i want to ask a simple question was jesus a prophet sent by god according to the
earliest gospels that we have today when i ask christians this question and i tell them that
your bible says that jesus was a prophet in the gospels they say no no no where does it
say that jesus was god uh and i'm saying that the gospel show that jesus was sent by god
so to help me answer this question i thought i turned to a leading expert
the author of this wonderful book called the changing faces of jesus by giza vermesh
who i've mentioned before in a previous video he is a professor of jewish studies at oxford
but he's an historian and his speciality is in the jewish world in the jewish context of the
first century and the life of jesus in other words he's one of the world's leading jewish scholars
he's written many books and i recommend all of them um and in this book he actually addresses
this very question there's a chapter uh called jesus as prophet in these synoptic gospels that's
in matthew mark and luke and i just want to share with you what he says which is quite interesting
giza vermich writes indeed the unanimous testimony of the evangelists that's matthew mark and luke
leaves one in no doubt that sympathetic galilean folk regarded jesus as a prophet
this was not on account of his ability to teach or forth tell the future
the popular definition the prophet jesus from nazareth of galilee matthew 21 11 was
based on the miracles and miracles and wonders ascribed to him witnessing the reawakening of
the young man in name the crowd exclaimed a great prophet has risen among us luke 7 16.
the same observations expressed in the closer circle of the followers of jesus
the two disciples on the way to emmaus describe the dead jesus to the unrecognized risen christ
as quote a prophet mighty indeed and word before god and before his people luke 24 19
even simon the pharisee though personally unconvinced knew that jesus had a reputation
as a prophet luke 7 39 furthermore we are told that the deeply hostile chief priests hesitated
to arrest jesus because they feared the reaction of ordinary people for whom the charismatic jesus
was a messenger of god matthew 21 46 at this point we may venture one step further and note
that according to the evangelist jesus perceived himself explicitly as a miracle-working prophet
the famous nazareth episode is profoundly revealing quote a prophet is not without honor
except in his own country and among his own kin and in his own house mark 6 4 matthew 13 57 luke
4 24. the context of the story makes it plain that jesus's disillusioned declaration was sparked off
by the dislike of the locals for his charismatic teaching and mighty works mark 6 2 matthew
13 54. conversely since people of his hometown had no faith in him the spiritually paralyzed jesus
was incapable of curing and exercising among them he could do no miracles he was powerless
according to luke's version the galilean jesus saw a link between his charismatic deeds and those of
elijah and elisha the two foremost wonder workers active in the northern kingdom of israel which of
course they were prophets when he remarked no prophet is acceptable in his own country
but in truth i tell you there were many widows in israel in the days of elijah
and elijah was sent to none of them but only to zephartha in the land of sidon to a woman who was
a widow and there were many lepers in israel in the time of the prophet
elisha and none of them was cleansed but only narman the syrian luke 4 24-7
it is impossible to prove the verbal authenticity of these sayings but as far as their substance is
concerned i have no doubt that it was not in the interests of the evangelists or the primitive
church to invent them they definitely went against the grain indeed the tendency revealed in both
acts of the apostles and john the gospel of john was to enhance the statue of jesus for
miracle-working prophet to ultimate mouthpiece of god through the correcting prism of the church's
faith unsurprisingly paul preferred to disregard the issue and what observes throughout the
centuries a definite coolness on the part of new testament exegetes towards the very jewish concept
of the prophet jesus perfectly at home in the world of unsophisticated galilean jews of his age
consequently the vignette of jesus the elijah-like charismatic prophet
enjoys all the credentials of truth end quote so there's an abundance of references
in the synoptic gospel to jesus either being called a prophet being described as a prophet
or calling himself a prophet and because this this idea this belief goes against uh the later
church faith towards the end of the first century when the gospels are written gizavermish believes
uh that these uh have a ring of truth and it's not likely to be invented by the the
church as it went against the grain of their ever increasing exaltation and deification of jesus
so um i quoted the references the particular gospel references if you want to stop the
video make a note the next time a christian asks you where does it say jesus was a prophet where
does he say as a prophet there are abundant references uh for you now of course later on
uh in the creeds and councils of the church any idea of jesus as a prophet is completely lost
and no one calls him that anymore now he's the divine son of god of one being with the father
and he has worshiped alongside god the father i mean you can see there's a huge massive trajectory
from prophet of god to being the creator of the universe and jews and muslims of course find
that uh transformation completely unacceptable and i think giza vermish would have agreed with them
uh but on historical grounds that such h exalted exalted beliefs about jesus uh are not found
in the earliest tradition that we have in our records i hope that was of interest till next time