Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE MISSION OF JESUS §12.4
servant handed over finally to the torturers/jailers (basanistai) until the unpayable
debt is paid in full (Matt. 18.23-35), 211 the unjust steward (Luke 16.1-8), 212 andthe
uncaring rich man, whose fate to be tormented (en basanois, 16.23) in Hades ('the
place of basanos', 16.28) is simply taken for granted (Luke 16.19-31). 213 There is a
similar note in the 'parables of crisis' reviewed below (§12.4g), as in the sayings
which envisage a sudden disruption of everyday affairs (Matt. 24.37-41/Luke
17.26-35) 214 or a sudden calamity (flash flood) sweeping away a life's work (Matt.
dependence, and where the quest for an 'original' form is misguided; the Gospel of the
Nazareans, in Eusebius, Theophania 4.22 (text in Aland, Synopsis 416; ET in Elliott, Apocryphal
New Testament 11) shows how the retelling could vary, even in a version which acknowledges
direct dependence on Matthew. Lüdemann speaks of 'an original version which can no
longer be constructed' (Jesus 235); the Jesus Seminar give the bulk of the tradition a positive
rating (Funk, Five Gospels 255-57, 373-75). Wright fairly asks, 'Was Jesus not a "popular
story-teller"? Is there any popular story-teller on record who told stories only once, and then always
in the least elaborate form possible?' (Jesus 633-34 n. 83). To be noted is the fact that the
difficult conclusion (Matt. 25.29/Luke 19.26) is attested also by Mark 4.25 pars, and GTh 41.
See also discussion in Beasley-Murray, Jesus and the Kingdom 215-18; Scott, Hear Then the
Parable 217-35; C. A. Evans, 'Reconstructing Jesus' Teaching: Problems and Possibilities', in
Charlesworth and Johns, eds., Hillel and Jesus 397-426 (here 414-25); Hultgren, Parables 271-
91.
211. For the concept of the torments (basanoi) of hell, see 1 En. 10.13; 22.11; Wis. 3.1;
2 Mace. 7.17; 4 Ezra 7.36, 67, 86; 9.12-13; T. Abr. (A) 12.18; (B) 10.16. See further Reiser, Jesus
and Judgment 273-81; Becker, Jesus of Nazareth 68-71. Despite its attestation only by Matthew
and evidence of Matthean style in the retelling, most agree that the parable originated with
Jesus (see, e.g., Hultgren, Parables 29 nn. 39, 40); contrast Lüdemann, who thinks that the parable's
presence in the Jesus tradition is insufficient grounds for attributing it to Jesus (Jesus
208). Gnilka thinks that 'v.34 virtually turns the argument on its head' (Jesus of Nazareth 93).
On the rhetoric of exaggeration ('impossible' elements) in the parable see Beasley-Murray, Jesus
and the Kingdom 115-17.
212. Detailed discussion in Reiser, Jesus and Judgment 290-301. The picaresque (not to
say offensive) character of the parable has usually been sufficient evidence that it must have
come from Jesus, despite its sole attestation by Luke (e.g., D. O. Via, The Parables [Philadelphia:
Fortress, 1967] 155-62; Funk, Five Gospels 358-59; Gnilka, Jesus of Nazareth 155-56)!
Most agree that Jesus' version extended to 16.8a; to exclude 16.8a leaves an incomplete torso
(Fitzmyer, Luke 1096-97; Scott, Hear Then the Parable 257-60; Hultgren, Parables 147-48).
Cf. Becker: 'If the church had created the parable, the corrective explanations of vv. 8-13
would not have been necessary, and had the parable originated in Early Judaism, the church
would have ignored it' (Jesus of Nazareth 57). Bailey demonstrates how much illumination
falls on the parable when set into its historical context (Poet and Peasant 86-110).
213. When a parable is so Jewish in character (a 'Jewish legend' which 'breathes the
rancorousness of Judaism'! — Bultmann, History 197, 203), the only ground for denying it to
Jesus is antipathy to the theology of final punishment which it assumes (see further Fitzmyer,
Luke 1125-27; Schottroff and Stegemann, Hope of the Poor 25-28; Funk, Five Gospels 361;
Hultgren, Parables 115).
214. Theissen and Merz, Historical Jesus 269; Becker, Jesus of Nazareth 58-59; and
422