Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§15.7 Who Did They Think Jesus Was?
And the accusation of sorcery in rabbinic tradition (b. Sanh. 43a) 268 may well be
an echo of the charge levelled against Jesus in Mark 3.22 pars, that he 'expelled
demons by the (power of) the ruler of demons'. 269 What is interesting in this testimony,
hardly partisan on behalf of Christian claims, is that the accounts of Jesus'
healing and exorcistic success are nowhere disputed, only the reasons for
that success.
(4) Not least of importance is the fact that Jesus' success as healer and exorcist
is attested also in the sayings tradition. That is, he is recalled as referring to
that success and drawing deductions from it. We have already laid out the key
data: 270 the Baptist's disciples are referred to Jesus' success in bringing about the
healings that Isaiah had anticipated in the age to come (Matt. 11.5/Luke 7.22), 271
and both Mark and Q made collections of the lessons Jesus drew from his success
as an exorcist (Mark 3.22-29 pars.). We need no more doubt that Jesus believed
that he had been a successful healer and exorcist than we should doubt that Paul
had the same conviction regarding his own 'signs and wonders' (Rom. 15.19). Jesus
was presumably referring to various episodes during his mission when people
had indeed been healed, demoniacs released, lepers 'cleansed', and even the dead
raised/revived, the sort of episodes which are recorded in the narrative Jesus tradition
and which were the basis of his more widely attested reputation.
c. The Root of Jesus' Reputation
It will not be necessary to review the tradition of Jesus' 'extraordinary deeds' in
detail. John Meier has recently provided a thorough and scrupulously careful historical
analysis, 272 and I have little to add at that level. From the perspective of an
oral traditioning process we are also disadvantaged in comparison with the traditions
of Jesus' teaching, both because the q/Q (and other Gospels) material contains
so little of the miracle tradition and because in most cases Matthew and
268. See Van Voorst, Jesus 114, 117-19, and above, §7.1.
269. Fuller discussion in Stanton, 'Jesus of Nazareth: Magician and False Prophet?'
164-80. Stanton refers particularly to Justin, Dial. 69.7, 108; Apol. 1.30; Origen, contra Celsum
1.6, 28, 68, 71; 2.32, 48-49; b. Sanh. 43a; 107b; Acts of Thomas 96, 102, 106-107; and note already
John 8.48 and 10.20.
270. See above, §12.5c-d.
271. As already noted, the only item of the six-item list which would not be prompted by
Isaianic prophecies is 'lepers cleansed'. The inclusion of that item makes sense only if Jesus
was remembered not simply as healing 'lepers' but as regarding these healings in the same light
as he regarded his Isaianic healings.
272. Meier, Marginal Jew 2, Part Three (509-1038). An earlier, less critical survey is
provided by H. van der Loos, The Miracles of Jesus (NovTSup 9; Leiden: Brill, 1965).
671