Wounded for me
The 2006 Boston University in London annual lecture was given by Professor Peter Hawkins, the Professor of Religion and Literature there. He commented that many who come to study the Bible at Boston assume they know what it means. He cited evangelicals — sure they know what the Bible means — though they have never read it.
Then he went on to describe the different gospels that are gaining currency: for instance, the prosperity gospel, the self-esteem gospel and the therapeutic gospel. Commenting on the prosperity gospel, he said that the idea that following Jesus leads to success and triumph cannot be sustained from Jesus’s own teaching. If success is the criterion for heroism, then Jesus doesn’t qualify.
Listen to some of the things Jesus said: ‘The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.’ Or, ‘He opened up their minds so that they could understand the Scriptures and told them, “This is what is written: The Christ the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day”.’ We are told three things. First, Jesus understood his destiny to be suffering and death. Second, he learned his destiny from the Bible. Third, he had resolved to fulfil that destiny voluntarily. But which Scriptures guided his view about his destiny?
