Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§13.2 For Whom Did Jesus Intend His Message?
Synoptic tradition of Jesus' words. 51 A striking feature is that the majority of the
references to faith (or lack of faith) occur in relation to miracles: nearly twothirds
of those in the Synoptics, in Mark eight out of thirteen. 52 Typically the tradition
recalls Jesus as saying things like, 'Do not fear, only believe' (Mark 5.36),
'All things are possible to him who believes' (Mark 9.23), and, most frequent,
'Your faith has saved you/made you well' . 53 The encounter with the centurion/
royal official at Capernaum is remembered as notable for the great impression
which his faith made on Jesus (Matt. 8.10/Luke7.9; cf. John 4.48-50). And Matthew
draws the same point from Jesus' other known encounter with a non-Jew
(Matt. 15.28). It matters little whether all the episodes which report Jesus as
speaking of belief/faith are accurate as memories on that point. For the tradition
shows clearly that this was recalled as a regular theme, particularly in the miracle
stories, and was drawn in (again as a recurrent formula) precisely because it held
such a firm place in the retellings of the tradition from the first.
Notable also is the fact that the character of the faith envisaged is hardly distinctively
Christian, as that took shape in the subsequent evangelistic mission —
that is, faith in Jesus, particularly in his death and resurrection. 54 For the most
part, in the Synoptic accounts the Evangelists do not even make the attempt to
portray it as faith in Jesus. 55 What is envisaged is more trust, or reliance on the
power of God to heal 56 or to answer prayer, 57 or generally trust in God's care and
provision (Matt. 6.30/Luke 12.28), 58 though only Mark 11.22 explicitly speaks of
51. Pisteuö in Mark 5.36/Luke 8.50; 9.23; Mark 9.42/Matt. 18.6; Mark 11.23-24/Matt.
21.22; Matt. 8.13; 9.28; pistis in Mark 4.40/Luke 8.25; Mark 5.34/Matt. 9.22/Luke 8.48; Mark
10.52/Matt. 9.29/Luke 18.42; Mark 11.22/Matt. 21.21; Matt. 8.10/Luke 7.9; Matt. 17.20/Luke
17.6; Matt. 15.28; 23.23; Luke 7.50; 17.19; 18.8; 22.32. In John the usage has been considerably
multiplied.
52. Cf. Jeremias, Proclamation 162-63; but see also chapter 15 n. 366 below.
53. Mark 5.34 pars.; 10.52 pars.; Luke 7.50; 17.19. See also C. L. Blomberg, '"Your
Faith Has Made You Whole": The Evangelical Liberation Theology of Jesus', in J. B. Green
and M. Turner, Jesus of Nazareth: Lord and Christ, I. H. Marshall FS (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1994) 75-93 (76-83).
54. See, e.g., my Theology of Paul 174-77.
55. Roloff, Kerygma 173. The one exception is Mark 9.42 (A B L W, etc.)/Matt. 18.6:
'whoever causes one of these little ones who believes (in me) to stumble . . .'. But the absence
of 'in me' from Mark's text is also well attested, and there is a strong possibility that Matthew
added the phrase, which was then copied into Mark in later transcriptions (Metzger, Textual
Commentary 101-102; Pesch, Markusevangelium 2.113). The position is clearer with the taunt
of the crowd in Mark 15.32: 'let him now come down from the cross, that we might see and believe'
(Mark 15.32), where it is evident that Matthew has added 'on him' and the Markan textual
tradition indicates a variety of obviously later emendations to the same effect.
56. See, e.g., Mark 2.5 pars, and the passages cited in the preceding paragraph.
57. Mark 11.22-24/Matt. 21.21-22; Matt. 17.20/Luke 17.6.
58. Oligopistos ('little faith') seems to have been coined by Q (elsewhere only in Christ-
501