jesus death notes

Question 1

Evans on mark 14:61-64

Answer 1

• Mark 14:61-64
  o JC affirms that he is ‘the Christ the Son of the Blessed’ whom Caiphas and company ‘will see’ as ‘Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven’ (Mark 14:61-2)
  o Mark 14:64 – ‘blasphemy!’
• Claiming to be Messiah = not blasphemous
  o Josephus does not accuse messianic pretenders etc. as blasphemous
• Claiming to be Son of God = not necessarily blasphemous due to biblical precedent
  o Psalm 2:7
  o 82:6
  o 2 Sam 7:14

Question 2

joel marcus on mark 14:61

Answer 2

o JC’s claim of divine sonship ‘would have fallen on Jewish ears as a claim to commensurability with God’
o Perhaps correct – John 10 accusation of blasphemy comes from claims to sonship and unity with God
o John may be a reflection of ‘late first-century Christian polemic with the synagogue. If it does, then it may have been the post-Easter Christian understanding of the messiahship and sonship of Jesus that provoked from Jewish circles charges of blasphemy’ (408)
o Mark may rather reflect ‘later Jewish-Christian controversy and that therefore the cry of blasphemy attributed to Caiaphas is not authentic’ (408)

Question 3

evans - blasphemy in bible and early judaism

Answer 3

o Ex 22:27 – Israelites commanded not to curse God
o Broken in Lev 24:10-16 – blasphemer is stoned
o Josephus translates it as ‘let him who blasphemed God be stoned’ (Ant 4.8.6 S202)
o Broad usage in NT
♣ JC is accused of blasphemy for proclaiming forgiveness of sins (Mark 2:5-7, Matt 9:2-3, Luke 5:20-21)
♣ JC warns of blasphemy against HS (Mark 3:28-30, Matt 12:31-2, Luke 12:10)

Question 4

evans - blasphemy in JC answer

Answer 4

o Response of JC seems to cohere with Mishanic law
♣ Tearing of robes (Mark 14:63, precedent in 2 Kings 18:37)
♣ Rhetorical Q, ‘what further need do we have of witnesses’ (Mark 14:63)
♣ Claim of blasphemy (Mark 14:64)
♣ Condemning of JC as deserving death (Mark 14:64)
o However… JC does not proclaim divine name
♣ However… JC statement ‘I am’ is reminiscent of Yahweh ‘he is’
• Sanders rejects this, Jesus and His Story, 1960
♣ Gundry, Mark: A commentary, 1993
• Argues that JC did in fact utter the Tetragrammaton
o ‘I am (the Messiah, the son of the Blessed)
• views Mark 14:58 as indicating JC’s view of his divine prerogative in rebuilding temple

Question 5

evans conclusion on blasphemy

Answer 5

• Evans argues that messianic claim was not blasphemous. Rather, JC’s blasphemy lay in his ‘combination of the phrases from Psalm 110 and Daniel 7’ (414)
  o Self-designation of son of man
  ♣ Mark 14:62, son of man = judge. Used in similitudes
  ♣ Son of man could be generic aka. Just ‘I’
  • Marshall, “The Synoptic ‘Son of Man’ sayings” in Schmidt, ‘to tell the mystery’, 1994
  o ‘Jesus could and did use the phrase to refer to himself as the Danielic Son of man but in such a way that the phrase could also function as a form of self-reference that would not necessarily carry this full connotation every time he used it and to all his hearers’ (94)
  ♣ but, son of man = reminiscent of Dan 7
  • 1 Enoch 62, son of man = on ‘throne of glory’
  ♣ depends on which interpretation of son of man you take

Question 6

evans - seated in Mark 14:63

Answer 6

♣ Similarity to Dan 7 and Psalm 110
• Similar contexts
• Speak of subjugation of Israel’s enemies (Dan 7:14, Ps 110:1)
• Rule over people (Dan 7:14 and Ps 110:3)
♣ Combination of 2 passages in Jewish exegesis
• Mark 14:62 combines two passages
♣ Allusion to Danielic concept of divine throne
• Mark 14:62 is ‘understood as implying that Jesus anticipated sharing God’s chariot throne. Such a claim would surely have been scandalous, for the idea of a mortal sitting on God’s throne was unthinkable’ (421)
• Dan 7:9 – allusion to throne

