Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE CLIMAX OF JESUS' MISSION §17.5
tradition, in the light of the developing use of Isaiah 53, to illuminate the significance
of Jesus' death. 235
A complementary solution has built on the striking linguistic parallels between
Mark 10.45 and Isa. 43.3-4: '. . . I give Egypt as your ransom (kopr^ka),
Ethiopia and Egypt in exchange for you (tahteka). ... I give men ('adam[ot]
LXX anthröpous pollous) in return for you, and nations for your life'. 236 But the
thought behind the language is quite remote. 237 A more plausible source for the
ransom imagery can be found in Ps. 49.7-8: 238 'Truly, no man can ransom himself
or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of his life is costly and can
never suffice', bearing in mind that Jesus may have alluded to the same passage
elsewhere (Mark 8.37/Matt. 16.26). 239 But the parallel equally explains why a
teacher might have elaborated the servant motif by adding the allusion.
A further or alternative possibility is that the core saying was originally
formulated with bar ' e nasa: Mark/Matthew's bar ' e nasa = Luke's T; and note
the parallel between 'the one who serves' and T in Luke. 240 Several have observed
that the key term, 'serve' (differently rendered in Greek), appears in Daniel's
vision of 'one like a son of man', who 'was given dominion and glory and
kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him' (Dan. 7.14).
It is possible, then, that Jesus deliberately contrasted his role as bar ' e nasa who
serves, with the lordship and authority given to the 'one like a son of man' = 'the
saints of the Most High' in Daniel 7. 241 In which case, Jesus would have drawn
on Daniel's vision not only to confirm his role as bar ' e nasa but also to contrast
235. Cf. Bultmann, History 144; Lohse, Märtyrer 117-22; Tödt, Son of Man 203-207;
Hahn, Hoheitstitel 57-59 (Titles 56-57); Lindars, Jesus 78-80; Pesch concludes that Mark 10.45
is a unified but secondary composition of the Greek-speaking Jewish Christian community
(Markusevangelium 2.162-64).
236. The parallel was first noted by W. Grimm, Die Verkündigung Jesu und Deuterojesaja
(Frankfurt, 2 1981) 239-68, and has proved influential (see Hampel, Menschensohn 326-
33 and those cited by him in n. 453; also Stuhlmacher, Biblische Theologie 1.121).
237. See further D. Vieweger and A. Böckler, '"Ich gebe Ägypten als Lösegeld für
dich". Mk 10,45 und die jüdische Tradition zu Jes 43,3b, 4', ZAW 108 (1996) 594-607.
238. Hampel, Menschensohn 328-31.
239. See above, §14.3e.
240. It is widely acknowledged that 1 Tim 2.5-6 is an echo of Mark 10.45. It makes confession
of 'the man (anthröpos) Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom (antilytron) on behalf
of many'. Perrin suggests an original I-saying 'transformed' into a Son of Man saying (Modern
Pilgrimage 102), but that is much more arbitrary than presupposing a bar v nasa saying which
could be taken either way.
241. Barrett, 'Mark 10:45' 8-9; and particularly P. Stuhlmacher, 'Vicariously Giving His
Life for Many, Mark 10:45 (Matt. 20:28)', Reconciliation: Law and Righteousness: Essays in
Biblical Theology (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986) 16-29 (here 21); followed by Kim, Son of Man
39-40.
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