About twenty years before Jesus began his ministry there was a series of militant charismatic leaders who rose up claiming to be the Jewish Messiah—that is they claimed to be the King of the Jews sent by God to liberate Israel from Roman domination and establish the Kingdom of God. These false and failed messiahs are the ones that Jesus describes as thieves and bandits who came only to steal, kill, and destroy. In contrast to these violent messiahs who only bring death and destruction, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who brings abundant life to the flock of humanity.
Eastertide 2023: When Do We Live?
April 30, 2023 • Brian Zahnd
More from
Easter 2023
Eastertide 2023: Jesus, the Church, the Bible, and Christianity
May 21, 2023 • Brian Zahnd
Though Jesus, the Church, the Bible, and Christianity are obviously related and interconnected in some essential ways, they are far from the same thing; and when we confuse the critical distinctions between these four realities, we run into serious theological problems that have real-life consequences.
Eastertide 2023: The Way Home
May 7, 2023 • Brian Zahnd
It seems as though we’re all born a long way from home. Perhaps it doesn’t feel this way in the innocence of childhood, but as we move into adulthood we begin to feel like strangers in a strange land, and we have to find where we belong, where we can be at home. We can feel like strangers within creation because we feel a certain estrangement from our Creator—God can seem distant, remote, unknowable, or to some, even nonexistent. This is part of the human experience; this is our predicament. But there is good news, and the good news is that Jesus is the way home.