Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE QUESTION OF JESUS' SELF-UNDERSTANDING §16.4
sus' parable the Son of Man imagery replaced that of the master of the household
returning unexpectedly. 218 And Luke's addition to the parable of the widow and
the unjust judge (Luke 18.8) also implies a coming to earth: 'when the Son of
Man comes (elthön), will he find faith on the earth?'
Matthew's elaboration of the Jesus tradition simply adds further confusion.
A coming to be enthroned (in heaven) in glory is clearly envisaged in the two
passages most likely to have been influenced by the Similitudes of Enoch (Matt.
19.28; 25.31). But Matthew also elaborates the thought of the Son of Man's coming
by reference to Jesus' parousia, 219 the regular term for Christ's (second)
coming/advent in the NT letters. 220 A coming to earth is probably implied also in
Matt. 10.23 and 24.44 (erchesthai). 221 These all seem to be a development from
the coming (erchomenon) in Matt. 24.30 (= Mark 13.26), one of the explicit quotations
of Dan. 7.13, 222 where the transition of thought (from a coming to heaven
to a coming to earth) may still be evident. 223
The obvious possibility emerging from all these cases is that there has been
a tendency to reverse the direction of travel in the course of transmission of the
Jesus tradition. What began as a straightforward evocation of Daniel's vision, of
an exaltation and implied enthronement in heaven, has been steadily developed
into the more complex thought of enthronement followed by a redescent to
earth. 224 The indications of such a development are most clear in four cases: the
transition of thought still evident in Mark 13.26-27 pars, and in the Mark 8.38
complex; the probable insertion of Ps. 110.1 into the Dan. 7.13 allusion in Mark
14.62 pars.; and the coalescence of the idea of the Son of Man's coming with the
return of the master/householder/bridegroom in various parables.
218. Similarly Lindars, Jesus Son of Man 97-98.
219. Matt. 24.27, 37, 39, answering the disciples' query in 24.3; parousia appears nowhere
else in the Jesus tradition. Matthew is the only Evangelist to use the terra. Is this Matthew's
redaction of an original reference to 'the day(s)' of the Son of Man (Luke 17.24, 26, 30),
or are both redactional, and a preredactional form is unrecoverable (see above, §16.4d)?
220. 1 Cor. 15.23; 1 Thess. 2.19; 3.13; 4.15; 5.23; 2 Thess. 2.1, 8; Jas. 5.7-8; 2 Pet. 1.16;
3.4; 1 John 2.28.
221. Cited above, §§12.4h and 12.4g respectively.
222. Cited above, §16.4c(l).
223. Matt. 24.30-31: 'the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the
tribes of earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call (cf.
1 Thess. 4.16), and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the
other'.
224. Cf. Robinson, Jesus and His Coming chs. 3-4.
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