Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE CLIMAX OF JESUS' MISSION §18.3
There is a formulaic ring to both assertions: this is the language of church confession
more than of personal testimony. Its effect here is to give the appearance
to Peter 76 first place in importance. In Paul's list of witnesses, Peter is first
(1 Cor. 15.5). In Luke's account, the drama of the appearance to Cleopas and his
companion is allowed to unfold completely (Luke 24.13-32), but on their return
to Jerusalem the confession of the eleven is given pride of place (24.34) before
Cleopas and his companion tell their story (24.35). Since neither Luke nor Paul
mentions appearance(s) to women disciples, we can hardly avoid asking whether
they knew but chose to ignore or even to suppress such reports. That must certainly
be judged very possible. The alternative that they did not know such reports
is less likely, given the traditions which impressed both Matthew and John.
Once again the motivation would be understandable, given the low esteem for
women as reliable witnesses.
At the same time it is worth also noting that Luke has not forced the priority
of the appearance to Peter to the front of the queue by, for example, placing it
at the tomb (to replace the report on which John 20.11-18 was based?). On the
contrary, he makes explicitly clear that the male disciples who went to the tomb
did not see Jesus there (24.24). The priority of the appearance to Peter is not signalled
with drums and trumpets. There is a reticence at this point which could
possibly reflect Peter's own reticence on the subject. 77
Should we include John 21.15-24 at this point?
)5 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of
John, do you love me more than these?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you
know that I love you'. Jesus said to him, 'Feed my lambs'. 16 A second time
he said to him, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' He said to him, 'Yes,
Lord; you know that I love you'. Jesus said to him, 'Tend my sheep'. l7 He
76. In Paul's letters Peter is usually referred to as Cephas (Kephas, 1 Cor. 1.12; 3.22;
9.5; 15.5; Gal. 1.18; 2.9, 11, 14), that is, the name which according to tradition was given to Peter
by Jesus (John 1.42; Matt. 16.18); see further J. A. Fitzmyer, 'Aramaic Kepha and Peter's
Name in the New Testament', To Advance the Gospel: New Testament Studies (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1981, 2 1998) 112-24.
77. This observation undermines the argument of W. Marxsen, The Resurrection of Jesus
of Nazareth (London: SCM, 1970) 89-96, that the resurrection faith of all the other disciples
derived from Peter's ('Only the appearance to Peter was constitutive', 93); to make his
case for the priority of Peter's faith he has to argue that John 20.8 certainly implies that Peter
also believed and that the beloved disciple was 'second to believe' (58-59)! Similarly
Lüdemann: 'all the other Easter experiences rest on the earliest Christian creed' — 'that Jesus
has arisen and appeared to Simon'; 'The first vision to Peter proved formally "infectious"'
{Resurrection 143, 174). The earlier confidence on the subject is well illustrated by Weiss's
quotation from Weizsäcker: 'The fact that Peter was the first to see the risen Lord is the most
certain historical fact in this whole obscure history' (Earliest Christianity 24).
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