Question 7

mark 14:63 and embarrassment

Answer 7

o Sanders, Jesus and Judaism, 1978
♣ Unlikely that Church would have created saying about twelve thrones, since they knew one of the disciples betrayed JC
o Passage also parallels others where JC views himself as God’s son e.g. Parable of Wicked Vineyard Tenants (Mark 12:1-2)
♣ JC views himself as son
♣ JC viewed religious authorities as corrupt
♣ Quotation of Psalm 118:22-3 suggests that JC understood himself as having a role in reconstruction of religious authority
♣ This coheres with Mark’s trial scene

Question 8

mark 14:63 and lack of authenticity

Answer 8

o Sanders
♣ Blasphemy charge = diversion from threat of cleansing of temple
♣ Mark is toning down the importance of that event
♣ H, evans argues that this is wrong as Mark has ‘emphasised the antagonism between Jesus and the Temple establishment, not toned it down’ (431)
o Editorial activity? H, this is overestimating Mark’s editorial ability

Question 9

mark 10:45 - barrett

Answer 9

• Mark 10:45, ‘the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many’
  o How is son of man being used?
  o Did JC foresee his death?
• Background = Isaiah 53
  o JC depicts himself as suffering servant of Deutero-Isaiah
• Recalls Dan 7 and Isaiah 52:13
• Son of man is usually a figure of glory, not suffering
  o Dan 7:13
  o Enoch 46:3
  o 4 Ezra 13:13
• The son of man came to serve
  o Image of Son of Man that came to be served is wrong
• The son of man came to give his life
  o Suffering = important part of son of man

Question 10

rowland on JC death

Answer 10

• ‘It was the plot against Jesus when he travelled to Jerusalem…which led to his arrest and death’ (162)
  o entry into Jerusalem = political (Luke 9:51, 13:33, John 7:3)
  o ‘Jesus went up to Jerusalem as a prophetic act…to make his challenge in the metropolitan religious centre, an event which seems to have coincided with Passover. His arrival in Jerusalem was marked by a messianic demonstration on the part of his supporters and a prophetic act in the temple’ (162)

Question 11

rowland and priestly faction

Answer 11

• ‘it would appear from the Gospel accounts that the initiative to kill Jesus was taken by the priestly group responsible for exercising authority in Jerusalem’ (162)
• plot to kill JC = priestly faction (mark 15:11)
  o activity in temple
  o entry into Jerusalem at Passover – high hopes for messianic figure
  o uprisings at time – Mark 15:7

Question 12

rowland - gospel of mark

Answer 12

o After arrest (Mark 14:43), JC is taken to High Priest, Caiaphas
o Meeting of Sanhedrin (14:55)
o Inconsistent testimony, quote JC from temple (13:2)
o JC affirms HP’s Q of whether he is the Messiah 14:62
o Accused of blasphemy, death penalty (14:64)
o Sanhedrin decide to take JC to pilate – probs on charge that JC was a self-proclaimed king (15:2)
o Pilate sends JC to be crucified (15:15)

Question 13

rowland - gospel of Luke

Answer 13

o JC is lead to Sanhedrin (22:66)
o Evasive response to Q of Messiah (22:67-8)
o Followed by SofM statement
o Loosely confirms Son of Blessed One accusation (26:64)
o JC is taken to pilate and accused of:
♣ ‘Perverting the nation; forbidding the payment of tribute to Caesar; and saying that he is Christ a king (L 23:2); only the last of these has been ascertained at the recently completed hearing’ (163)
o Pilate finds no fault (23:4, 23:15)
o Chief priests and rulers say JC should be crucified (23:18)

