31st
May
2005
Offers of forgiveness
Categories : Quotes, Religion, books |
This quote, from N T Wright, shows why Jesus’ statements offering forgiveness of sins was such a big deal to the Jews of the time. The modern metaphor helps me appreciate it in a way I haven’t done before :
“Jesus acted and spoke as if he was in some sense called to do and be what the Temple was and did. His offer of forgiveness, with no prior condition of Temple-worship or sacrifice, was the equivalent of someone in our world offering as a private individual to issue someone else with a passport or driver’s license. He was undercutting the official system and claiming by implication to be establishing a new one in it’s place.”
~ N. T. Wright - The Challenge of Jesus p65
[Current Music: Robert Plant - The Enchanter]
