Telling Tales about Jesus

An Introduction to the New Testament Gospels

Warren Carter

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781451465457
• eBook ISBN:
  9781506408118
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

What are the Gospels and what does it mean to read them? Warren Carter leads the beginning student in an inductive exploration of the New Testament Gospels, asking about their genre, the view that they were written by eyewitnesses, the early church traditions about them, and how they employ Hellenistic biography.

He then examines the distinctive voice of each Gospel, describing the tale about Jesus each writer tells, then presenting likely views regarding the circumstances in which they were written, giving particular attention to often overlooked aspects of the Roman imperial setting.

A sociohistorical approach suggests that Mark addressed difficult circumstances in imperial Rome; redaction criticism shows that Matthew edited traditions to help define identity in competition with synagogue communities in response to a fresh assertion of Roman power; a literary-thematic approach shows that Luke offered assurance in a context of uncertainty; an intertextual approach shows how John used Wisdom traditions to present Jesus as the definitive revealer of Gods presence to answer an ancient quest for divine knowledge.

A concluding chapter addresses how the Gospels inform and shape our understanding of Jesus of Nazareth. Maps, images, sidebars, and questions for reflection add value to this student-friendly text.

8

Luke: The Kingdom of God

After beginning his public ministry, Luke’s Jesus declares: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose” (Luke 4:43). In this declaration, Luke’s Gospel identifies a central matter about which its hearers/reader can have certainty, security, assurance. Jesus’ mission and compulsion are to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.

First in this chapter, I ask, what is this “kingdom”? How does the Gospel construct its purpose, scope, nature, presence, impact, and future as part of the security or assurance that the Gospel offers Theophilus and other Gospel readers (1:3)? Then, I consider the communal dimensions of the kingdom’s impact, especially concerning ethnicity, the roles of women, and the relationship between God’s kingdom and the most powerful kingdom in the Gospel’s world, the Roman Empire. Finally, I ask how the Gospel constructs interactions between the kingdom of God and the nonhuman world. I examine connections within the Gospel narrative as well as intertextualities between the Gospel narrative and external societal and environmental realities.

8.1 Intertextuality The term intertextuality has a range of meanings. Some users understand it in a very restricted sense, referring only to a relationship between two texts on the basis of one text quoting another. This use would refer to a New Testament text citing or evoking a Hebrew Bible text. In the chapter on Mark, I discussed the intertextuality between Mark’s passion narrative and Psalm 22. This is an author-centered approach, where the author of a text is understood to control it through interaction with a specified text. But the term can have a much broader or more open meaning. It might refer to the intertextuality created between the text and any other media (text, visual, etc.) in existence in its time of origin, whether the author signals it or not. Or even broader still, it can refer to the intertextualities or interactions between any two texts that a reader or viewer puts into conversation with each other. This is a reader-centered approach, which understands readers to have an active role in making meanings from texts. My use of the term here is more reader-oriented in choosing to put the “kingdom” or “empire” of God into conversation with the empire of Rome. Intratextuality refers to making meaning by connecting various elements that occur within the same text.

The Kingdom of God

Luke’s Jesus declares his mission and commission to center on the kingdom of God (4:43). What is this kingdom? What difference does it make in the world and in the lives of people? How does one recognize or encounter the presence of this kingdom? How might Gospel readers be assured of its presence?

One starting point for thinking about these questions is to consider the phrase “the kingdom of God” (Greek hē basileia tou theou). The first issue is one of translation. The Greek word translated “kingdom” can also be translated as “reign” or “rule” or “empire.” Each word brings a different nuance of understanding. The word kingdom denotes more a space where God’s dominion or kingship is established and into which people enter and live (13:28-29). Kingdoms always have kings, so the phrase also evokes God as the king who rules this domain, especially through his agent, Jesus, who is also identified as a king (23:2-3, 38). Yet for many contemporary readers, the word kingdom has outdated associations with castles, dragons, knights on white horses, and long-haired, fair-haired damsels in distress! The words reign and rule denote more an activity than a space, namely, God’s activity in ruling as king. Instead of kingdom, some have suggested using the term kin-dom, which evokes transformed relationship—a family marked by love–‒created among those who encounter God’s reign in following Jesus. The word empire draws together the sphere and activity of God’s rule, but also calls to mind the empire of Rome, in which daily life in the first century took place and in the midst of which God’s ruling activity took place, according to Luke (3:1-3). We might think, then, of “kingdom of God” as denoting the assertion of God’s rule or sovereignty in the midst of Rome’s imperial world, an assertion that makes a difference for the better.

The little word of in the phrase kingdom of God is worth thinking about also. Its function is to link the two entities “kingdom” and “God.” It can suggest several relationships between the two entities. One relationship that “of” signifies is possession. For example, in the phrase “the owner of the dog,” the word of indicates that the owner possesses the dog. So the phrase kingdom of God indicates that God possesses or owns the kingdom. It is God’s activity or rule. What role is there for humans? How can God’s activity be the center of Jesus’ activity? Another relationship that of signifies concerns “origin.” The “kingdom” comes from God. Humans do not create it. It denotes God’s activity in the world.

