Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

It seems that, as far as the fate of the Gentile nations is concerned, Jesus read the Old Testament critically, in the sense that he adopted particular aspects of Old Testament eschatology and let others fall into the background. He made choices. He says nothing about the destruction of the nations, but he does seem to have adopted the idea of the pilgrimage of the nations and used it against Israel.

The word of warning in Matthew 8:11-12 // Luke 13:28-29 is crucial. Jesus must have spoken it as the hardening of Israel as a whole began to show itself. It comes from the Sayings Source and has to be reconstructed out of its varying forms in Matthew and Luke. It would have been something like: “Many will come from the rising and the setting and recline at table in the reign of God—together with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But you will be cast out into the outermost darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The saying looks to the future. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancestors of Israel, have risen from the dead. Obviously they are only named as important representatives of the people of God. With them all the righteous of Israel have risen. The reign of God is coming to its fulfillment, portrayed in the image of the eschatological meal taken from Isaiah 25:6-8. The meal is here an image of fullness, of festival, of a fulfilled life that will never again be brought to an end. In this situation, then, the “many” come from the rising and the setting, that is, from the east and from the west.

The “many” in the saying are contrasted with Jesus’ Jewish audience. So he is speaking of the Gentiles. “Many” is a Semitic formulation and means a great, incalculable number. An unimaginable number of Gentiles are participating in the banquet of fulfillment. But the Israel that rejects Jesus will not be present, of all things, at this eternal banquet for whom everyone hopes. The unbelieving part of Israel will be thrown out into the uttermost darkness.

We can scarcely imagine a greater provocation. But that very provocation shows that Jesus was concerned first and foremost about the eschatological gathering of Israel. Matthew 8:11-12 is a last attempt by Jesus, carried to the limits, to shake up his audience and achieve their repentance after all.

So the word of warning is directed at Israel. Its real theme is not the fate of the Gentiles, but it makes clear, indirectly, how Jesus thought: He knows the vision of the pilgrimage of the nations; he expects the coming of the Gentiles to Zion. Indeed, he presumes salvation for the Gentiles as a matter of course.

Chapter 5

The Call to Discipleship

How do the gospels picture the beginning of Jesus’ work? Often the beginning discloses everything that will come after. Is the first thing a sermon that summarizes what Jesus wanted? Or a healing story? Or a symbolic action like that in the temple? Many things would be possible.

In the Gospel of Mark the first concrete narrative in Jesus’ public appearance describes how he calls Simon Peter, his brother Andrew, and the sons of Zebedee, James and John, to follow him (Mark 1:16-20). The Gospel of Matthew’s arrangement corresponds (Matt 4:18-22). But even the Gospel of John begins Jesus’ work with the calling of disciples: here it is Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathanael (John 1:35-51). However, the first callings are told differently in the Fourth Gospel from what we read in Mark and Matthew.

This placement at the beginning of Jesus’ work need not mean much for the historical question. The fact that three evangelists begin Jesus’ activity in just this way could simply be a question of compositional technique. After all, Luke did it differently. In his account Jesus begins his public appearance by serving as lector and preacher in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30). One could also argue that the disciples are almost always thought of as present in the gospel narratives. Quite often they even appear as actors. So they have to be introduced at the very beginning of the narrative sequence.

All that is worth considering. But it may be that Mark, Matthew, and John did hang on to something crucial. Maybe they wanted to say that there was no activity of Jesus in Israel without a call to discipleship. In fact, discipleship is something fundamental. Without it there would be no Gospel, no gathering of Israel, and no church. It is as elementary as the proclamation of the reign of God, Jesus’ preaching, and his healing miracles. The gospels show that as clearly as possible. But what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? That is the subject of this chapter.¹

Discipleship Is Concrete