Summary

In chapter 10, Albert Nolan describes Jesus' power and how he uses it. Jesus notices that people, such as the Jews, use the law to give themselves power. It is also explained in the chapter that those of Jesus' time whom obeyed the law became of a higher status. Jesus did not necesarrily hate the law, but he knew that it was not right to use it to attain power. He believed that it was better to fulfill the law to the best of ones ability. "A person keeps God's law only when she or he fulfills the purpose of even "the least of the commandments" (Mt 5:19). This passage from the bible is pointing out that a person is fulfilling the law not when they are just abiding the law, but when they are fulfilling the purpose of the law. Jesus was not happy with the way that people used the laws. For example, the sabbath was made as a law to benifit, but unfortunately, scribes had made this law an intollerable burden. The law, as the peope of this time had seen it, was an oppressive measure. For Jesus, it was sapposed to be a day for people to rest and fill their personal interests. In other words, the sabbath was made to free people from the burden of work, not to prevent them from doing good or healing or saving life. Also, Jesus did not want everyone to enslave themselves to the law. Instead, Jesus wanted to free everyone from the law by making the law our servant and not our master.
In the end of this chapter, the political power of the "kingdom" of God is revealed as power, authority and law. If everyone serves one another, the political structure should work in the Kingdom of God.
Chapter 17 goes in to talking about how Jesus is underrated. It also talks about how Jesus is ultimately human and if we deprive him of this humanity, then we deprive him of his greatness. Also, in this chapter, Jesus' reputation is discussed and how it was looked down upon was debated. Back in Jesus' time, he did not have a very good reputation because of the people he was seen associating with. Jesus was seen with the lowest people such as the prostitutes which were seen as the sinners. Therefore, since Jesus had always been seen with these sinners, he would be seen as a sinner. In reality, Jesus was not associating with these people because he was full of vices, but because he was preaching the word to them. Jesus had the type of "I don't have to answer to anybody" kind of attitude.

Also, as seen in Chapter 10, the topic of power and how Jesus had attained it was brought up in chapter 17. In chapter 17, Nolan describes how the scribes explained the way that Jesus attained power and authority. The believed the way that Jesus came to this authority was only by the way he spoke to others. he spoke with such confidence and faith that other of his time could not help but to believe everything he had spoken to them about. Although the scribes give Jesus the credit for attaining so much power, in reality, the only authority that he had ever exercised was the power of faith. This faith was the type of faith which healed , cured and saved. This power of faith is seen in John: 16-21, Jesus Walks on Water. In this parable, Jesus uses his power of faith to enable him to walk on water to the middle of the sea. The reason Jesus was trying to walk on water was so he could reach these men on the sea during this terrible storm. These courageous acts which Jesus had constantly portrayed is what had gained him so much authority. Not only did he exemplify these acts, he spoke of them. Through physical examples and spoken word, Jesus gained his authority.