Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§12.4 The Kingdom of God
the mission instructions in Mark and Luke, but Mark juxtaposes them with the
story of the Baptist's fate (Mark 6.7-30) and Luke attaches the warnings of final
judgment directed against the Galilean towns to his account of the mission of the
seventy (Luke 10.1-16). In addition, we should recall that Matthew and Luke
have retained at the heart of the disciples' preaching Jesus' own proclamation,
'The kingdom of God/heaven has come near' (Matt. 10.7/Luke 10.9).
Among other expectations of suffering we should note particularly what
might be called the terms of discipleship. They involve willingness for hardship
and total commitment (Matt. 8.18-22/Luke 9.57-62), the last two exhortations in
Luke evoking the kingdom of God (9.60, 62). To 'enter life' (Mark has 'the kingdom')
one must be willing to cut off offending hand or foot and to tear out offending
eye (Mark 9.43, 45, 47/Matt. 18.8-9). 192 To be a disciple involves going the
way of the humiliation and agony of crucifixion and readiness to lose one's life. 193
The disciple must be prepared to suffer contempt and abuse (Matt. 5.39/Luke
6.29). 194 To share Jesus' mission is to court danger. 195 And the contrast held out to
disciples seeking advancement and honour in Jesus' final triumph is of drinking
rather from Jesus' cup of suffering and sharing in some measure in Jesus' baptism
of suffering (Mark 10.35-40/Matt. 20.20-28). As we shall see later, the latter imagery
is probably best understood as an adaptation of the Baptist's own expectation
of a baptism in the river of God's fiery breath. 196 A possibly overlapping collection
in Q emphasizes that the effect of Jesus' mission is to provoke civil strife
and family disruption (Matt. 10.34-36/Luke 12.49-53/GTh 16). 197
Most of this clearly meshes into the traditions of the rejected prophet
(n. 184 above), but also with the more typically apocalyptic expectation of sufferings
prior to a final resolution in favour of the faithful sufferers. 198 Jesus is
192. Schlosser, Regne 632-33; Becker, Jesus of Nazareth 59-60. Allison argues that sexual
sins are in view (Jesus 178-82); see further below, chapter 14 n. 251. Matthew has another
version of the saying at Matt. 5.29-30.
193. The challenge is retained in both Mark 8.34-35 pars, and Q (Matt. 10.38/Luke
14.27; Matt. 10.39/Luke 17.33); see also §14.3e below. The image of crucifixion would not be
unfamiliar to those who knew the ruthlessness of Roman rule (cf. M. Hengel, The Charismatic
Leader and His Followers [1968; ET Edinburgh: Clark, 1981] 58; Gnilka, Jesus 166-67). See
also chapter 14 n. 87 below.
194. 'A blow on the right cheek is a blow with the back of the hand, which even today in
the East expresses the greatest possible contempt and extreme abuse' (Jeremias, Proclamation
239).
195. Matt. 10.16/Luke 10.3; Matt. 10.23 (see below §14.3b).
196. See above, §11.4c, and below, §§17.4d, 5c.
197. See also D. C. Allison, 'Q 12:51-53 and Mark 9:11-13 and the Messianic Woes', in
Chilton and Evans, eds., Authenticating the Words of Jesus 289-310. The text is cited below
(chapter 14 n. 242); and see further below, §14.7.
198. See above, n. 74.
419