Question 14

rowland - gospel of John

Answer 14

• Gospel of John: most clear about plots to kill JC
  o Plots – 5:18, 8:59, 10:31, 11:8
  o Sanhedrin discuss before events of Passover happen (11:49)
  ♣ Discuss whether JC = threat to community
  o JC = arrested by soldiers from chief priests (18:3)
  o Taken to house of Annas, father in law of Caiaphas (18:13)
  o Annas is concerned with teaching, not messianic aspect (18:19)
  o JC = open about teaching
  o Long convo between JC and Pilate – JC is in position of moral superiority
  o Not lawful for Jews to put someone to death (18:31)
  o ‘the fourth Gospel implies, as Mark does, that the Jews had brought a charge against Jesus of making himself a king and therefore a threat to Rome, but there is an implication in John that if the Jews did have the right to carry out a capital punishment, they would have used it’ (164)

Question 15

rowland - comparison of accounts

Answer 15

o only mark mentions blasphemy (14:64)
o only mark portrays JC as answering clearly to HP’s questioning (14:62)
o in john, there is no mention of Sanhedrin hearing (perhaps in Luke it is an unofficial meeting)
o ‘only John tells us that the main reason for taking Jesus to the Romans was the lack of right to carry out the death sentence’ (18.31) p.164

Question 16

rowland - problems with trial

Answer 16

o ‘some of the aspects of the story concerning the Romans have not found parallels in contemporary provincial legal procedure’ (165)
o John 18:31’s statement that Jews could not issue the death penalty has been challenged by NT and Jewish sources e.g. Acts 7:57 and John 8:59
o Release of Barabbas seems contrary to the Roman provincial legal procedure
o Portrayal of Pilate as easily swayed is unlike image of him elsewhere – Philo describes him as ruthless (embassy 299ff.)
♣ However… probably not that significant a contrast. Philo does not portray Pilate’s position as strong (War 2.169-75)

Question 17

rowland - comments re. criticisms of gospel

Answer 17

o Cannot be sure if capital trial laid out in Mishnah was in practice at the time – Mishnah only written at end of 2nd cent CE
o The trial of JC may have been less formal than it is portrayed to be. This seems to be the case in Luke and John – it is Mark who makes it into a more official trial
o Can question the legitimacy of Mark’s explicit response with HP. Ambiguous response in Matt and Luke is more likely
o If JC is to be deemed charged for blasphemy, evidence is in SofM statements. However, if JC accused of messianic pretending, unlikely to be charged for blasphemy

Question 18

rowland - what the trial most likely concerned

Answer 18

• can say that trial most likely concerned nature of teaching and his authority
  o as seen in ref to Temple (Mark 14:58) and teaching (John 18:19)
  o also seen in Mark 14:62 and Luke 22:69
• ‘it is likely that Jesus said or did something which enabled the priestly faction to take him to the prefect on grounds which would persuade the prefect that Jesus was a political threat’ (170)
  o JC refuses to deny messianic accusation
  o Entry into JC
  o Action in Temple
  o Could have been deemed a threat to society

Question 19

rowland - conc. re JC as political

Answer 19

• ‘Jesus’ teaching and prophetic vocation were intensely political, insofar as they not only pointed forward to the overthrow of the present order, but also the present attempt to bring this into effect. Even if Jesus renounced violence, his goal of a new age was deeply disturbing to those who preferred the compromises of the present age to the uncertainties of the new’ (170)

Question 20

adna - historicity of cleansing of temple

Answer 20

o markan priority – Mark 11:15-7, matt 21:12-3, luke 19:45-6
o John 2:14-6 seems independent
o ‘A detailed analysis and comparison of these two passaged lead to the conclusion that (John and mark) both stem from the same origin, but that during the transmission process the pre-Johannine tradition added some dramatizing elements (particularly the introduction of oxen and sheep), while the version taken up by Mark is close to their common starting point’ (462)

Question 21

adna - origin of cleansing of temple

Answer 21

♣ JC drove out people who were buying/selling (Mark 11:15)
♣ JC overturned tables of money changers (John 2:15 and Mark 11:15)
♣ Reaction against those selling doves: overturning seats (Mark 11:15) or ordering to take their baskets away (John 2:16)
♣ Forbade vessels from being taken into temple (Mark 11:16)
♣ Explained actions using quote from Isaiah 56:7 and allusion to Jer 7:11 (Mark 11:17)

