which imply not only Jesus’ high status in the kingdo...