We might also gain more understanding through an intertextual approach that utilizes understandings of God’s kingship and kingdom in the Hebrew Bible. Luke’s Gospel knows and utilizes the Hebrew Bible, usually in its Greek translation (known as the Septuagint), so these writings may inform its presentations of God’s ruling activity. These presentations divide into three categories. (1) God is king of all the world because God is its creator (Pss. 47:2, 7-8; 103:19); (2) God is the king of the covenant people of Israel (Exod. 15:18; 1 Chron. 28:5; 2 Chron. 13:8); (3) God’s rule, while active in the present, is yet to be established in full forever (Ps. 145:11-13; Dan. 7:9-14, 23-27; Zech. 14:9, “And the Lord will become king over all the earth”). The Gospel’s use of the phrase “God’s kingdom,” then, may well draw on these Hebrew Bible traditions that denote God’s ruling activity that is both present and future, particular to Israel yet universal, present partially now while awaiting fullness. The phrase denotes the space and scope of God’s ruling activity and presence among human beings.

Attention, then, to the language and traditions associated with the phrase “the kingdom of God” provides some understanding of this entity. Moving to an intratextual approach, the use of the phrase within Luke’s Gospel, we can notice the particular nuances of Luke’s presentation of God’s ruling activity, the kingdom of God. The phrase, or its shortened form “the kingdom,” occurs nearly forty times.

As is appropriate for any discourse about God, the Gospel recognizes that mystery surrounds the presence of God’s ruling activity. Where is it to be found? How is it recognized? (17:21). Jesus provides reassurance that to some, namely, Jesus’ disciples, “it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to others” the kingdom’s presence remains invisible and incomprehensible (8:10). Subsequently, Jesus emphasizes the mysterious presence of God’s activity by telling a parable that compares the kingdom to a small mustard seed that is invisible under the ground. Nevertheless, it grows and becomes a tree. A small seed, hidden from sight, has a big and very visible impact (13:18-19). Or again, Jesus compares the kingdom to yeast that a woman mixes into a batch of dough. The yeast is invisible, yet its impact on the whole batch is evident in transforming its size (13:20-21). These images suggest mystery and elusiveness in discerning God’s ruling activity and presence at work in the world—even while they confidently attest the kingdom’s presence and effect. These parables provide assurance that God’s reign is active in the world, though elusive.

If God’s activity in the present is elusive and mysterious, perhaps the future manifestation of God’s activity will be more clearly discerned. Yet Jesus corrects those who expect only a future kingdom, thinking that they will recognize its self-evident signs and find it in particular places (“here it is . . . there it is”). Jesus directs their attention away from such expectations. He declares that it is already present in their midst in his activity (17:20-21). Its presence in his activity and person is the secret of God’s reign that his disciples discern (8:10).

That presence, though, has further paradoxical dimensions. The kingdom, or God’s ruling activity, is appropriately identified as a gift from God. So God gives the gift of God’s ruling presence to Jesus and to Jesus’ followers concerned with how they live their lives and what they might wear or eat (12:32; 22:28-29). The gift has the impact of creating among them a lifestyle free of anxiety and fear. It is a gift, yet this gift is also a mandate. Jesus urges its recipients to resemble his activity in living a life centered on God’s ruling activity or presence (12:31).

So while God’s reign is God’s gift and activity, God designates Jesus as its agent, as God’s Son (1:32, 35) and anointed one (christos, that is, “Messiah,” 2:11) who manifests it in his activity. It defines Jesus and directs his life; to proclaim God’s ruling presence is Jesus’ mission and compulsion (4:43). This declaration of Jesus’ mission in terms of manifesting God’s ruling activity and presence at the outset of Jesus’ activity frames all the rest of his life.

So Jesus uses words to announce “the good news” of God’s reign (4:43; 8:1; 16:16). Along with his words, all Jesus’ actions demonstrate God’s reign in the midst of human beings. So, for example, God’s ruling presence disrupts daily life, priorities, and commitments when it claims human loyalty and priorities in the calling of disciples. The fishermen Peter, James, and John, partners in their small fishing business, are so seized by God’s rule manifested in Jesus’ summons that they leave their boats, contracts, and employees to live a life of a new purpose and commitment in following Jesus (5:1–11). Levi the tax collector experiences a similar thing, much to the surprise of some Pharisees and scribes (5:27–32), as do at least nine others named in 6:12–16, numerous women including Mary, Joanna, and Susanna (8:1–3), and seventy more in 10:1–12. Jesus conveys the gift of God’s ruling activity to them, thereby giving them a new purpose and mission in manifesting God’s rule among humans. He gives his followers “power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sends them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal” (9:2). They are to “cure the sick . . . and say to them, ‘the kingdom of God has come near to you’” (10:9–11). In this way, the work of manifesting God’s ruling activity among humans spreads further. Doing this work faithfully now means participation in the future fullness of God’s reign (22:29).

Jesus’ healings manifest God’s ruling presence. Jesus asserts God’s rule over disease, repairing bodily damage, and restoring people to human communities: a leper (5:12–16), a paralyzed man (5:17–26), a man with a withered hand, fatal in a society where manual work was the primary means of support (6:6–11). The narrative explicitly links Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom with healings (9:11) and with exorcisms that manifest the presence of God’s rule over demons (11:20) and over the kingdom of Satan (11:18–20). Such actions of healing and liberation transform human lives and communities.

The Gospel affirms the presence of God’s ruling activity especially among the poor. Jesus announces a blessing on...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table Of Contents
• Maps and Illustrations
• Preface
• What Are We Reading and Why Does It Matter?
• Telling Stories about Jesus Prior to the Written Gospels
• The Tale Mark Tells
• Mark: Roman Social Upheavals, Propaganda, and Urban Misery
• The Tale Matthew Tells
• Matthew: Editing and Retelling Stories about Jesus
• The Tale Luke Tells
• Luke: The Kingdom of God
• The Tale John Tells
• John’s Gospel: The Presentation of Jesus as Wisdom
• Conclusion
• Glossary
• Index