Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§17.3 Crucifixus sub Pontio Pilato
have sought the answer from within the Jesus tradition have generally looked for
other (or additional) reasons.
In the absence of undisputed indications of Jesus' own intention, it is most
natural to look for an answer in relation to the chief emphasis of Jesus' mission.
In brief, how did a journey to Jerusalem relate to Jesus' preaching of the kingdom
(chapter 12)? If indeed he entertained hope for the restoration of Israel — and
some such hope seems clearly evident 146 — then it would follow ineluctably that
Jerusalem as Israel's spiritual centre must play a key role in the realisation ofthat
hope. 147 K. H. Tan has recently reviewed the chief answers given by earlier
questers, 148 which indicate that, analytically speaking, answers usually embrace
one or more of three options. (1) Was it simply that Jesus, convinced of the importance
and urgency of his message, wanted to deliver it in the capital? Perhaps
he cherished the hope, however forlorn, that his call for return in view of the
coming kingdom would reach the hearts of Israel's leaders and win a positive response
from them. 149 (2) Or was it rather that he was determined to confront and
outface a recalcitrant leadership? I have already examined one version of this
(Jesus as leader of a militant rebellion) and found it wanting (§§ 15.2b, 4). But
could the intention have been rather to call for (or even set up) an alternative religious
rather than political system? 150 (3) Most radical of all, if the kingdom was
to come, then Jerusalem was the most likely place where 'it' (whatever 'it' was to
be) would happen. Perhaps, then, Jesus entertained the idea of somehow triggering
the kingdom's coming by his preaching or activity in Jerusalem? 151
Schweitzer's portrayal (§4.5a) was the most famous and disturbing answer along
these lines. But his is by no means the only answer possible. 152
a. To Restore Jerusalem to Yahweh's Kingship?
In seeking to illuminate Jesus' motivation in going up to Jerusalem, Tan himself
has focused attention on the substantial Zion traditions within Israel's Scrip-
146. See above, §§12.4c and 13.3.
147.1 number the following options for analytic purposes; answers actually offered usually
overlap.
148. Tan, Zion Traditions 11-21.
149. Cf., e.g., Bornkamm, Jesus 155; Schillebeeckx, Jesus 296-98.
150. Cf. Merklein, Jesu Botschaft 135-37, 140-42; see further below, §17.3c.
151. Cf. Evans, who suggests that 'Jesus did anticipate setting up a messianic administration
that would displace the religious establishment of Jerusalem' (Jesus and His Contemporaries
454).
152. Tan naturally cites Meyer here (Aims 202-22); he was unable to take account of
Wright, Jesus (see below).
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