Question 22

adna - cleansing of temple scenes

Answer 22

♣ Market activities = ‘huge outer precinct in the Temple’ (462)
♣ ‘Jesus must have been supported by a large and strong group of followers, with whose assistance he actually occupied the Temple’ (462)
♣ h, likely to have been more modest than this
♣ ‘the precise knowledge of the Temple in Jerusalem in the 1st century CE that archaeological excavations and architectural analyses during the last three decades have made possible, now demonstrates the untenability of the idea of a market stretching out into most of the court of the gentiles’ (463)
♣ Sanders, Jesus and Judaism, p.61-71
• JC overturned tables ‘as a demonstrative action. It would appear that the action was not substantial enough even to interfere with the daily routine; for if it had been he would surely have been arrested on the spot. Thus those who saw it…would have seen the action as symbolic’

Question 23

adna - main target of temple cleansing = money changers as collectors of temple tax

Answer 23

♣ needed money changers due to abundance of currencies
♣ ‘overturning the tables of the money changers was surely a strategic choice for anybody who wanted to disturb effectively the activities of the Temple market. But it was the collection of the Temple tax which was most direct affected by such an act, and I want to suggest that this was the deliberate intention of Jesus’ (467)
• look at theological implications
♣ Josephus, Ant 18.312 – ‘those Jews who went up to Jerusalem for Passover as pilgrims were offered the privilege of paying the tax to the money changers in the Temple itself’ (467)
♣ Temple tax = collective effort
♣ JC was disrupting a well-known central aspect to Temple service

Question 24

adna temple cleansing - scriptural explanation

Answer 24

♣ Mark 11:17 – allusion to temple as den of robbers
♣ Allusion to Jeremiah 7:11. Jer 7:1-15, prophet compares contemporaries with robbers seeking den
♣ ‘by clinging to the traditional apparatus in Temple as if nothing new was happening, instead of answering obediently the call of Jesus for repentance and discipleship at the threshold of the kingdom of God, the people deceive themselves. In this regard they are just like Jeremiah’s contemporaries’ (470)
♣ Isaiah 56:7 – still hope for temple as a place for prayer

Question 25

adna, temple and JC understanding of death

Answer 25

♣ ‘even though his act at the Temple market was only a minor incident without lasting effects, the symbolic meaning of this gesture with regard to the status of the sacrificial cult was clear enough to provoke counter measures from the powerful high priests’ (471)
♣ JC anticipated death through action in temple
♣ Cleansing of temple = messianic act in attempt to realise God’s basileia

Question 26

stein on JC death and JC portrait

Answer 26

• Portrait of JC in Synoptics does not seem to conform with the reason for his death
  o JC says he is not leading a rebellion, Matt 26:55, Mark 14:48, Luke 22:52
  o His disciples were not executed
  o Disciples did not engage in aggressive rebellion after JC death

Question 27

stein on first century judaism

Answer 27

• ‘first-century Judaism was marked by conflict – both internationally, among the various forms of Judaism existing at the time, and externally, with Rome. Jesus’ mission construed in broad terms as the restoration of Israel in the context of the coming of God’s universal rule, must have posed a threat within the social and power matrix of first-century Judaism’ (154)

Question 28

stein - death in the synoptics

Answer 28

• Matthew’s Gospel
  o JC = crucified as messianic pretender (charge = 26:63, 27:11, 17, 22, 27-31, 37)
  o Request of HP, 36:63
  o JC is mocked on cross, SofG and KofJ are in apposition (27:40, 42-3)
• Mark’s Gospel
  o Mark is often deemed ‘a passion narrative with an extended introduction’ (157)
  o Death = interpreted as salvific
• Luke’s Gospel
  o Jesus’ life is framed in terms of conflicts – climax = death
  o JC = a prophet (4:24, 7:16, 39, 24:19)
  o Rejection and death = lot of all prophets (Luke 4:24, 6:23, 11:47-51, 13:33-4, Acts 7:52)
  o Opponents = leaders of Jerusalem inc. HP
  o Salvific death
  ♣ But, Luke does not draw parallel between cross and forgiveness of sins
  o JC death as martyrdom (link to literature of martyrdom in late Judaism)
  ♣ Supernatural conflict
  ♣ Innocence of victim
  ♣ Death as exemplary

