Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE QUESTION OF JESUS' SELF-UNDERSTANDING §15.7
noted, one of the most consistent attacks directed against Jesus by the early opponents
of Christianity was the charge of sorcery. 348 What were the grounds for
such a charge? Four features of Jesus' technique call for comment.
(1) At the time of Jesus it was evidently typical for healers and exorcists to
use material aids, particularly in exorcisms. In Tobit's exorcism, success is
achieved through burning a fish's liver and heart (Tob. 8.3). In Josephus's report,
the smell of a root drew out the demon through the demoniac's nostrils {Ant.
8.45-49). According to Justin, fumigations and magic knots were used {Dial.
85.3). In the Testament of Solomon, Solomon seals the demons with a ring given
him by the Lord Sabaoth through the archangel Michael. 349 A further motif
sometimes to be found is the demon manifesting its departure by knocking over
something en route. 350 This latter raises the intriguing possibility that the stampede
of the pigs in Mark 5.13 pars, originally had the same function of demonstrating
that the 'legion' of unclean spirits/demons had truly departed from the
man. 351 That episode apart, the accounts of Jesus' exorcisms are remarkably free
of reference to material aids. Jesus apparently made no use of any such aid in his
exorcisms. Did Jesus deliberately eschew what appears to have been regular features
of typical exorcistic practice?
(2) In the reports of his healings, however, we read of Jesus regularly taking
by the hand, 352 or stretching out his hand and touching the leper (Mark 1.41
pars.). In Mark's account 'laying on of hands' is regarded as Jesus' normal mode
of ministering to the sick. 353 Was this distinctive? It is frequently noted that the
79; C. E. Arnold, Ephesians: Power and Magic: The Concept of Power in Ephesians in Light of
Its Historical Setting (SNTSMS 63; Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1989) 29-34; and the
data indicated above (§15.7a); for OT references see the summary in Betz, 'Magic' 96.
348. See again Stanton, 'Jesus of Nazareth: Magician and False Prophet?' (above, n. 95).
For an earlier review see Smith, Jesus the Magician ch. 4. Smith cites the accusation against Jesus
of being a 'doer of evil' (John 18.30), which he takes on the basis of later Roman legislation
to be the equivalent of 'magician' (41, 174). He even sketches the life of 'Jesus the magician' as
it was pictured by those who did not become his disciples (67) — rather like trying to reconstruct
the picture of a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle out of the 20 pieces still preserved.
349. T. Sol. 1.6; 2.5; 5.11; 7.3, 8, etc.; interesting variations in 18.15-16, 28, 32-35, 38,
etc.
350. Josephus, Ant. 8.48 (a bowl of water spilled); Philostratus, Life 4.20 (a statue
knocked over). See also Theissen, Miracle Stories 66-67.
351. Alternatively, the thought may be of the demon being sent into some other object
which could then be disposed of (Twelftree, Jesus the Exorcist 75).
352. Mark 1.31/Matt. 8.15 ('touched her hand'); Mark 5.41 pars. It is to be noted, however,
that Jesus is never recorded as touching demoniacs (Aune, 'Magic in Early Christianity'
1529); the only near exception is Mark 9.27, when the exorcism has already succeeded.
353. Mark 5.23 (hands)Matt. 9.18 (hand); Mark 6.2 ('through his hands'); 6.5; 7.32;
8.23; Luke 4.40; 13.13. Perhaps also in blessing (Matt. 19.13, but Mark 10.13/Luke 18.15 read
690