Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE MISSION OF JESUS §14.7
Capernaum (§ 14.3b). The minimalist equipment in the mission instructions is
much more appropriate for the length of journeys typical in Galilee than, say,
for Paul's weeks-long journeyings across Asia Minor and round the Aegean. 223
Certainly any suggestion that Jesus and his disciples were constantly on the
move, never settled anywhere for any length of time, is greatly exaggerated. 224
(3) And here again, as with Matt. 8.21-22/Luke 9.59-62 (§14.4h), we need to
ask about Jesus' rhetoric. 225 Jesus was evidently not above using shock tactics
to bring home to would-be disciples that such resolve required unqualified commitment,
not least in the face of the eschatological crisis. Matthew's rendition
may convey the principal point adequately, even if it loses the shock value of the
'hate' language. 226
b. Mark 3.20-21, 31-35 227
20And he came home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could
not even eat. 2lWhen those connected with him heard it, they went out to restrain
him, for people were saying, 'He has gone out of his mind'.... 3iThen
his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and
called him. 3 2 A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, 'Your
223. That the mission instructions agree (Mark 6.8 pars.) in forbidding those sent out to
take a 'knapsack' (pera) is noteworthy, since the pera was so typical of the Cynic (e.g.,
Crossan, Historical Jesus 338-39; Birth 333-35).
224. Cf. the travel arrangements made by Essenes, at least according to Josephus, as
they moved about among their various community centres (War 2.124-27).
225. Crossan speaks of the 'virulence' of the language, a 'rather savage attack on the
family', but goes on to argue that Jesus would not have been attacking traditional peasant society;
Jesus was 'speaking especially to those whose family had failed' (Birth 323-25). Barton
notes the precedents in biblical and Jewish sources where 'allegiance to God and devotion to
the will of God transcend family ties and legitimate their subordination' (Discipleship ch. 2).
Arnal sees the language as hyperbolic, rhetorical statements designed to stress that the commitment
called for must be unconditional (Jesus 174-77).
226. Manson agrees that Luke 14.26 is closer to the original words of Jesus ('a literal
rendering'), but notes that in idiomatic use 'hate' could have the force of 'love less' (Sayings
131); similarly Hamerton-Kelly, God the Father 66; Flusser, Jesus 35 (referring to Gen. 29.30-
33).
227. It looks as though Matthew and Luke have derived their accounts (Matt. 12.46-50;
Luke 8.19-21) from Mark. But apart from the fact that both Matthew and Luke omit Mark 3.20-
21, for obvious reasons, the variations introduced are not sufficiently significant to warrant including
all three versions. GTh 99 abbreviates the teaching almost as much as Luke: 'The disciples
said to him, "Your brothers and your mother are standing outside". He said to them:
"Those here who do the will of my Father are my brothers and my mother; these are they who
will enter the kingdom of my Father'".
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