Jesus the Seer

The Progress of Prophecy

Ben Witherington, Ben Witherington III

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781451488876
• eBook ISBN:
  9781451489507
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Increasingly, scholars recognize that prophetic traditions, expressions, and experiences stand at the heart of most religions in the ancient Mediterranean world. This is no less true for the world of Judaism and Jesus. Ben Witherington III offers an extensive, cross-cultural survey of the broader expressions of prophecy in its ancient Mediterranean context, beginning with Mari, moving to biblical figures not often regarded as prophets‒‒Balaam, Deborah, Moses, and Aaron‒‒and to the apocalyptic seer in postexilic prophecy, showing that no single pattern describes all prophetic figures. The consequence is that different aspects of Jesus’s activity touch upon prophetic predecessors: his miracles, on Elijah and Elisha; his self-understanding as the Son of Man, on Daniel and 1 Enoch; his warnings of woe and judgment, on the “writing prophets” in Judean tradition; and his messianic entry into Jerusalem, on Zechariah 9. Witherington also surveys the phenomenon of apocalyptic prophecy in early Christianity, including Paul, Revelation, the Didache, Hermas, and the Montanist movement. Jesus the Seer is a worthy complement to Witherington’s other volume on Jesus, Jesus the Sage (Fortress Press, 2000).
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CHAPTER 8

Jesus the Seer

IN A PREVIOUS STUDY I ARGUED that Jesus should be seen as a sage, albeit a prophetic sage. ¹ It is the intent of this chapter to explore further the adjective in this last description, for no one title or label adequately explains a figure as complex as Jesus. Multiple complementary models are required to deal with the man who fits no one formula, as E. Schweizer once called him. The matter is complicated by the considerable cross-fertilization of things prophetic, sapiential, and apocalyptic by the time Jesus comes on the stage of early Judaism. The question then becomes, What sort of prophetic figure might he have been?

I. JESUS, JOHN, AND THE CLASSICAL PROPHETS

My previous work suggested strongly that Jesus could not simply be seen as standing in the line of the classical prophets. The form of most of his probably authentic utterances does not allow this conclusion, and notice that all of his utterances lack a messenger formula. Further, he was certainly not among the writing prophets. Yet in ch. 7, above, it was pointed out that Jesus’ “mentor,” John, was surely a prophet and, as an eschatological prophet, spoke on his own authority. Could Jesus have simply followed in the footsteps of John in this regard? This is possible, but then how do we explain all the counterorder wisdom material that goes back to Jesus? How do we explain the significantly different lifestyles of John and Jesus? Why does Jesus perform miracles and John does not? One can not conclude that Jesus simply followed in the footsteps of John. It is one thing to talk about John as Jesus’ mentor, as Meier does; it is another to call Jesus a carbon copy of John.

Aune has made a detailed form-critical analysis of the Gospels, sifting the material for evidence that Jesus’ utterances were prophetic in character. But this sort of critical sifting comes to a far from compelling conclusion: “The evidence though slim does suggest that Jesus regarded himself as a prophet in the OT tradition, and in the framework of current Jewish expectation he must have thought of himself as an eschatological prophet.” ² The question is, Which OT traditions, and what sort of eschatological prophet? Aune admits that Jesus nowhere directly calls himself a prophet and that there is no evidence in the Gospels of a prophetic call narrative for Jesus, for the baptismal scene can not be counted as such.

Aune then points to the popular assessments of Jesus found in texts such as Mark 6:14–15 and Mark 8:28. But in fact, in the narrative context of both passages, both assessments are presented as being incorrect or at least inadequate. On the basis of this evidence and the non-Markan material found in Matt 21:46, Luke 7:39, and John 6:14; 7:40, 52, we could conclude that this was a popular way in which Jesus was viewed during his day. He was doing or saying something that suggested this to some people. To this we could add Luke’s systematic attempt to portray Jesus as a prophet, about which I will have occasion to say more in a later chapter. ³ None of this material helps very much to get a clearer fix on what sort of prophet Jesus may have thought himself to be. What people believe about themselves and how others assess them can certainly be two different things. It is important also to inquire into Jesus’ narrative thought world. What role did Jesus see himself playing in the drama of God’s people?

Two direct pieces of evidence require attention first—Mark 6:4 (Matt 13:57; Luke 4:24) and Luke 13:31–33. What we discover from this material is that Jesus, during his Galilean ministry, may have presented himself as like other northern prophets who performed miracles and were without honor in their own land and time—Elijah and Elisha. The first text is, in all likelihood, the citation of a proverbial expression, and Aune says its proverbial character means “not that Jesus regards himself as a prophet, but that he is one who is not accepted in his own homeland.” ⁴ But it could be said that the Markan text at least indirectly suggests that Jesus was comparing his experience to that of earlier prophets.

