Jesus the King

1.At Jesus's baptism, the Father speaks and the Spirit descends — a rare moment when all three persons of the Trinity appear simultaneously. Keller uses the phrase "the dance" (drawing on C.S. Lewis's imagery of the Trinity as a kind of eternal dance of self-giving love) to describe the relationship within the Godhead. What is the significance of this image? How does it change the way you think about who God is?

1.When Jesus heals the paralytic lowered through the roof by his four friends, he first says "Son, your sins are forgiven" — before he heals the man's legs. The religious leaders are scandalized. Why does Jesus forgive sins first? What does this ordering reveal about what Jesus thinks is the man's deepest problem?

1.Jesus calls Levi (Matthew), a tax collector — someone despised by religious Jews as a collaborator with Rome and a thief. Keller emphasizes how shocking this would have been. What does Jesus's choice of Levi say about who the gospel is for and how the kingdom operates?

1.Keller spends significant time on the Parable of the Sower. Jesus explains that the seed (the word) falls on four types of soil. Keller argues that three of the four represent not outright rejection but failed forms of reception — distraction, shallow emotion, and divided priorities. Which of these three "near misses" do you find most dangerous, and why?

1.Jesus feeds five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. Keller connects this to the manna in the wilderness and argues that Jesus is presenting himself as a new Moses — and more than Moses. How does the Exodus background deepen the meaning of this miracle? What is Jesus claiming about himself through this sign?

1.Jesus heals a blind man in two stages — first partially, then fully — an unusual miracle that stands alone in the Gospels. Keller reads this as a deliberate sign about the disciples' own partial spiritual sight. What does "partial sight" look like spiritually? Where do you recognize that kind of half-seeing in your own faith?

1.The disciples argue about who among them is the greatest — right after Jesus predicts his own death for the second time. Keller notes the dark irony: Jesus is moving toward self-emptying sacrifice while his closest followers compete for status. What does this tell us about the depth of the change the gospel needs to make in us, and how long that change can take?

1.Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey — fulfilling Zechariah 9:9, a prophecy of a humble, peace-bringing king, not a military conqueror. Keller contrasts this with the Roman triumphal entry, in which a conquering general would ride a warhorse. What does the choice of a donkey say about the kind of king Jesus is? How does this challenge both ancient and modern expectations of power?

1.In Mark 13, Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple — which comes true in 70 AD — and speaks of future tribulation. Keller notes that Jesus's apocalyptic teaching is not meant to generate fear but to generate faithfulness. What is the difference between those two responses to uncertainty about the future? How does Jesus's teaching here serve as an anchor rather than an alarm?

1.At the Last Supper, Jesus takes bread and wine and declares them his body and blood. Keller argues that Jesus is not just instituting a ritual but making a breathtaking claim — that he himself is the Passover Lamb, the sacrifice that liberates God's people from the ultimate slavery. How does this Exodus background change the way you understand the Lord's Supper? What should it feel like to participate in it?

1.Before Pilate, Jesus is silent — he does not defend himself, does not bargain, does not leverage the crowd's sympathy. Keller argues that Jesus's silence is itself a form of speech: it is the silence of a sacrifice that has chosen this path. What does Jesus's voluntary silence say about the nature of his death — was it something done to him, or something he did?

1.The women come to the tomb expecting to anoint a dead body — they are not expecting resurrection. Keller notes that the first witnesses to the resurrection were women, whose testimony was not legally admissible in the ancient world. Why is it historically significant that the Gospel accounts place women at the center of the resurrection witness? What does this say about the nature of this story — is it the kind of story a fabricator would tell?

1.Keller's thesis is that Jesus came as a king — but a king unlike any other, who served rather than demanded service, and who won his kingdom through sacrifice rather than conquest. How has your understanding of what it means to call Jesus "King" changed, deepened, or been challenged over the course of this book? What feels most new to you?