Chapters 10 and 17

Chapter 10 details the difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan in terms of power. Society cannot function without power. The Greek word “basilea” means not only kingdom but kingship. However, it is oftentimes translated as just kingdom. Albert Nolan reminds us that it also means the political power of God. The most important aspect of this power is that it is not about domination but rather about service. Power is supposed to serve the people, not the other way around. For example, take the law of the Sabbath. In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees made the law of the Sabbath into a burden rather than a service. The Pharisees insisted on many trivial rules that oppressed people and their goodness, declaring kind acts such as helping one another as illegal on the Sabbath. According to Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”. The Sabbath was designated as a resting day to help the people, not hurt them. The leaders in Jesus’ time and even our time today enslave themselves to the law for not only esteemed regard but because the fear of freedom. Once they themselves deny themselves freedom, they deny others their freedom. Jesus wished to change this by ensuring that the law was our servant not our master, “dethroning” it, in other terms. In the Kingdom of God, there is no domination. Rather, authority, power, and law will work in a way that everyone serves another.

In Chapter 17, author Albert Nolan details the important characteristics of Jesus, noting that the humanity of Jesus is what made him great. It is important to notice that Jesus had no fear. He did not fear contradicting authority or stating his own beliefs. The issue of him being called the “son of man” is quite controversial. Nolan insists that “son of man” cannot be considered a title. Nolan concludes that “son of man” was Jesus’ way of, “referring to, and identifying himself with, human beings as human beings”, not an attempt for rank or title. In fact, Jesus was completely against titles. He disagreed with titles such as Rabbi and master, though he was often called this himself. A very important characteristic of Jesus was his authority. Authority is often defined as demanding obedience from others. Jesus can be seen as exerting authority over evil through the power of faith. However, his actual teaching and preaching contains no traces of authority. He doesn’t tell people what to do, he instead enables listeners to discover something by themselves by asking provocative questions within a work of art like a parable. He wanted others to, “see what he saw and believe what he believed”. He did not rely on any type of sign or vision to substantiate his claims. As Linnemann said in her studies of Jesus, “the only thing that could give weight to the words of Jesus were the words themselves”. The basis of truth for Jesus was his compassion and solidarity with God. This is what made him into the insightful man so known by all today.