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A few words from WALTER BRUEGGEMANN Jesus’ teaching in these hard sayings reflects two central issues of the prophetic tradition. First, the word is addressed to and received by a minority community consisting of marginal people. The prophetic word of criticism is addressed to the dominant community, but it will not be heard (Isaiah 6:9-10). The prophetic word of energy is addressed never to the dominant community but only to those who are denied the pseudo-energy and power of the royal consciousness. Second, the promissory, prophetic word concerns a radical turn, a break with the old rationality, and a discontinuity between what has been and what will be. Thus the teaching presumed a contrast between that to which we cling and a future for which we yearn. The ministry of Jesus, like the ministry of Second Isaiah, happens in the space between the clinging and the yearning. If there is only clinging, then the words are only critical. If there is yearning, there is a chance that the words are energizing. The staggering works of Jesus—feeding, healing, casting out, forgiving—happened not to those who held to the old order but to those who yearned because the old order had failed them or squeezed them out. |
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