Holy Monday – so we continue with the titles of Jesus. Today we have been exploring Jesus the Messiah. Messiah is translated into Greek as  Christos (Christ) and into English, Anointed.

The Jewish background to the term ‘Messiah’ is interesting. Many of us might think that Jews at the time of Jesus had a highly developed understanding of what Messiah was meant to be. Of course, some undoubtedly did. Others did not. The term ‘Messiah’ or ‘Anointed’ occurs 38 times in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. One of these times is interestingly enough applied to the pagan king, Cyrus. Undoubtedly around the time of Jesus, there were those who wanted some sort of davidic leader to come and rid Palestine from the Roman oppressors. Some of those who wanted the Romans out thought of a Messiah figure. Certainly this is true of the writers (and uses) of the Psalms of Solomon, particular Ps 17. There are some connections between that text and the title found for Jesus at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel. Other Jews and Jewish groups wanted Rome gone, and themselves in charge.

The writers of some of the scrolls found near the Dead Sea seemed to think of the Messiah as a priestly figure, sometimes with a royal messiah at the priest’s side. That is not surprising really given that those writers wanted a Messiah to come and renew the the worship of God.

There then is perhaps the rub. To say Jesus is the Messiah is in many ways something quite safe; it can mean not a lot. However, if we say Jesus is the Anointed one, then another question is automatically begged. Anointed for what?

That perhaps is the deepest theological question there is.