Overview of Ask N.T. Wright Anything by Premier Unbelievable
In this episode, Mike Bird and Tom Wright answer listener questions about why Jesus often speaks in parables and cryptic language, how Christians should approach divorce and remarriage pastorally and biblically, and whether Isaiah 53 is truly a prophecy of Jesus. The conversation combines biblical interpretation with real-world pastoral concerns, emphasizing that Scripture must be read in historical context and with attention to the larger theological story.
Opening Discussion: The Hardest Theologian to Understand
The hosts begin with a lighthearted exchange about the most difficult theologian they have ever read.
- Tom Wright’s answer: Hans Urs von Balthasar
- Mike Bird’s answer: also Hans Urs von Balthasar
Why Balthasar is difficult
- Both admit they struggle to “get” him.
- Wright describes him as working in a different conceptual frame.
- Bird compares reading him to Russian caravan tea: strange, obscure, and not immediately appealing.
Why Was Jesus So Cryptic?
A listener asks why Jesus often used parables, riddles, and indirect language instead of speaking plainly.
Wright’s main explanation
Jesus was not being obscure for its own sake; he was speaking in a charged historical and political context.
Key reasons Jesus spoke cryptically
- Judgment and mercy: Drawing on Isaiah 6 and Mark 4, Wright argues that some listeners were already resistant, so parables functioned as both invitation and judgment.
- Context of competing messianic movements: In Second Temple Judaism, many groups claimed to know how God’s kingdom would arrive.
- Potential hostility: Speaking plainly could provoke backlash or even violence, as seen in Luke 4.
- Old Testament resonance: Jesus often alluded to Scripture in ways that made sense only to those willing to hear deeply.
Examples Wright uses
- Mark 4 / Isaiah 6: parables conceal and reveal.
- Luke 4: Jesus’s preaching in Nazareth was deliberately provocative.
- Mark 7: Jesus reframes purity laws by saying defilement comes from the heart, not food.
- John 10: Jesus contrasts himself with previous false leaders.
Core takeaway
Jesus’s “cryptic” teaching was a strategic, prophetic way of:
- exposing false expectations,
- calling for repentance,
- and announcing God’s kingdom in a way that challenged nationalist and religious assumptions.
Divorce and Remarriage: Faithfulness in a Broken World
A listener asks how Christians can remain faithful to Jesus’s teaching on divorce while living in a world where divorce is common and often painful.
Wright’s response
Wright treats divorce as a deeply sorrowful reality, not a casual moral issue.
Main theological points
- Jesus and Paul give strong teaching against divorce/remarriage in passages like Mark 10, Matthew 5, Luke 16, and 1 Corinthians 7.
- Christian marriage reflects:
- God’s covenant with creation
- Christ’s relationship with the Church (Ephesians 5)
- Marriage is not just a private arrangement; it is a sign of God’s faithfulness.
Pastoral emphasis
Wright stresses that divorce:
- wounds the couple,
- wounds families,
- wounds church communities,
- and should be approached with lament, not indifference.
On remarriage
- He suggests that if divorce has already happened, and a new union is formed under civil law, the church may in some cases bless that union.
- But he warns against making that look like divorce is simply “no big deal.”
- The church should clearly communicate that marriage is meant to be lifelong and that divorce is a serious rupture.
Bird’s contribution
Bird adds that:
- divorce is often comparable in stress to bereavement,
- people going through it need pastoral care, support, and compassion,
- and Christians should avoid being blasé or simplistic.
Core takeaway
The episode holds together two truths:
- Jesus’s teaching on marriage is serious and normative.
- Real pastoral life requires mercy, lament, and careful care for those affected by divorce.
Does Isaiah 53 Predict Jesus?
A listener asks how to explain Isaiah 53 to skeptics without sounding like a “fortune teller’s trick.”
Wright’s approach: prophecy is bigger than prediction
Wright argues that Old Testament prophecy should not be read as if it were a set of isolated predictions with one-to-one literal fulfillment.
Three “focal lenses” for reading prophecy
- Close-up: What did the text mean in its original historical setting?
- Middle distance: How does it relate to Jesus?
- Far distance: What does it reveal about God’s ultimate purposes for creation?
Why Isaiah 40–55 matters
Wright treats Isaiah 53 as part of a much larger movement:
- Isaiah 40: comfort and return from exile
- Isaiah 54: new covenant
- Isaiah 55: new creation
The servant song in Isaiah 52:13–53:12 is the climax of this section.
How Isaiah 53 points to Jesus
Wright sees the passage as describing:
- God returning to Zion,
- the servant bearing Israel’s sin,
- the defeat of idolatry and exile,
- and the beginning of new covenant/new creation.
He notes that phrases like:
- “he will see his offspring,”
- and “prolong his days” are poetic images, not obstacles to interpretation.
Wright’s conclusion
The New Testament writers read Isaiah as a whole and saw Jesus as the one who fulfills its deep pattern:
- John the Baptist echoes Isaiah 40,
- Jesus embodies the servant figure,
- and the gospel writers present Jesus as the fulfillment of the whole prophetic storyline.
Key Takeaways
- Jesus spoke cryptically because the situation was politically and spiritually charged, not because he wanted to confuse people.
- Divorce is treated as a tragic rupture, not a trivial personal choice.
- Christian ethics on marriage are rooted in creation, covenant, and new creation.
- Isaiah 53 should be read within the larger flow of Isaiah 40–55, not as an isolated proof-text.
- Old Testament prophecy is often typological and thematic, not merely predictive in a narrow sense.
Practical and Pastoral Implications
- Read the Gospels with attention to first-century Jewish expectations.
- Treat divorce and remarriage with truthfulness and compassion.
- Approach Isaiah and other prophetic texts with context, pattern, and theological depth.
- Avoid reducing biblical prophecy to simplistic “prediction and fulfillment” formulas.
Closing Note
The episode ends with the hosts inviting listeners to submit more questions about biblical theology, faith, and pastoral life.