Question 29

Horsley - problematic assumptions

Answer 29

o assumption = religion is separate from politico-economic life
o JC is usually painted as ‘heretic’
o Intrinsic link between religion and politics means that ‘it would be virtually impossible to separate the religious dimension from the political dimension of Jesus’ ministry’ (397)

Question 30

winter on the trial

Answer 30

♣ Form-critical analysis:
• Sanhedrin did not have power of capital punishment for religious offences
• Barabbas episode = ‘the most blatant case of the Christian apologetic tendency to shift the blame from the Roman authorities to the Jews’ (403)
• ‘the fact that Jesus was crucified proves that Jesus was executed as a political insurgent by the Romans (since crucifixion was a Roman form of execution’ (403)

Question 31

Horsley against political interpretation

Answer 31

♣ horsley argues that they are ‘a modern scholarly construct’ (408)
♣ they are a conflation of the brigands and Zealots
♣ Josephus calls rebels against Roman rule ‘brigands’
‘but Josephus clearly distinguishes the Pharisee-led “fourth philosophy” who (apparently non-violently) resisted the Roman tribute in 6CE, ordinary brigands who were endemic throughout the first century…and the Zealots proper who formed as a group or a coalition only after the revolt against Rome was well underway, in the winter of 67-8 CE’ (408)

Question 32

winter on the inscription

Answer 32

♣ Since it ‘stated the cause for which he had been sentenced, (it) is the one solid and stable fact that should be made the starting point of any historical investigation dealing with the Gospel accounts of his trial’
♣ Confidence in authenticity of inscription is probs reflection of earlier literary/tradition-critical analysis, lack of any apologetic/theo reason for it to be fabrication

Question 33

bultmann on the inscription

Answer 33

o Bultmann, die geschichte der synoptischen tradition, 1931

♣ ‘the inscription is secondary to that of the trial before Pilate, and perhaps even Markan’ (413)

Question 34

sanders 5 main scenes

Answer 34

o Triumphal entry (Mark 11:9, Matt 21:9, Luke 19:38)
o Cleansing of Temple (Mark 11:15-19)
o Last Supper (Mark 14:22)
o Arrested by HP guards. Witnesses say he threatened to destroy temple, but not conclusive
♣ JC admits he is Messiah to HP in Mark and is accused of blasphemy (Mark 14:43-64)
o Sent to pilate, questioned and crucified for claiming to be KofJ (Mark 15:1-5, 15, 18, 26)

Question 35

sanders on triumphal entry

Answer 35

♣ Fulfils prophecy in Zechariah 9:9
♣ ‘I incline to view that it was Jesus himself who read the prophecy and decided to fulfil it: that here he implicitly declared himself to be ‘king’’ (254)
♣ if there was really a big crowd as described, how did he not get arrested?
• ‘Passover was a prime time for trouble-makers to incite the crowd, and both the high priest and the Roman prefect were alert to the danger. I can only suggest that Jesus’ demonstration was quite modest: he performed a symbolic gesture for insiders’ (254)

Question 36

sanders on cleansing of temple

Answer 36

♣ Mark 11:17 – ‘my house shall be called a house of prayer’ but you have made it ‘a den of robbers’
• House of prayer – Isaiah 56:7
• Den of robbers – Jer 7:11
o H, no evidence that money was being used immorally
o JC may simply have been advocating reform rather than complete destruction
o ‘had Jesus thought that the entire system was corrupt, that the priests were criminals, that sacrifices were wrong and should be done away with – or anything of the sort – we should have more material pointing in that direction’ (255)
o JC pays temple tax, even if reluctantly (Matt 17:24-7)

