Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

a. The Righteous Martyr?
THE CLIMAX OF JESUS' MISSION §17.5
The thought that the unjust suffering and death of a righteous man might mark
the end of the people's suffering and even contribute somehow to its ending had
already been expressed in regard to the Maccabean martyrs. 209 If Jesus was at all
influenced by the strong tradition within Jewish wisdom and apocalyptic thought
regarding the suffering righteous, as seems likely (§17.4a-b), then it is entirely
possible that he spoke of his own anticipated suffering and death in the same
terms. 210
b. The Suffering Son of Man
I have already pressed the likelihood that Jesus used the vision of Daniel's 'one
like a son of man' to inform his own expectations (§16.5). We can now add the
observations of Jane Schaberg that the core saying (Mark 9.31) also shows evidence
of influence from Daniel: 'son of man' (Dan. 7.13); 'handed over'
(7.25); not to mention 'raised' (12.2). 211 It is also by no means clear that Daniel's
k e bar ' e nas ('one like a son of man') was yet perceived as a use of bar
' e nas any different from the normal Hebrew/Aramaic idiom ('a son of man').
In other words, it remains likely that this way of describing the figure in the vision
(whether symbol or angelic representative) was chosen precisely because
209. 2 Mace. 7.33-38, but also anticipated in 1 Mace. 2.50 and 6.44 (Casey, Aramaic
Sources 214-16). The early Maccabean literature (1 and 2 Maccabees) probably emerged in the
first half of the first century BCE (J. A. Goldstein, 2 Maccabees [AB; New York: Doubleday,
1983] 71-84). Goldstein points out that in 2 Maccabees 7 'the mother and her sons do not substitute
for ttje rest of suffering Israel. They are part of suffering Israel and hope that their deaths
will mark the turning point prophesied by Moses, which is in any case sure to come' (315-16).
Casey also mentions Dan. 11.35 (but see Collins, Daniel 386). And Witherington, Christology
252, mentions 1QS 5.6, 8.3-10 and 9.4, and T. Ben. 3.8; but the latter clearly reflects Christian
influence, and the 1QS texts hardly refer to the death of the righteous as having atoning value
(note the brief discussion in R. A. Kugler, 'Rewriting Rubrics: Sacrifice and the Religion of
Qumran', in J. J. Collins and R. A. Kugler, eds., Religion in the Dead Sea Scrolls [Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000] 90-112 [here 90-92]). See also E. Lohse, Märtyrer und Gottesknecht.
Untersuchungen zur urchristlichen Verkündigung vom Sühntod Jesu Christi (Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck, 1955, 2 1963); Hengel, Atonement 1-32, 65-75.
210. See also Schürmann, Gottes Reich 225-45. Although the distinctive martyr theology
emerged within Hellenistic Judaism, the roots of the theology are deep in Second Temple
Judaism, and the ideal of sacrificing one's life for a friend is much more widely attested, being
taken up e.g. in T. Ash. 2.3 and Paul (Rom. 5.7); see further G. Stählin, 'philos', TDNT9.153-
54.
211. J. Schaberg, 'Daniel 7.12 and the New Testament Passion-Resurrection Predictions',
NTS 31 (1985) 208-22 (here 209-13).
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