Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§8.4 The Tradition
included within other sayings Gospels. 193 But why should a pericope be attributed
to the document Q simply because it belongs to the non-Markan material
common to Matthew and Luke ('q')? 194 Did Matthew and Luke have no common
(oral) tradition other than Q? That hardly seems likely as an a priori. In fact, the
logic behind the Q hypothesis is that the degree of closeness between Matthew
and Luke ('q') can be explained only by postulating a common written source
('Q'). Whereas the divergence between Matthew and Luke in the first half of the
story is substantial, to put it no more strongly. Of course, it is possible to argue,
as most do, that Matthew or Luke, or both, have heavily edited the Q version; but
when 'q' properly speaking covers only part of the pericope, the argument for the
existence of 'Q' at this point becomes very slippery.
Is common oral tradition a more plausible hypothesis? Let us not assume
that Matthew's and Luke's only source for such non-Markan Jesus tradition was
a written document (Q). When we then examine the matter more closely the oral
tradition hypothesis does indeed seem to make as good if not better sense.
Matt. 8.5-13 Luke 7.1-10
7.28 Now when Jesus had ended all these words
.... 5 When he entered Capernaum.
a centurion came to him, appealing to him 6 and
saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home
paralyzed, in terrible distress". 7 And he said to
him, "I will come and cure him".
8 The centurion answered, "Lord. I
am not fit to have you come under my roof;
but only speak the word, and
my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man
under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say
to one. 'Go', and he goes, and to another. 'Come',
and he comes, and to my slave. 'Do this', and the
slave does it". 10 When Jesus heard him, he was
amazed and said to those who
followed him. "Truly I tell you, in no one in
Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you,
1 After Jesus had completed all his sayings in
the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.
2 A centurion there had a slave whom he valued
highly, and who was ill and close to death. 3
When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish
elders to him, asking him to come and heal his
slave. 4 When they came to Jesus, they appealed
to him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy of having
you do this for him, 5 for he loves our people,
and it is he who built our synagogue for us". 6
And Jesus went with them, but when he was not
far from the house, the centurion sent friends to
say to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I
am not fit to have you come under my roof;
7 therefore I did not consider myself worthy to
come to you. But speak the word, and let
my servant be healed. 8 For I also am a man set
under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say
to one. 'Go', and he goes, and to another. 'Come',
and he comes, and to my slave. 'Do this', and the
slave does it". 9 When Jesus heard this he was
amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that
followed him, he said. "I tell you, not even in
Israel have I found such faith".
193. The point is simply assumed, e.g., by Bultmann, History 39; Miller, Complete Gospels
262-63 (others in Kloppenborg, Q Parallels 50). Early reconstructions of Q did not include
Matt. 8.5-13/Luke 7.1-10 (chapter 4 n. 88).
194. The most weighty consideration is that Matthew and Luke both agree in positioning
the episode after the Sermon on the Mount/Plain — Matt. 7.28/Luke 7.1 (Harnack, Sayings
of Jesus 74; Lührmann, Redaktion 57). But is that sufficient?
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