Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE CLIMAX OF JESUS' MISSION §17.4
lowing his 'occupation' of the Temple. It was then that his meals became so offensive
as to warrant action against him. For 'body' and 'blood' are sacrificial
terminology and indicate that the meals themselves were being understood as
sacrifices, indeed as better sacrifices than those offered in Caiaphas's corrupt
Temple. In other words, Jesus was setting up an alternative cult; wine and bread
replaced sacrifice in the Temple. 174
Such theses have the value for Christian scholarship of tracing back to Jesus'
own intention a new cult (eucharist) to replace the Temple. But they suffer from the
major drawback that the first Christians, who evidently continued to attend the
Temple, and to participate in the sacrificial system, 175 must then have wholly misunderstood
Jesus' intention in the matter. 176 And Chilton's version in particular has
to transpose talk of 'my body' and 'my blood' into the idea of bread as Jesus' (replacement
for the) flesh of sacrifice and wine as Jesus' (replacement for the) blood
of sacrifice. But the firmer link between the last supper and Jesus' Temple protest
(occupation) is thus gained at the expense of the link between the last supper and
Jesus' death. Since the latter is so clear already in the earliest forms of the tradition
the result is, once again, a hypothesis forced upon the tradition rather than one
which grows out of the tradition. We are not likely to gain adequate answers to why
Jesus went up to Jerusalem without clarifying how Jesus understood his death.
17.4. Did Jesus Anticipate His Death?
A second question regarding Jesus' own motivation is simply an extension of the
first. If Jesus' mission in Galilee was causing increasing irritation among the Jerusalem
authorities, it is not very likely that Jesus was unaware of this fact, and more
than likely that he was aware of the possibility of arrest — and worse. Did he then
go up to Jerusalem knowing that he might well pay for the action with his life? 177
174. Chilton's much repeated thesis (e.g., Temple 150-54; Pure Kingdom 124-26; Rabbi
Jesus 253-55).
175. Acts 3.1 (the ninth hour was when the evening sacrifice was offered: Josephus, Ant.
14.65); 21.26; Matt. 5.23-24.
176. Bockmuehl, This Jesus 75 and 201-202 n. 50; Klawans, 'Interpreting the Last Supper'
9-10. Cf. Becker: 'If Jesus had predicted the destruction of the temple or had pronounced
God's judgment on Jerusalem, the earliest post-Easter church would probably have established
itself in Galilee rather than in Jerusalem' (Jesus 334).
177. J. Gnilka, 'Wie urteilte Jesus über seinen Tod?' in K. Kertelge, ed., Der Tod Jesu.
Deutungen im Neuen Testament (QD 74; Freiburg: Herder, 1976) 13-50, seeks to avoid misunderstanding
by distinguishing between 'Todesbereitschaft' (readiness for death) and 'Todesgewissheit'
(certainty of death) (58). L. Oberlinner, Todeserwartung und Todesgewissheit Jesu.
Zum Problem einer historischen Begründung (SBB 10; Stuttgart: KBW, 1980) develops the
point (conclusions 165-67).
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