From a disciple of NT Wright, here:
The real Jesus must have been ... comprehensible. Jesus was a first-century Jew from Galilee, and so we should expect his words and deeds to fit within this historical and geographical context. His message must have been understandable and on some level plausible to first-century Jews in order to have gained a hearing among them. This is why it’s so hard to see Jesus as a pagan myth or a Cynic philosopher; these portraits simply don’t make sense in Jesus’s Jewish context.
On the contrary, Jesus' frame of reference came entirely from the last episode of worldwide judgment in Jewish mythology.
Did Noah's warning of impending doom "make sense in Noah's 'Jewish' context"? No. Did he "gain a hearing among" his peers? No, they all perished. And with what social convention did Noah comply in building and entering the ark? None. He was by all accounts crazy.
As it was in the days of Noah . . ..
-- Luke 17:26
They don't call him NT Wrong for nothing.
