Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE MISSION OF JESUS §12.4
thus remembered as sharing much of the Baptist's expectation. 199 The 'final resolution'
can be conceived either as an individual's hope of heaven 200 or in terms
of resurrection and final judgment following the eschatological tribulation introducing
the age to come.
e. Judgment
The expectation of impending judgment can scarcely be excluded from the core
memories of Jesus' preaching. 201 1 have already noted it as a prominent feature of
the theme of eschatological reversal (see § 12.4c above): those who expect a
place in the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be 'thrown out' (Matt.
8.11-12/Luke 13.28-29); 202 those who refuse the invitation to the great supper
will have no place at it (Matt. 22.2-10/Luke 14.16-24); 203 there will be a final
judgment when previous generations (including Gentiles) will condemn the generation
of Jesus (Matt. 12.41-42/Luke 11.31-32); 204 the twelve will take part in
that judgment (Matt. 19.28/Luke 22.28, 30). 205 To be noted is the fact that these
are all Q passages.
199. We will examine how Jesus qualified John's message below (§§12. 5; 17.4d, 5c).
200. Wis. 5.1-5; Matt. 5.12/Luke 6.23; Luke 16.22.
201. Cf. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism 114-15. This is a theme to which Wright gives detailed
attention (Jesus 182-86, 322-33). In what follows I draw particularly on Reiser, Jesus and
Judgment; see also Becker, Jesus of Nazareth 49-80; Theissen and Merz, Historical Jesus 265-
69; McKnight, New Vision 33-39.
202. See above, n. 177.
203. Reiser, Jesus and Judgment 241-45. For the Matthew/Luke parallel see §8.5e
above. Theissen and Merz exaggerate when they describe this motif as occurring 'particularly
frequently within the preaching of the kingdom of God' (Historical Jesus 267). Note how
Thomas, after narrating what looks like a performative variant of this tradition (four excuses
given), concludes thus: 'Go out to the streets, bring those whom you will find, so that they may
dine. The buyers and the merchants (shall?) not (come) into the place of my Father' (GTh 64).
204. See above, n. 177; for detailed discussion see Reiser, Jesus and Judgment 206-21.
205. Does the saying envisage final judgment or 'rule over' (n. 178 above)? But krinein
is used nowhere else in the NT in the Semitic sense of 'govern' (J. Dupont, 'Le Logion de douze
trones [Mt 19,28; Lc 22,28-30]', Biblica 45 [1964] 355-92 [here 372]). And Q refers to final,
though not necessarily condemnatory, judgment (Tuckett, 'Q 22:28-30' 103, 113; see further
J. Verheyden, 'The Conclusion of Q: Eschatology in Q 22,28-30', in Lindemann, ed., Sayings
Source Q 695-718; Meier, Marginal Jew 3.135-38). Matthew also clearly thinks of final judgment
(cf. 25.31) and was evidently influenced by the portrayal of the Son of Man sitting on his
glorious throne in judgment in the Similitudes of Enoch (see below, §16.4e) as Davies and
Allison, Matthew 3.54-55 recognize. Luke prefaces the saying with Jesus as it were making his
last will and testament (diatithemai) and assigning to the twelve a share in his kingdom (Luke
22.29-30a). But the thought of the twelve judging Israel is a reversal of Israel's hope of judging
420