Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§16.2 How Did Jesus See His Own Role?
ered round, 34 made a huge impression on them and was from the first part of the
remembered tradition shared and reflected on in disciple groups.
Matt. 26.39 Mark 14.35-36 Luke 22.41-42 John 12.27 Heb. 5.7-8
And going
forward a little
way he fell
on his face and
prayed saying,
'My
Father, if it is
possible,
let this cup
pass from me.
Nevertheless, not
as I wish but as
you wish'.
And going
forward a little
way he fell
to the ground and
prayed that if it
was possible the
hour would pass
from him. And he
said, 'Abba,
Father, all things
are possible to
you. Let this cup
pass from me.
Yet not what I
wish, but what
you wish'.
And he withdrew
from them about a
stone's throw, and
knelt and
prayed saying,
'Father, if you are
willing,
let this cup
pass from me.
Nevertheless, not
my will be done
but yours'.
Now is my soul
troubled, and
what am I to say?
'Father.
save me
from this hour'?
But for this
purpose I came to
this hour.
In the days of his
flesh, Jesus
offered up prayers
and supplications,
with loud cries
and tears, to the
one who was able
to save him from
death, and he was
heard because of
his reverent
submission.
Although he was
a son, he learned
obedience through
what he suffered.
The tradition here is of particular interest. The point is regularly made that
the tradition itself indicates that Jesus was too far from the (sleeping!) disciples
to be overheard. 35 It is also clear that Matthew's second 'Father' reference (Matt.
26.42) is an elaboration of Mark's less explicit account (Mark 14.39); is this true
of all the references? And the Hebrews passage is obviously influenced by the
Wisdom motif of the son disciplined by the father (n. 16 above). On the other
hand, the wide attestation of the tradition is impressive, 36 and the unmartyr-like
description of Jesus in the garden (Mark 14.33: 'greatly distressed [ekthambeisthai]
and troubled') is hardly likely to be a Christian composition. 37
34. Prayer, like reading, was not usually a silent activity in the ancient world (pseudo-
Philo 50.5; P. W. van der Horst, 'Silent Prayer in Antiquity', Numen 41 [1994] 1-25).
35. 'Since there were no witnesses, Mark (or the tradition before him) must have imagined
what Jesus said' (Funk, Five Gospels 120). Funk again betrays unawareness of the character
of oral tradition when he adds: The 'variations and additions illustrate how loosely the evangelists
treated even written discourse, to say nothing of the oral tradition they may have
received' (120).
36. Dodd, Historical Tradition 67-72.
37. 'Loud cries and tears' (Heb. 5.7). See further my Jesus and the Spirit 17-20, with
earlier bibliography, where I note inter alia that ekthambeisthai seems to denote shuddering
horror — 'to be moved to a relatively intense emotional state because of something causing
great surprise or perplexity' (BDAG) — hence the softening of Matt. 26.37 (lypeisthai). It is
important to note (pace Lüdemann, Jesus 98-99) that the intensity of this description is not derived
from the Psalms. 'The temptation of Jesus in the garden completely went against any ancient
ideal of martyrdom' (M. Hengel, The Atonement: The Origins of the Doctrine in the New
Testament [London: SCM, 1981] 71). Becker contrasts Luke's portrayal of the martyr Paul (Jesus
345).
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