Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE CLIMAX OF JESUS MISSION §17.3
tures and early postbiblical writings. He notes that in Jewish Scripture there is a
fundamental conviction regarding Zion as the dwelling-place and throne of
God. From this twin concept, Zion theology emerges: Zion as the place of refuge,
security, and blessing 153 and particularly Zion as the destination for the eschatological
pilgrimage of the nations, Zion as the centre for Yahweh's universal
dominion. 154
That Jesus shared this Zion theology is suggested for Tan by three passages.
155 (1) In Matt. 5.34-35 Jesus calls Jerusalem 'the city of the great king'
(Ps. 48.1). Despite its sole attestation in Matthew, this may well contain a recollection
of Jesus' teaching. 156 (2) In Luke 13.32-33 Jesus speaks of reaching his
goal (teleioö), by implication, in Jerusalem. This is more problematic, since
teleioö occurs in the Synoptics only in Luke (2.43; 13.32), and 13.33 is one of
Luke's dei passages; in other words, there is more than a hint of suspicion that
the note of divinely intended outcome may owe more to Luke's retelling than the
earlier tradition. 157
(3) Luke attaches 13.31-33 to the Q lament over Jerusalem:
Matt. 23.37-39
37 Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the citv that kills
the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!
How often have I desired to gather vour children
together as a hen gathers her brood under her
wines, and vou were not willing! 38 See, vour
house is left to vou. desolate. 39 For I tell vou.
vou will not see me aeain until
vou sav, 'Blessed is the one who comes
in the name of the Lord'.
Luke 13.34-35
34 Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the citv that kills
the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!
How often have I desired to gather vour children
together as a hen (gathers) her brood under her
wings, and vou were not willing! 35 See. vour
house is left to vou. And I tell vou.
vou will not see me until the time comes
when vou sav. 'Blessed is the one who comes in
the name of the Lord'.
The saying is regularly discounted as a word of Jesus precisely because of the
strength of the self-affirmed role claimed by Jesus and the suggestion of a prophecy
after the event. 158 But the later insertion of such a saying into a tradition
which gave no account of earlier visits by Jesus to Jerusalem is somewhat difficult
to credit. The implication that death by stoning was the likely outcome for
Jesus is hardly a creation ex eventu. A saying within Q almost certainly predates
the destruction of Jerusalem (not till 70 CE), and so is a gloomy foreboding on ei-
153. E.g., Pss. 9.12-13; 20.2-3; 46.6; Isa. 7.1-17; 30.1-5; 31.1-3. See also J. D.
Levenson, 'Zion Traditions', ABD 6.1098-1102.
154. See above, chapter 12 nn. 70, 71; Tan, Zion Traditions 29 n. 33, 31-42.
155. Tan, Zion Traditions Part II.
156. See above, chapter 14 n. 159.
157. See above, §15.6c. But Becker builds his answer to the question about Jesus' own
view of the future from Luke 13.32 (Jesus 338-39).
158. Steck, Israel 53-55; Funk, Five Gospels 245; Lüdemann, Jesus 357.
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