Christ the Messiah: Who Do You Say He Is?

Although Jesus as Messiah is not something that I would normally reflect upon, I have been doing so for some time, prompted by a Jewish acquaintance's assertion that Jesus does not fulfill a specific requirement.

She maintains that Isaiah 2:4 is perfectly clear on the criteria one would have to meet to be a messiah:

He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.

Isaiah 2:4

Therefore, in her view, to make a messianic claim Jesus would have to end all wars and disband all standing armies.

I want to make it clear that this acquaintance is an honest truth-seeker. I honor her constant seeking. These are merely the musings that her commentary in blogging and podcasting have prompted within myself.

Now this acquaintance is relatively learned in the ways of Christianity and Catholicism. Certainly she is much more well read in these than I am in Judaism, which would be to say that I don't really know about Judaism except for background material learned for scripture study. That sort of knowledge doesn't necessarily relate to modern day Jewish theology, I realize.

My first reaction would be to say that I regularly have to beat a sword into a plowshare in my own heart as I realize my own stubborn, extreme reactions to the people around me. I have gotten better at making these realizations before I "raise my sword" and definitely try not to "train for war" as I once would have. In my own view, this is an ongoing process not only for myself but for all Christians as we work our way homewards. In that sense, Jesus fulfils that prophecy because, let me tell you, I never would have credited my inward changes and striving to improve my "warlike tendencies" before becoming Christian.

Moreover, I am left in in a somewhat similar position to this acquaintance who openly admits, "I don't understand the Holy Trinity." I, myself, don't really understand taking one line of the Bible, possibly out of context, and holding it up as a requirement. I look back at how very many times God has surprised the heck out of Old Testament figures and wrought surprising wonders for them. Often this results in a new understanding of what one thought was already understood. I mean to say, think of Abraham having to go up to the point of sacrificing Isaac. Or the labyrinthine way that Joseph (of the coat of many colors) wound up saving his people during that famine.

Looking at this background information about Jewish expectations for the Messiah just increases my mystification. How can one solidly say that there is a concrete definition when we can see these myriad interpretations by the many learned people over history?

Background: Messiah, Christ

There is a temptation to define the meaning of the title “Messiah,” or “Christ,” in terms of who Jesus is, and to presume that this is the meaning that the word messiah had for Jews at the time of Jesus. The situation was more complex, however. The Hebrew word messiah is a noun meaning “anointed one,” that is, a person anointed, or smeared, as with olive oil. Israelite kings were ceremonially anointed, as were high priests. Thus a king could be referred to as God’s “anointed” (Psalm 2:2). Based partly on a prophecy of the prophet Nathan, an expectation developed that an anointed descendant of David would play a decisive role in God’s plans for his people; Nathan had prophesied to David that his throng would “stand firm forever” (2 Sam 7:16). David’s dynasty came to an end with the Babylonian conquest of 587 B.C., and Jews were under foreign rule for the next four centuries.

In the two centuries before Jesus, there was a resurgence of hopes for rule by a descendant of David—a messiah. Alongside various expectations for a kingly messiah. Jewish writings from this period spoke of other messianic figures; there was no single clearly defined picture of a messiah. One Jewish group, the Essenes, expected God to send two messiahs: a kingly messiah descended from David and a priestly messiah descended from Aaron. Most messianic hopes had a political dimension: God would bring an end to Roman domination. Some expected God to bring the present age to an end and to usher in a new age. There was no expectation that a messiah would suffer: the “servant” of Isaiah 52:13-53­–53:12 was not identified with the Messiah before the time of Jesus.

Jesus was ambivalent about being called the Messiah. On the one hand, he could accept it, because he was establishing the reign of God as God’s agent. On the other hand, popular understandings of what a messiah would do usually included the overthrow of Roman rule, and that was not Jesus’ mission. Jesus clarified what it meant for him to be called the Messiah through his teachings, death, and resurrection. The New Testament, written in Greek, uses the Greek word for “anointed,” as its most common title for Jesus, so much so that it evolved from being a title (Jesus the Christ) to being virtually a second name (Jesus Christ).

Bringing the Gospel of Matthew to Life by George Martin

It was when I was first thinking about all this that I came across this reading in the Liturgy of the Hours. It was some time ago as I have been pondering this on and off for some time. I really did laugh out loud when I got to "for Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom...". It was so in keeping with the multiple arguments I'd heard for the "beating swords into plowshares" from this particular acquaintance.

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside."

Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish?

For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith.

For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Of course, who would know the Jewish mindset as well as Paul who was not only thoroughly trained but spent plenty of time sparring with Jews and Gentiles as he spread the Gospel.

I do know that it takes more than study, more than verses and proof, to even have an inkling of Jesus. It takes a leap of faith in addressing to him the question, "Are you there?" "Who are you?"

That is foolishness to those who have not done it. I praise God that I was so prompted to make that leap myself. It cannot be proven but must come to be in each person's heart as they experience God one-on-one and wrestle with the questions that keep them on the path to the fullness of truth.