Question 37

sanders on temple destruction

Answer 37

• According to Matt, JC is speaking to disciples, not just one person (Matt 24:1)
• Speaking to some people in Luke 21:5
• ‘the principal thing to note is that the prediction was not precisely fulfilled. When the Romans took the city in 70CE, they left much of the Temple wall standing’ (257)
• ‘had the prediction of Mark 13:1…been written after 70, we would expect it to say that the Temple would be destroyed by fire, not that the stone walls would be completely torn down. This prophecy, then, is probably pre-70, and it may be Jesus’ own’ (257)
• h, synoptics seem to want to emphasise that JC did not threaten to destroy the temple (Mark 14:57-9)
• accusations on cross are not direct (Mark 15:29/Matt 27:40)
• Luke leaves it out
• ‘it is more likely that Jesus said and did something that onlookers believed to be a threat and that genuinely alarmed them’ (258)

Question 38

sanders conc on destruction of temple

Answer 38

• ‘I shall assume that he threateningly predicted the destruction of the Temple; that is, he predicted destruction in such a way as to make some people think that he was threatening it’ (258)
• most likely a connection between cleansing and prediction of destruction – even if synoptics want to separate it
• ‘If Jesus said anything at all about the coming destruction of the Temple, he meant that God would destroy it, or have it destroyed by his agents’ (259)
o no one thought JC himself would do it

Question 39

sanders on cleansing of temple in luke

Answer 39

o ‘Jeremiah’s prophecies dealt largely with political and military matters, but not the sayings of Jesus’ except Luke 21:20 (256)
♣ Some say this is a revision of a Matt and Mark saying
♣ ‘this seems to me to be correct. Luke, that is, wrote after the Roman armies had in fact surrounded and destroyed Jerusalem, and his knowledge of what happened in the year 70 influenced his revision of Mark’ (256)

Question 40

sanders conc re. JC as political

Answer 40

♣ Conclusion – JC = viewed as a ‘prophetic threat’ (260)
♣ ‘I think it highly probable that Jesus himself intended the action to predict the destruction of the Temple, rather than to symbolize its need of purification’ (260)
♣ does not view den of robbers statement as authentic – easily lifted from Jer
♣ ‘he was a prophet and an eschatological prophet. He thought that God was about to destroy the Temple’ (261)
♣ ‘Jesus probably thought that in the new age, when the twelve tribes of Israel were again assembled, there would be a new and perfect Temple, built by God himself’ (261)
• Rev 21:22
• 1 Enoch 90:28

Question 41

sanders on reason for JC arrest

Answer 41

o ‘most immediately, the cause of Jesus’ arrest was his prophetic demonstration at the Temple’ (265)
o ‘The Temple action sealed his fate’
Markan trial – HP seems to know of both Temple and entry into Jerusalem

Question 42

sanders on role of HP as stopping troublemakers

Answer 42

♣ E.g. Jesus of Ananias predicted destruction of Temple
• Ref to Jer 7:34
• Interrogated by Jews and then Romans
• Released as maniac
♣ Difference is that JC of Nazareth had a following
• He was physical in the Temple
• He was not mad and therefore dangerous
♣ ‘the Roman prefect or procurator had to maintain domestic tranquility and collect tribute….Rome’s choice of the high priest respected Jewish tradition. Judaea had been ruled by high priests for several centuries. When Herod became king he brought this system to an end…when Caiaphas ordered Jesus to be arrested, he was carrying out his duties, one of the chief of which was to prevent uprising’ (268)

Question 43

sanders, Arrested due to theological difference?