Luke 13:31–33 is a pericope unique to Luke. In view of Luke’s clear agenda to present Jesus as some sort of prophet, coupled with its lack of multiple attestation, scholars have been loath to consider this authentic Jesus material. It can, in any case, reveal no more than that Jesus saw himself as likely to face the same fate as earlier prophets, especially those who proclaimed judgment in the vicinity of Jerusalem. It does not tell us what sort of prophet he thought he was. Nonetheless, this text does indicate something quite important. It suggests that Jesus saw himself in the prophetic tradition that had some connection with Jerusalem, and that he expected a tragic end there. ⁵

Possibly much more helpful is the Q material in Luke 7:24–28/Matt 11:7–11, a text that, as Meier says, has the earmarks of an authentic word of Jesus, especially in view of the total focus on, and praise for, John without any obvious christological counterpoint or any attempt to cast John as the Messiah’s forerunner. ⁶ This text has recently been illuminated by G. Theissen’s interesting discussion about Herod Antipas’s coins that have a reed on them. Theissen explains, “If a personal attribute can replace a portrait, then conversely everything that appears in place of the usual portrait can be regarded as a personal attribute, even if it is intended otherwise by the coining monarch. People could have bestowed minute scrutiny and comment on the first coins of Antipas to appear in the country. Would not some wit have made the joke: look at Antipas, the wavering reed?” ⁷ This is certainly possible, and so Jesus’ saying means that the crowd did not go out to the river to see a king or someone wearing a royal robe. To the contrary, they went out to see a prophet the likes of whom had not been seen in that region in a while. This attests not only to John’s considerable popularity (and his lack of need to seek out disciples or audiences for his teaching and rite, unlike Jesus) but also to a contrast between Jesus’ estimation of Herod and his estimation of John. There is, however, something else going on here. It suggests that John should not be seen as a ruler figure or even as a messianic figure. One would expect to find them elsewhere.

John, to use the earlier categories of this study, is not a central or court diviner or court prophet. He is a peripheral prophet—the sort that made rulers most nervous. Since he had a following, John can certainly also be called a leadership prophet. ⁸ John and Jesus seem to have had a relationship with Herod Antipas rather like Elijah had with Ahab, except that neither Jesus nor John seems to have confronted Herod in his own capital city or court. They both seem to have condemned Herod’s incestuous marriage. This led to the arrest of John, and if Luke 13:30–33 has any echo of the truth, Jesus himself may have felt pursued or under the ominous surveillance of Herod, whom Jesus apparently called “that fox” (13:32). This leads to a discussion of a crucial verse a bit more closely—Luke 7:26/Matt 11:9.

It is, frankly, surprising how many scholars have paid attention only to the second half of this logion—“and more than a prophet.” This phrase is important, but the whole enigmatic saying needs to be taken together: “A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.” Jesus’ high estimation of John is clear here and elsewhere (cf. the logion in Luke 7:28; Matt 11:1). He affirms that John is indeed a prophet, but lest the crowds simply rank John as another in the long line of Hebrew prophets, Jesus adds, “and more than a prophet.” Thus we are left with a riddle: what sort of prophet is more than a prophet? One possible answer would be a messianic prophet, or another might be an, or the, eschatological prophet. Is there other evidence that may help sort this matter out?

Mark 1:14–15 provides a sort of summary of Jesus’ early preaching. It has often been remarked that this summary suggests that Jesus was following in the footsteps of John, at least in his early preaching. But while acknowledging that there may be some truth to this, Crossan and others have suggested that Jesus abandoned this sort of preaching for a very different style of utterance. ⁹ The problem with this suggestion is that we find this very same sort of eschatological message on Jesus’ lips later in parabolic form, and one could list a variety of other similar traditions that manifest the eschatological thematic motifs that characterized Jesus’ message (cf. below). Consider, for example, not only that there is the phrase “kingdom of God” throughout the Jesus tradition but also that the theme of repentance comes up in a wide variety of material, some of which has a Galilean and some of which likely has a Judean provenance (cf. Luke 10:13–15 and par.; Luke 11:32; 13:3–5; 15:7–10; Mark 6:12). The lament for Jerusalem and the utterance about the temple’s destruction surely both come from late in the ministry. In other words, there is eschatological continuity between Jesus’ and John’s message in various regards, both from the material that likely came from the beginnings of Jesus’ ministry and from the later material as well. But greater clarity about Jesus’ view of John, and so of himself, is still needed.

The discussion by Meier at this point is helpful. There was a tradition in Mal 4:5 that Elijah would return before the great and terrible Day of the Lord. There was not, however, so far as we can tell, a tradition in early Judaism before or during the time of Jesus about Elijah being the forerunner of the Messiah. ¹⁰ An implicit contrast between Herod Antipas and John could have conjured up “echoes of Elijah, the prophet who had struggled with and been persecuted by the evil monarchs of the northern kingdom of Israel.” ¹¹ Did Jesus identify John as the Elijah redivivus figure? This may well be the case. It is even possible that John, near the close of his life, returned the favor when he asked, “Are you the one who is to come or should we look for another?” ¹²

What is interesting about this is that J. J. Collins has suggested, in the light of the Messianic Apocalypse, that there was a messianic expectation in which “the messiah is more likely to be an eschatological prophet in the manner of Elijah. The royal messi...

Table of contents

• Preface to the Fortress Press Edition
• A Preview of Coming Attractions
• Abbreviations
• The Beginning of the Word
• Keepers of the Flame: The Early Israelite Prophetic Experience
• Courting the Prophets: Prophets and the Early Monarchy
• Prophets of Holy Writ: From Amos to the Exile
• Exilic Dreams of Grandeur
• Vital Visions orthe Dying of the Light?
• Apocalypse—Then
• Jesus the Seer
• Prophets, Seers, and Dreamers at the Dawn of the Christian Era
• Profile of a Prophet and His Movement: Jesus and His Followers in the Greco-Roman World
• From the Seer to the Shepherd: Apocalyptic at the End of the New Testament Era
• From Mari to Montanus
• The Progress of Prophecy: Conclusions