Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

Concretely: Jesus’ resident adherents urgently need the new thing Jesus has begun if they are to change anything about their urgent physical and spiritual needs. The families that remain at home derive their life from the “new family” that is visible in the group of disciples. On the other hand, the disciples who are traveling through the land urgently need the support of established houses. Thus here there are constant radiant auras, reciprocal effects, overlappings. The disciples no longer live for themselves alone but for the people of God, and the resident supporters no longer live only for themselves and their children.

Occasional Helpers

The houses of those who receive Jesus and his disciples for the night thus become bases for the Jesus movement. But there was another type of relationship to the new thing in Israel. It was sporadic, momentary, less firm, and yet of great importance. Mark describes this kind of relationship in a short, meaningful word of promise directed to Jesus’ disciples. It may, at least in its outlines, go back to Jesus himself: “whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward” (Mark 9:41).

We have to imagine the situation this describes: the heat of a long day without shade, the thirst known only to those who have been in the lands of the south, and then the cup of water, offered because someone wants to help Jesus’ disciples. Perhaps the man or woman who gives the water will never encounter the disciples again and never again be able to help them. But it has happened this one time, it was necessary to their lives, and God will respond to it with eternal reward.

Another example of “occasional help” that comes to mind is the deed of Joseph of Arimathea:

When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. (Mark 15:42-46)

We can only understand this narrative if we know that crucifixion in antiquity was normally made more cruel by the fact that those crucified were denied burial. Concretely that meant that the corpses of those executed remained on the crosses until they had been torn apart and devoured by raptors and wild beasts. Only then were the remains put in the ground somewhere.

We also need to know that for the people of the ancient world the refusal of burial was a much more terrible thing than it is for people today. Those who had been executed were thus shamed still further after the fact. They were denied the honor due to the dead. Their afterlife was destroyed forever. For Jewish sensibilities, the refusal of a grave was not only a horrible degradation of the dead but also a cultic desecration of the Land. Joseph of Arimathea’s deed has to be understood against that background.

Who was this Joseph? He was a councilor, probably a member of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. He was highly regarded and influential. Otherwise he would not have been admitted to Pilate’s presence. But was he a disciple of Jesus? Matthew 27:57 and John 19:38 present him as such. Mark and Luke, in contrast, simply say that he “was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God” (Mark 15:43; Luke 23:51). If we consider that the Fourth Evangelist had a much broader concept of discipleship than Mark did, we will probably conclude that Joseph, while he was Jesus’ silent sympathizer, had never been a disciple in the proper sense of the word.¹⁰

Joseph was precisely what I have called an “occasional helper.” Only a single situation is described in which he came to the aid of Jesus and his cause. But in that situation he acted not only correctly and without fear but also generously and with full commitment. God’s cause needs such people. Their single action is as important as constant discipleship.

The Beneficiaries of the New Thing