Answer 43

♣ Teachings of love and compassion were against Pharisaic legalism etc.
♣ However… ‘the range of legal dispute between Jesus and other was well within the parameters of normal debate, and there is no reason at all to think that they were in conflict about love, mercy and grace’ (268-9)
♣ Pharisees have no role in crucifixion – mainly the high priest and chief priests

Question 44

sanders on 2 trials

Answer 44

o Mark and Matt - Describe 2 trials
♣ First = Mark 15:1/Matt 27:1
♣ 2nd = interrogation by HP
♣ ‘Mark’s view is that Jesus was convicted for claiming titles for himself, and that these claims constituted blasphemy in the eyes of other Jews – or at least one, Caiaphas’ (270)
♣ ‘the high priest had him arrested because of his action against the Temple, and that was the charge against him. The testimony was thrown out of court because the witnesses did not say the same things. The high priest, however, had decided that Jesus had to die’ (271)

Question 45

Watson - religious reason

Answer 45

• ‘The Gospels claim that Jesus was condemned for a religious rather than a political crime. In Mark’s account of Jesus’ trial, his confession of himself as Messiah is regarded not as a political offence against the Roman authorities, as it might well have been, but as a religious offence against Jewish law; the High Priest regards Jesus’ claim as blasphemous.’ (105)
• ‘His death was due to the malevolence of the Jewish authorities, who eventually managed to persuade a reluctant Pilate to have him crucified. The message is clear: Jesus’ death was unjust, as Pilate himself recognized, for Jesus posed no threat to the political status quo.’ (106)

Question 46

Watson - Pilate view of JC

Answer 46

• ‘The Gospels claim that Jesus was convicted on a purely religious charge, and that Pilate regarded him as innocent and condemned him only with the greatest reluctance. I have argued that this version of events is historically highly unlikely, and that it was invented by Gentile Christians who did not wish either themselves or their master to be regarded as political subversives. It is hardly likely to have sprung from Palestinian Jewish Christianity. Between AD 30 and AD 70 Palestine was seething with revolt, and those who took up an overtly pro-Roman attitude were constantly in danger of their lives. It therefore seems likely that, in the Jewish Christian version of the passion narrative on which our Gospel accounts are based, the Jewish authorities were portrayed as working in close collaboration with the Romans in the trial and execution of Jesus. In this account, his claim to be the Messiah would have been regarded by the Jewish authorities not as blasphemy but as a political offence, and Pilate would be portrayed as condemning him without the slightest compunction. If the reference to blasphemy and the Barabbas episode are omitted, that is precisely the picture we get.’ (107)

Question 47

Theissen and merz - different interpretations of the temple

Answer 47

♣	Mark 14:58
•	JC will destroy the temple
•	JC expects God to destroy it 
•	Alludes to Isaiah 60:13 and Enoch 90:28
♣	Mark 13:1
•	Reformulates temple prophecy in light of destruction of temple in 70CE
•	Only negative part = accomplished
•	Only destruction, not reconstruction was prophesised
♣	John 2:19
•	Uses analogy of temple to describe own body 
•	Talks about destroying temple 
•	JC will restore it (John 10:17)
♣	Matt 26:61
•	JC can but may not destroy temple
♣	Acts 6:14
•	Attributes destruction to Stephen

Question 48

theissen and merz - temple and judaism

Answer 48

o ‘Jesus’ conflict with the temple is also a conflict in Judaism – not a conflict with Judaism’ (435)

Question 49

theissen and merz on last supper

Answer 49

o ‘The symbolic action against the temple cult was complemented by Jesus’ symbolic action at the last supper in founding a cult, though he did not intend to found a cult which would last through time. He simply wanted to replace provisionally the temple cult which had become obsolete’ (434)

Question 50

bammel and moule - instances where JC opposed jewish religious practice

Answer 50

♣	JC attitude to women 
♣	Rejection of fasting, Mark 2:18 
•	V19 – criticizes fasting. Can’t have come from early Church as it was important 
♣	Attitudes towards outcasts
•	E.g. tax-gatherers (Mark 2:15-17)
o	JC goes against both Jewish and Xian thought – suggests it is his opinion 
•	E.g. Samaritans, Luke 10:30
o	Luke 17:11
o	Only Matt 10:5 shares prejudice 
♣	‘since Matt 10:5 fits into the Jewish and Jewish-Christian horizon and at the same time contradicts authentic tradition about Jesus, the conclusion that it is of secondary origin is attractive’ (137)
♣	criticism of torah 
•	Matt 8:21 attacks Jewish piety 
•	Attitude towards Sabbath 
•	Mark 2:27 – Matt omits this