ABSTRACT
Jesus is claimed as a forerunner who anticipates and thus legitimizes a range of contemporary interests and commitments. For some, Jesus is a liberator, a kind of proto-socialist revolutionary who initiated a movement of radical social, economic and political transformation. For others, Jesus is a kind of proto-feminist, who proclaimed and enacted a message of equality which transcended social customs and gender distinctions. This passage clearly reflects a belief in the general providential care of God for the whole of creation. The focus of Jesus message, and his actions and miracles, all seem to be undeniably anthropocentric: not only birds and flowers but pigs and fig-trees too are evidently of lesser value than people. The chapter analyzes how the attempts to appeal to certain Gospel texts as indications that Jesus loved nature and cared for the earth turn out to be rather implausible, and more a reflection of the interpreter's values than of the Gospel material.
