From The Pastor Next Door:
I can see where the jerk comes from. Sometimes it seems that way. Who knows… maybe he was.
As for the unknowing, or failing to understand, i'll give you this:
1.
Sometimes we fail to understand things that actually would have been
very easy to the audience to understand. ie. the jewishy, new Moses
stuff. To us the links make no sense, or we don't even know they are
there - until we understand the OT and the Jewish audience. The more we
understand this - the more Jesus makes sense. If he's the climax… then
like any climax we can't make sense of it/him without the rest of the
story. In this case, the rest of the story is not the NT - it's the OT.
Christians suck at this. We need the long story - to make sense of the
climax. It's a basic literature rule.
2.
Sometimes Jesus teaches in a confusing manner to woo the disciples to
ask deeper questions. This is often one reason he taught in parables.
To try and urge them to receptive insight. In this regard, I like
Peterson's translation of Matthew 13. Read it.
3.
(I taught on this a few months ago) Sometimes Jesus specifically speaks
in confusing manners because he enacting judgement against people -
Israel and specifically the TOL. This is where the "ears to hear, eyes
to see" thing comes in. In the book of Isaiah, Israel is constantly
being likened to her idols. They had become deaf and blind… just like
the idols and because of this, God was going to raise up Assyria to
shake them from their idolatry. In the gospels Jesus sees that Israel
has repeated her prior sins. She - and specifically her leaders - had
again become deaf and blind. They also lacked the eyes to see and ears
to hear. The key sign of this was that they did not recognize Jesus -
nor the word of John the Baptist.
Thus, in
Mark 4, Jesus specifically says that from now on he's going to teach in
Parables. His reason for this is because he's going fulfil their "idol"
nature. Their ears are no longer going to work - and he's gong to speak
in a deliberately confounding way to ensure this is the case. They have
ears - but they will not be able to hear. In effect, he is making them
just like the idols. The parables then - beyond being cutesy stories
about God and Me and my need to evangelize - are actually Jesus enacting
profound judgement against Israel and her leaders. However, those with
ears to hear… those that are still open to listening to him… they will
hear. And, as we see, for these, even if they don't understand, Jesus
will explain to them what he means. This is what happens when Jesus
speaks parables publicly - but then later explains in private to those
that are following him.
With this last point
the whole "jerky/inscrutable" thing comes to the fore. I guess.
There's no question… Jesus came for the lost sheep of Israel - but when
they and the leaders reject him - he turns the table, and treats them
like the idols he sees them to be. Deaf, blind and dumb.
Now… with that in mind… maybe this guy's approach was on to something. Imitating Jesus? Perhaps you'll say, "yes".
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