Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§15.4 Who Did They Think Jesus Was?
strongly featured in Jesus' teaching. 161 In which case, the command to silence
functions more to indicate a messianic misunderstanding than a messianic secret.
c. The Healing of the Blind Man
What is most striking in this case is the fact that nothing is made of the messianic
significance of the title ('son of David'). The story shows Jesus responding to a
beggar's persistence, but neither as rebuking nor as acknowledging the title. That
suggests, again, that the story is framed from the perspective of the one who
benefited from the event; it was his healing that was most important. It is not told
with christological intent and tells us little or nothing about Jesus' own attitude to
the title.
d. The Entry into Jerusalem
Three features should be noted here. (1) Mark carefully avoids portraying the episode
as an overt messianic claim. The Zechariah prophecy is not referred to. The
ovation seems to come more from the disciples than the crowd. And the cries of
welcome fall short of complete messianic recognition and homage. (2) If the image
of Jerusalem's king is deliberately evoked (Zech. 9.9), then the choice of an
ass to ride on picks out the one image of humility within the fuller portrayal of
Zion's triumphant king. 162 (3) It must be significant that the authorities made no
move to arrest Jesus as a result of his entry. Nor is any hint given that reference to
it was part of the testimony against Jesus at his trial (though the notes on the
hearing before Caiaphas are exceedingly brief). Presumably, then, no clear political
significance could be or was read into the event. Was this, then, a kind of parable
of the claims implicit in Jesus' mission? For those with ears attuned to catch
political overtones, there was nothing beyond the boisterous procession of a
bunch of pilgrims to be reported. But for those who looked for the coming of
God's reign the event carried clear overtones of eschatological import. 163
161. See above, §12.4d, and further below, §17.4c.
162. 'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo,
your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble ('ani) and riding on an ass, on
a colt the foal of an ass. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations . . .' (Zech.
9.9-10). 'Ani, of course, evokes the same range of meaning (poverty, affliction, humility) as we
observed in §13.4.
163. Others draw stronger conclusions: 'the entry was probably deliberately managed
by Jesus to symbolize the coming kingdom and his role in it' (Sanders, Jesus 308); 'a conscious,
deliberate demonstration and provocation' (Leivestad, Jesus 140); 'there can be little
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