Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§15.3 Who Did They Think Jesus Was?
taken to be a retrojection of the christological use of Ps. 110.1 back into Jesus'
mission. 105
On the other hand, Ps. 110.1 probably originated as a royal psalm (like
Psalms 2, 72, and 89), so that a messianic interpretation lay close to hand. 106 And
the possibility cannot be excluded that Jesus himself was the first to suggest a
messianic interpretation. 107 Moreover, the format does not read much as a bold
affirmation of either Jesus' Davidic sonship or of his lordship. 108 It has more the
character of a riddle, the sort of riddle which was once the delight of oral societies.
In this case the riddle obviously plays on the presupposition of a patriarchal
society that the son was by definition subservient to the father. So how could the
anointed king be both David's son and David's lord? Perhaps, then, the tradition
originated with the memory of Jesus posing the conundrum in a day when the
possible messianic significance of Ps. 110.1 was beginning to be discussed. 109
That he was in the event (shortly after this) denounced to Pilate and then crucified
as a messianic claimant makes it rather more credible that the issue of
messiahship was in the air prior to Jesus' arrest. 110
c. Paying Tribute to Caesar (Mark 12.13-17 pars.)
Since Matthew and Luke appear to be variants of Mark we need take note only of
Mark as representative of the Synoptic tradition, though the versions in Thomas
100 and Pap. Eg. 2 (fragment 2 recto) are also worth noting.
105. The conclusions of Funk, Five Gospels 105, and Lüdemann, Jesus 87, are not untypical.
106. See D. M. Hay, Glory at the Right Hand: Psalm 110 in Early Christianity (SBLMS
18: Nashville: Abingdon, 1973) 19-33.
107. Fitzmyer, Luke 2.1311; cf. Stuhlmacher, Biblische Theologie 1.124; Wright, Jesus
507-10. The fact that it is the LXX of Ps. 110.1 which is quoted is hardly determinative otherwise
{pace Becker, Jesus 196); of course the Greek-speaking churches used the LXX in their
version of the tradition, but the pun ('The Lord said to my lord') works as well in Aramaic
(Fitzmyer, Luke 2.1322).
108. 'The allusive character of the saying favours the view that it is an original utterance;
... It is difficult to think that the doctrinal beliefs of a community could be expressed in
this allusive manner' (Taylor, Mark 493). Contrast C. Burger, Jesus als Davidssohn (FRLANT
98; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck, 1970), who argues that the idea of Jesus as David's son was rejected
in the pre-Markan pericope (52-59); but supporting evidence that Jesus' Davidic sonship
was questioned within early Christianity is lacking (see above, chapter 11 n. 34).
109. Cf. D. Daube, The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism (London: Athlone, 1956)
160-63 (a haggadic question on two texts which seem to conflict). Cf. also the enigmatic quality
of 4Q491, discussed by Hengel, 'Sit at My Right Hand' 201-203, and Collins, Scepter and
Star 147-49.
110. 'The Messiah question runs through the Passion story of all the gospels like a red
thread' (Hengel, 'Jesus, Messiah of Israel' 45, 58).
635