From Messiah to Messianic Community

The Christian Church continues to absolutize the kingship of Jesus from the time of his birth into his resurrection from the dead. But according to the witness of the four gospels, Jesus'identity is paradoxical,combining both Messiah and "The Son of Man." In all four gospels Jesus is the Messiah from the time of his birth to the end of his life. It is in his crucifixion that he is pre-eminently the Messiah, and Pontius Pilate mockingly establishes his ironic identity through the superscription, "The King of the Jews." Jesus is the Messiah preeminently in death. In the Gospel according to Mark it is the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus as Messiah in death. In and through his resurrection, however, Jesus is "the Son of Man," no longer the Messiah. For by his resurrection from the dead he inaugurates God's New Humanity that is commissioned to continue the work that he initiated, namely,to work toward the establishment of justice and peace on earth.