Jesus' Self-Understanding
Jesus' Self-Understanding
I have painted with broad strokes the portrayal of modern critics and their inadequate distinction between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. I have demonstrated that in His historical mission Jesus understood Himself to be the Messiah but one who confounded not only the crowds and His enemies but also His own closest companions. All of the Gospel writers point us in this direction, but we briefly conclude with Matthew's historical focus on Jesus' self-understanding in the final days of His life.29
From the beginning of this Gospel, which announced the arrival of Jesus as the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matt 1:1), Matthew has carefully detailed Jesus as the Messiah who fulfills Israel's expectations and the nations' hopes. As the spotlight of history focuses on the events of the cross, Matthew draws attention to Jesus as Messiah, but in a tragically ironic way as one who baffled His own followers, disappointed the crowds, and enraged the religious leaders. He will be a crucified Messiah. With four strokes of his narrative brush, Matthew fills in the details and the colors of his portrait of Jesus as the crucified Messiah. Derek Tidball explains: “He wants our attention to be held by who it was that was pinned in such a humiliating and fatal way to a stake on the hill of Golgotha. It is a portrait which in a myriad of ways tells us about the real identity of the central figure and so of his mission.”30 Matthew highlights four specific features of Jesus as the crucified Messiah that run throughout the Passion Narrative.
1. Prophesied Deliverer. As the anticipated Messiah, Jesus fulfills Scripture that prophesied His actions during the final hours that led to the cross for the deliverance of His people. It is divinely appointed time (26:18), His hour of prophesied reckoning (26:24,45). The people of Israel anticipated a deliverer, but Jesus will deliver them in ways that not all expected. He will be stricken (26:31), fulfilling the prophecies of a slain, stricken Messiah who brings healing and deliverance from iniquity to His people (Isa 53:4–12; Zech 12:9–14). Later rabbis interpreted these verses to mean that they should expect a slain Messiah (b. Sukkah 52a). But for many this will be a real stumbling block because the events of the crucifixion point to Jesus' self-understanding of His divine incarnation as the Son of God (26:46,54).
2. Sacrificial Servant. As the fulfillment of the prophecies of a crucified Messiah, Jesus will spill His blood as the Servant who is the willing sacrifice to bear the sins of humanity. He raises the Passover cup of redemption and declares, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt 26:28 NIV). He is the fulfillment of the symbolism of the Passover lamb as He becomes the Servant of the Lord who bears the sins of humanity (Isa 53:12). The events of the cross are not pleasant. They are bloody. And modern sensibilities want to clean them up to make them more palatable. But to do so minimizes the awfulness of sin and its requisite eternal penalty which makes necessary the bloody punishment. The initiation of the Lord's Supper points forward to the crucifixion, requiring us to steel ourselves to understand the profound necessity of Jesus the sacrificial Servant as a crucified Messiah.
3. Willing Lord. Throughout His ministry Jesus exercised control over the forces of nature and the spirit world. That control does not cease as He goes to the cross. He is not a victim of these circumstances but a willing Lord. His anointing by the worshiping woman expressed more than any could really comprehend because He is truly the anointed Davidic Messiah who is David's Lord (22:43). Yet the woman's act unknowingly anointed Him for death (26:12) as the obedient Son of His heavenly Father (26:44). Jesus sovereignly initiates the prophesied new covenant, but it is through the cup of wrath that He willingly accepts (26:28,39–44).
4. Humble King. Jesus was worshiped as He was born “king of the Jews” (2:2, 11); and He will be mocked as He is crucified “king of the Jews” (27:29). Both times find Jesus in the humblest of settings. The first was the humble setting of a poor Bethlehem home, the second in the humiliation of the powerful Roman Praetorium. But Jesus knows who He is and what He has come to accomplish. He doesn't have to prove anything to anyone because He knows that He is indeed the King of the Jews (27:11). The humiliation of His incarnation brought the arrival of the kingdom of heaven to those who dared to respond to His invitation (4:17). The humiliation of His crucifixion brings the redemption of humanity to those who dare to respond to His inauguration of the new covenant in His blood (26:28). But the humiliation of His death is also a poignant promise that His kingdom will soon manifest itself with power and glory when He comes again (26:29; cf. 13:41–42; 24:30–31).
So who did Jesus think He was? Messiah, to be sure, but far more than even His closest followers understood. He is the divine Son of God who offers Himself as the suffering and dying and rising Messiah, bringing life to all who heed His call to the kingdom of God. Jesus' intentional messianic mission uniquely focused on the establishment of the kingdom of God for all people, which declares the good news that they can be set free from the tyranny of sin and death and brought into newness of life in the power of the Spirit.