JESUS AND THE CHURCH

I. Return to the Jesus who walked over this earth

The Churchcannot solve the crisis of its historical identity and its societal legitimation in a purely interpretative or hermeneutical manner, but only by practical identification. The problem of her identity is fundamentally a theory-praxis problem. That praxis whose intelligible and identity-securing power be replaced by interpretation is called discipleship. The Church crisis is due to a deficit in discipleship and to difficulties in adapting to Jesus. J.B. Metz

Signposts to Discipleship
The obedience of the cross Poverty Freedom Joy These attitudes and behaviors counted so high in Jesus own life.

 A. Dulles proposed a new conception of the Church which he calls Community of Disciples. Community of Disciples
Realization that the basic vocation of any Christian is first and foremost to follow the Lord as he walked over this earth. A community whose lives profession is to follow the Lord to build a community called Church.

Discipleship gives to the individual as well to the Christian community a unique identity and purpose.

 Unique identity and purpose - Actions of Jesus in various context - Commitment to a mission in the world Being called to participate in Gods own mission for the world demands the baptized not to withdraw but to vigorously engage in Gods saving actions for humanity and in all human affairs.

II. Biblical Findings Concerning Israel and Church

The Exodus story: Gods election of a counter society
Oldest historical summary of Israels faith Numbers 20:1 Official Creed Deuteronomy 26:5-9

The call of Israel can only be understood as new call of God to create an alternative social reality. The break of Moses and Israel from the imperial reality is a break from both the religion of static triumphalism and the politics of oppression and exploitation. What emerges is an alternative religion of the freedom of God, and the politics of oppression and exploitation is met with a politics of justice and compassion. What emerges is a new social community that matches the vision of Gods freedom.
Walter Brueggemann

This creed has the following scheme of action:

1. People are in distress
2. They cry out to God 3. God hears their cry & sees their distress

4. God intervenes and alleviates the distress

 The intervention of God into the history of humankind on behalf of Israel aims at creating an alternative social vision..The Exodus opens up a new vision of what it means to be human in the eyes of God. God envisions a society in which human beings will live as his children in justice and peace with each other. Israel was to witness to this plan, but its history showed clearly how the people failed constantly to the degree that the Old Testament Covenant has been looked upon as the history of a broken Covenant.

 Jesus main mission must be seen in this context of a broken Covenant. He understood his mission as being sent to restore the Covenant to its original intention and meaning. In Jesus time, holiness and purity was the dominant social vision ostracized almost half of the population. Jesus offered again an alternative vision based on the ideal of the covenant Yahweh had offered Jesus focused on justice and compassion.

Jesus and the Foundation of the Church

Four representatives of the common positions
1. Richard McBrien: Catholism a. The Church having its origin in Jesus - YES b. The Church having been founded by Jesus NO

Jesus did lay the foundations for a church 1. Jesus did gather disciples around himself (Mt 10:1-16) 2. Jesus anticipated an INTERIM PERIOD between his death and the Parousia. 3. The group of the disciples did stay together after the rejection of Jesus Last Supper becomes decisive: Do this in remembrance of me

2. Gerhard Lohfink: Did Jesus found a Church? Seven Points:

1. Jesus never waned to found a new religious body distinct from Israel. He saw and understood his mission in the confines of Israel. 2. Jesus did not intend to found a distinct community, a holy remnant WITHIN Israel, like the Essenes.

3. Jesus concern was for ALL; he wanted to gather and renew the whole people for the in-breaking of the final Kingdom.

4. The early community saw itself as Gods eschatological people who, by faith in the risen Christ and his message, were to gather all Israel. 5. The fact that the majority of Israel rejected Jesus had a decisive influence on the phenomenon we call Church.

6. It is hard to fix a point for the Churchs origin. It was rather a process that gradually brought forth what we now means by Church.
7. The establishment of the Church is the work of God, who through Christ and the Spirit created his end-time people.

3. Walter Kirchschlager
1. The most fundamental basis for the emergence of the Church is Jesus proclamation of the Kingdom of God
2. Jesus called disciples, men and women (Lk 8:1-3), and binds them to his person 3. The community that followed Jesus is structured from the start and shows an initial ordering 4. Jesus gathered disciples, both men and women, into a personal communion with himself the purpose: missionary 5. The institution of the last supper makes it clear that Jesus reckoned with the certainty that his disciples would continue to proclaim his message of salvation.

4. Leonardo Boff: Church, Charism and Power Jesus concern was the Kingdom of God, not the Church - the Church exists only because the Kingdom was not accepted by the Jewish people and Jesus was rejected by them. The Church substitutes for the Kingdom and must be seen as an instrument for the full realization of he Kingdom and as a sign of a true yet still imperfect realization of this Kingdom in the world. The Church is the presence of the Kingdom in history insofar as the Risen Christ is present in this community of believers but she is not the Kingdom.