Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE MISSION OF JESUS §14.8
pression. Unlike both Pharisees and Qumranites, table-fellowship was not
fenced around to mark off the insiders from the outsiders. There was no purity
barrier to be surmounted before one could enjoy Jesus' company and listen to
him.
This inference and its implications become all the stronger when we recall
the even more 'thunderous silence' in the Gospels regarding any practice of baptism
by Jesus. As we saw earlier (§ 11.3a), baptism was a practice initiated by
John the Baptist. And in his hands it formed a preparatory gateway which by
passing through one prepared for the baptism of the one to come. It formed a rite
of passage, analogous in function, despite its once-only administration, to the purificatory
baths necessary for membership of the Qumran community and prior
to members' participation in the common meal. At the other end of Jesus' mission,
at the very beginning of the post-Easter community, baptism reemerges —
and again as an indispensable rite of passage for those committing themselves to
the new community. 289 But in between, we hear absolutely nothing about any
baptismal rite being administered by Jesus. And even if Jesus, or at least his disciples,
did maintain John's baptismal practice for the period of overlap with the
Baptist's mission (§ 11.2b), the clear implication is that he or they ceased the
practice when Jesus began his own distinctive Galilean mission (which is where
the Synoptics pick up the story).
Some have recently argued that Jesus himself did baptize and in fact continued
to baptize throughout his mission. 290 But on this hypothesis, the complete
silence of the Synoptic tradition regarding Jesus' continued baptismal
practice is quite simply baffling. There are many episodes in which some reference
could have been inserted — as in Jesus' reply to the rich young man (Mark
10.21 pars.). And one might well assume that those performing the tradition in
the company of the baptized would have been happy to insert several such references
in order to underline the continuity between their own practice and that of
Jesus. In fact, the only reason given for the post-Easter groups' subsequent baptismal
practice is that it was received as a command from the risen Lord, and
that is how the authorisation of Christian baptism is remembered. 291 Since the
first Christians trace their practice to a post-Easter revelation and since the only
hint that Jesus may have continued John's practice for a time (John 4.2) is
quickly refuted, we have little choice but to conclude that Jesus himself did not
baptize during the bulk of his mission, that is, the mission recorded by the Synoptic
Evangelists.
289. Acts 2.38, 41; 8.12-13, 16, 36; etc. 1 Cor. 12.13; Heb. 6.2; 1 Pet. 3.21.
290. R. T. France, 'Jesus the Baptist?' in Green and Turner, eds., Jesus of Nazareth 94-
111 (here 105-107); Meier, Marginal Jew 2.126-29, 166-67; Taylor, Immerser 294-99.
291. Matt. 28.19; otherwise the longer ending added to Mark (16.16). See further vol. 2.
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