Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE MISSION OF JESUS §14.4
sneering dismissal of another (Matt. 5.21-22); not just adultery, but lust (5.27-
28); not just false oaths, but casual oath-taking and calculating equivocation
(5.33-37). 159 Doing what is right cannot be reduced to outward acts and set formulae.
The one antithesis which seems to 'abolish' a law, 160 the one on retaliation
(5.38-42), 161 is again better heard as pressing behind a law specifically intended
to limit retaliation and prevent blood-feuds to a more fundamental sense
of right and responsibility as expressed in a practice of non-retaliation and positive
response when personally threatened. 162
g. Tithing
Tithing was also important within Judaism 163 and became a matter of significant
concern for the later rabbis (see especially m. Demai). The shared Matthew/Luke
tradition on the subject (Matt. 23.23/Luke 11.42) suggests that there was debate
already current in the pre-70 period concerning certain herbs. 164 The saying is
notable in that Jesus is remembered not as denouncing such concerns as overtrivial
or wrong, but, once again, as reminding his hearers that there are more important
things to be concerned about — notably 'justice and mercy' — wholly in
the spirit of and with a probably intended echo of Mic. 6.8. The saying corresponds
to Jesus' attitude implied in the parable of the Pharisee and the tollcollector
(Luke 18.9-14): tithing is not criticized any more than prayer, but it
does not form a basis or reason for acceptability to God; 165 nor does it serve as a
test case of faithfulness to covenant law. 166
159. Note the strong echo of this last antithesis in Jas. 5.12, another instance of how the
Jesus tradition functioned and was heard within the early communities (see further above,
§8.1e). Josephus reports a similar attitude regarding oaths among the Essenes (War 2.135; cf.
CD 9.9-12; 16.7-12; see further B. Kollmann, 'Erwägungen zur Reichweite des Schwurverbots
Jesu (Mt 5,34)', ZNW 92 [2001] 20-32). Becker observes: 'Of course, they did not understand
this practice as contrary to the Torah. Refusing to do something that the Torah permits is not a
violation of the Torah' (Jesus 296). See also Westerholm, Jesus 104-13; Holmen, Jesus 176-86.
160. Jeremias, Proclamation 207; Schräge, Ethics 64-65. The law in question, lex
talionis, is Exod. 21.24; Lev. 24.20; Deut. 19.21.
161. Text cited above, §8.5d, with Lukan parallel (Luke 6.29-30) and reference to Did.
1.4-5 and GTh 95. See also above, chapter 12 n. 194, and fuller discussion in Davies and
Allison, Matthew 1.539-48.
162. See the full and excellent discussion by Betz, Sermon on the Mount 277-84.
163. Lev. 27.30-33; Num. 18.24-32; Deut. 14.22-29; 26.12-15; see further Sanders, Judaism
146-57; a major marker of covenant obedience (Holmen, Jesus 106-11).
164. For further details see Davies and Allison, Matthew 3.293-94.
165. See further Westerholm, Jesus 55-61.
166. Holmen, Jesus 127-28.
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