Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Jesus’ followers in the year 30, however, innocent of the future—of this future—were not burdened by the need to explain the temple’s destruction in 70. They never saw it coming. The trauma that compelled them, rather, was the crucifixion of their beloved leader. Their experiences of Jesus raised— which eventually blended into their evolving expectations for Jesus’ second, public debut as the eschatological warrior-messiah—was their response. They too scoured scriptures, as would the evangelists long after them. They modified Jesus’ prophecy of the coming Kingdom by linking its arrival to his second coming. That revamped message provided the core of the good news that they began to proclaim to holiday crowds in Jerusalem: the Kingdom was coming, and Jesus was coming back.  -Paula Fredricksen, When Christians Were Jews, p.113

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