Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§15.6 Who Did They Think Jesus Was?
the tradition of rejected prophets (12.2-5), but the climax features not the
owner's chief steward, but his son (12.6-7), a suggestive graduation in category.
236 (3) In a famous article Dodd also observed that Jesus is recalled as saying
not only 'I was sent', but 'I came', 237 and suggested that the latter indicated
something more than prophetic commission, in the same way that 'I say to you'
transcends the typically prophetic 'Thus says the Lord'. 238 (4) This chimes in
with the sense of eschatological newness which comes through in several of Jesus'
sayings: something greater was happening than the repetition of prophetic
hope; something greater than the prophet Jonah, 239 whom Jesus may have offered
as a sign (§ 15.6b above). Which in turn strengthens the implication of
Matt. 11.6/Luke 7.23 (§12.5c[l]) that Jesus saw himself, at least as proclaimer of
the kingdom, to be part of the eschatological newness which he proclaimed —
and its offensiveness. 240
(5) This is probably the place where we should mention the tradition of Jesus'
transfiguration (Mark 9.2-10 pars.), where Jesus is transformed
(metamorphousthai) and discourses with Moses and Elijah. Particularly worthy
of note is the fact that the two men who appear in his company are both prophets
(no royal figure is involved). The point is strengthened by the echo of Deut.
18.15 generally detected in the heavenly voice's command to 'Hear him' (9.7):
Jesus is the 'prophet like Moses'. Not only so, but Jesus on his mountain undergoes
a greater transformation than did two of Israel's greatest heroes most famous
for their mountain-top revelatory experiences: 241 the brightness of his
whole appearance more than matches that of Moses (Exod. 34.29-30), and Elijah
heard only the 'sound of sheer silence' (1 Kgs. 19.12 NRSV).
What more can be said in regard to our present concerns? As Strauss long
ago observed, this is a case where the theological significance of what is being
236. See further below, § 16.2c.
237. Mark 2.17 pars. (§13.5); Matt. 11.19/Luke 7.34 (§12.5c); Luke 12.49 (§17.4d); see
also Mark 1.38 par.; 10.45 par. (§17.5d[2]); Matt. 10.34-36/(Luke 12.51-53); Matt. 5.17;
Hampel finds in 'the Son of Man came' in Luke 19.10 Jesus' own self-designation (Menschensohn
205-208).
238. C. H. Dodd, 'Jesus as Teacher and Prophet', in G. K. A. Bell and A. Deissmann,
eds., Mysterium Christi (London: Longmans, 1930) 53-66 (here 63).
239. Matt. 13.16-17/Luke 10.23-24 and Matt. 12.41-42/Luke 11.31-32 (both cited in
§12.5b). That Jonah came from Gath-Hepher (2 Kgs. 14.25), which can be located near
Sepphoris and where his tomb is popularly located (see particularly Reed, 'Sign of Jonah' 204-
208), may be significant: Jesus is compared favourably with two of the greatest northern prophets
— Elijah and Jonah.
240. Taking 'symbol' in its 'thick' sense, Meier concludes, 'All these symbolicprophetic
acts of Jesus were understood by him to unleash the powers of the kingdom which
they foreshadowed' (Marginal Jew 3.624).
241. Exodus 33-34; 1 Kings 19.
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