Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§15.7 Who Did They Think Jesus Was?
Mark 6.45-52
45 Immediately he compelled his disciples to set
into the boat, and go before him to the other side,
to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46
And after he had taken leave of them, he went up
on the mountain to pray. 47 And when evening
came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was
alone on the land. 48 And he saw that they were
making headway painfully, for the wind was
against them. And about the fourth watch of the
nieht he came to them, walking on the sea. He
meant to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him
walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost,
and cried out; 50 for they all saw him, and were
terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and
said, 'Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid'. 51
And he got into the boat with them and the wind
ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for
they did not understand about the loaves, but their
hearts were hardened.
John 6.15-21
15 Perceiving then that they were about to come
and take him by force to make him king, Jesus
withdrew again to the mountain by himself. 16
When evening came, his disciples went down to
the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the
sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had
not yet come to them. 18
The sea rose because a strong wind was blowing.
19 When they had rowed about three or four
miles,
they saw Jesus
walking on the sea
and drawing near to the boat.
They were frightened, but he said to them,
'It is I; do not be afraid'. 21 Then
thev wanted to take him into the boat,
and immediately the boat was at the land to which
they were going.
This is one of the more interesting instances of the traditioning process
within the earliest Christian groups. Clearly we have two versions of the same
tradition. Equally clearly, one has not been derived from the other at a literary
level. The only obvious explanation is two oral versions of the same episodes
which came to Mark and John independently. 325 As oral tradition, the core detail
in each case is fairly modest. Intriguingly, in the first almost the only verbal
agreement is limited to the numbers (200 denarii, 5 loaves, 2 fishes, 12 baskets,
5,000 participants); presumably a key factor here was the lack of core saying of
Jesus. 326 In the latter, the most significant constant is the words of Jesus: 'It is I
(egö eimi); do not be afraid'.
What is most striking, however, is the fact that the two stories had evidently
become so firmly attached to each other. Their attachment was so firm that
the Fourth Evangelist retained the second miracle story even though it interrupted
the pattern of miracle followed by discourse which he otherwise followed
throughout the 'book of signs' (John 2-12); in this case the addition of the sequel
required a somewhat awkward bridge passage (6.22-25) back to the discourse
325. It should also be noted that the feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle to be recorded
in all four Gospels (Matt. 14.13-21/Mark 6.32-44/Luke 9.10b-17/John 6.1-15), though
for some reason not at all clear Luke omits the walking on the water sequel (simply to note that
this marks the beginning of Luke's 'great omission' [of Markan material — Mark 6.45-8.26]
explains nothing).
326.1 am uncertain what to make of the second feeding miracle in Mark — the feeding
of the 4,000 (Mark 8.1-10/Matt. 15.32-39). I suspect Mark has picked up what was a variant
version where it was not the numbers that were held constant but the eucharistic motif— 'took
bread, gave thanks, broke and gave' (cf. particularly Luke 22.19); see also Meier, Marginal Jew
2.961-64, 1030-31 n. 301.
685