Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§9.9 The Historical Context
ham. 343 In other words, we certainly cannot exclude the possibility that Jesus
himself saw it as part of his task to extend his mission to the children of Israel
still resident in these territories — hence the poignant episode with the
Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7.24-30/Matt. 15.21-28.
g. Mission to Judea and Jerusalem?
The question whether Jesus visited Jerusalem during his mission, prior to its climax,
is a thorny one. We have already noted the inherent probability of pilgrimage
visits during Jesus' youth and young manhood (§9.9c), even though only Luke
2.41-51 offers any account of one. Assuming the usual location suggested for
John's baptism, Jesus presumably must have travelled some three or four days
south to be baptized (see below chapter 11 n. 52), though Jerusalem itself is not in
view in this case. Apart from that, the fairly clear implication of the Synoptics is
that Jesus never visited Jerusalem during his Galilean mission. 344 It is possible, of
course, that they ignored any such visits in order to make the journey to Jerusalem
climactic in its build-up to Jesus' final week in Jerusalem itself. 345 But so far as
the Synoptics are concerned, Jesus' earlier mission was exclusively in the north.
The Fourth Evangelist, however, tells a different story. He narrates the
'cleansing of the Temple' in John 2.13-22. Jesus is portrayed as active in the
south in a period of overlap with the Baptist's mission (John 3.22-26). John 5 is
set in Jerusalem, and the action of the Gospel is set wholly in Jerusalem and its
environs from 7.10 onwards. Some of this can readily be discounted: the Evangelist
presumably set the cleansing of the Temple first as a headline under which or
window through which to read the whole Gospel. And the play on what can properly
be called Temple concerns is consistent throughout. 346 But other factors sug-
Luke compensates for his omission of the episode with the Syrophoenician woman by including
a second mission of 70/72 disciples (Luke 10.1-12).
343. Freyne, 'Archaeology' 164-65; 'Jesus and Urban Culture' 189.
344. Does Matt. 23.37-39/Luke 13.34-35 ('O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often would
I have gathered your children together . . .') imply actual visits to Jerusalem? Quite possibly, in
the light of the Fourth Gospel's evidence below; though Gnilka notes that frequently in the Bible
Jerusalem represents all Israel (Jesus 193).
345. The trip to the territory of Caesarea Philippi (Mark 8) marks the northernmost extent
of Jesus' journeying; thereafter Mark gives the impression of a steady progression southwards
to Jerusalem (Mark 9.30, 33; 10.1, 32-33; 11.1,11, 15). By placing the turning point to
Jerusalem earlier in his account (Luke 9.51) Luke gives added weight to the journey to Jerusalem.
See further D. P. Moessner, Lord of the Banquet: The Literary and Theological Significance
of the Lukan Travel Narrative (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989).
346. E.g., rites of purification (2.6), true worship (4.21-24), and water and light ceremonies
related to the Temple (7.37-39; 8.12). See further below, vol. 3.
323