reinterpretations of Torah without replacing it with the old one which is being taught by the teachers of Law and the Pharisees for so long. It is seen in Matthew
when Jesus speaks to the crowds that “The teachers of Law and the Pharisees are the authorized interpreters of Moses‟ Law. So you must obey and follow
everything they tell…Matthew 23:1-3”. This means that Jesus just wants to give some additional points that have never been taught or realized before either by the
teachers of Law or by the Pharisees.
7. Reinterpretation of King: To pay tax or not Matthew 22:15-22, Mark
12:13-17, Luke 20:20-26
Regarding the king, it is obviously written in the Torah that: Be sure that the man you choose to be king is the one whom the Lord has
chosen. He must be one of your own people; do not make a foreigner your king Deuteronomy 17:15-16.
This means that Torah prohibits the Jews to have a foreigner king and
therefore the Jews have to choose one of their own people to be their own king. Jesus himself does not obviously give his argument about having a foreigner king
nor prohibit that. Concerning to this matter, Jesus has his reinterpretation about having a foreign king. In an occasion, the Jewish authorities ask Jesus whether or
not the Torah allows the Jews to pay tax to the emperor. Jesus then answered “Well, then pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and to pay to God
what belongs to God Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17, Luke 20:25”. From this statement, Jesus shows his obedience to the government. This means that as a
good residence of the government, someone should support the economic system of the government by paying taxes. However, at the time of Jesus, the head of the
government, the king, is not one of the Jewish people but a Roman. Roman authorities take control over the Jewish land and people. By asking to the
authorities whose face and name are on the silver coin is Jesus‟ way to tell them implicitly that the money belongs to the Emperor; the one whose face and name
are on it and therefore paying tax is an obligation though the king is not a Jew. By doing this, Jesus indirectly shows no problem or objection of having a foreigner
king. This can be said that Jesus implicitly allows the foreign king rules over the Jewish people.
8. Reinterpretation of the Son of God
In the Gospel, Jesus many times makes some miraculous things which amaze people. In some occasions, Jesus implicitly declares himself as the son of
God that brings salvation for the Jewish people Matthew 13:53-58, Luke 4:16- 29. In the beginning of the Gospel, the coming of the son of God is being
presented. John the Baptist, the one who is considered as a prophet by the Jews Matthew 21:26, Mark 11:32, Luke 20:6 has already announced the Jews about
this. “Turn away from your sins,…because the Kingdom of Heaven is near” Matthew 3:2. What John the Baptist wants it the willing of the Jews to repent
and stop doing sins anymore as the Kingdom of Heaven in about to come. What is meant by the Kingdom of Heaven here is the salvation from God through a
Messiah, the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16. When people ask John the Baptist about who he is, whether
or not he is the prophet, Elijah, or Messiah, he negates all people‟s supposition.
