With the many contradictions to be found in the New Testament, about all we can do is to try and put together a picture of the life of Jesus that is consistent with the history and sentiment of the period, and of the man.
Here is my take:
Jesus was a Jew, who believed that the Jewish race was favored by God above all others. Like most Jews at that time, Jesus was a racist, who believed that the Gentiles were inferior to the Jews in the eyes of God. “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” he told the Canaanite woman.
In addition, Jesus, John the Baptist, and many other Jews believed that the coming of the “Kingdom of God” was imminent. It would be a time when the Jews would reign over all nations, and the Gentiles would be punished. With John the Baptist’s encouragement, Jesus made it his life’s work to prepare the Jews for the coming day of judgment. Jesus then taught and instructed his apostles on how to go out into the world and prepare the Jews for “the coming.”
As it turned out, however, the day of judgment never arrived, and the entire life mission of Jesus had been based upon an event that never occurred. Eventually, most of his teachings were rejected by the Jews, and his apostles adopted the teachings of Paul.
In any case, I am of the opinion that it was never the intent of Jesus to abandon Judaism, or to form a Jewish sect that included the Gentiles. Instead, it was the self imposed mission of Saul of Tarsus to start a religion that included both Jews and Gentiles, and that was based upon the death and resurrection of Jesus. It was St. Paul who started the religion that was named after Christ, and that still exists today.
As for the Book of Acts, I think it was only written to provide a foundation and justification for Paul’s teachings, and is not a reliable source for the teachings of Jesus and his disciples.
Spiral: Here are a few references:
Re: The Kingdom
“The time is filled up and the Kingdom of God is almost here; repent and believe in the good news!” (Mark 1:15)
“Truly I say to you, in the renewed world, when the Son of Man is sitting on the throne of his glory, you (disciples) also will be seated on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matt. 19:28; cf. Luke 22:30)
Bart Ehrman discusses this in his post; “Jesus’ teaching About the King of God.” Bart writes; “But it wasn’t good news for everyone – not, for example, for those who were already in power. For when the coming kingdom arrived those who were in power now would be overthrown, And the day of judgment was soon.”
Of course, it was the Gentiles (Romans) who were “in power” and who would be “overthrown.”
Re: The Canaanite Woman
He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” (Mathew 15:26)
Re: Jesus, savior of the Jews.
“I was sent only to help the people of Israel – God’s lost sheep – not the Gentiles.” (Mathew 15:24)
Re: The first Christians. (the disciples of Jesus) were essentially all ethnically Jewish. In other words, Jesus was Jewish, and preached to the Jewish people and called from them his first disciples. It was understood that he chose twelve apostles to go out and preach to the 12 tribes of Israel, who were scattered throughout the Mediterranean world.
Much was written, after Jesus’ death, that favored the inclusion of Christian Gentiles. Paul, the self declared apostle, is known as the “Apostle of the Gentiles” because he was the first to deviate from the instructions given to the apostles by Jesus. Of course, if Jesus had wanted an “Apostle of the Gentiles” he would have selected one at the same time he recruited the twelve Jewish apostles.
I hope that helps? In answer to your question, I have not read Hector Avalos.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert
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