Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE MISSION OF JESUS
§12.4
served that the expectation is independent of (and thus probably precedes) the
more typical (Christian) expectation of Jesus' parousia. 243 Whatever the finer
points of exegesis, we find another saying of Jesus closely related to another core
tradition which envisages the kingdom as a future state.
g. The Parables of Crisis
In the material reviewed thus far, the emphasis on the kingdom as 'near' is a
strong feature only of the first block. But the emphasis is strengthened by what
Dodd called the 'parables of crisis'. 244 Only one is explicitly introduced as a
kingdom parable, but since they are so similar in emphasis, that might be inconsequential;
when the theme was so common, the reference to the kingdom might
well have been taken for granted. Four parables are in view: the waiting slaves
(Mark 13.34-36; similarly Luke 12.35-38), the thief in the night (Matt. 24.43-44/
Luke 12.39-40/GTh 21), the faithful and unfaithful servant (Matt. 24.45-5 I/Luke
12.42-46), and the wise and foolish maidens (Matt. 25.1-13).
Matt. 24.42
42 Keep awake,
therefore, for you do not know
on what day your master is
coming.
Mark 13.33-37
33 Beware, keep alert; for you
do not know when the time will
come. 34 It is like a man going
on a journey, when he leaves
home and puts his slaves in
charge, each with his work, and
commands the doorkeeper to
keep awake. 35 Keep awake,
therefore, for you do not know
when the master of the house is
coming, in the evening, or at
midnight, or at cockcrow, or at
dawn, 36 or else he may find
you asleep when he comes
suddenly. 37 And what I say to
you I say to all: Keep awake.
Luke 12.35-38
35 Be dressed for action and
have your lamps lit; 36 be like
those who are waiting for their
master to return from the
wedding banquet, so that they
may open the door for him as
soon as he comes and knocks.
37 Blessed are those slaves
whom the master finds awake
when he comes; truly I tell you,
he will fasten his belt and have
them sit down to eat, and he will
come and serve them. 38 If he
comes during the middle of the
night, or near dawn, and finds
them so, blessed are those
slaves.
meal with his disciples . . .' (243). Chilton argues that the Aramaic form is a way of expressing
confidence that the condition envisaged will endure (Pure Kingdom 86-90).
243. M. de Jonge, Early Christology and Jesus' Own View of His Mission (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998) ch. 5: 'Taken on its own, Mark 14.25 says no more than that Jesus expected
to be resurrected/exalted and to be present at the eschatological meal at the final breakthrough
of God's sovereign rule' (68). Meier notes other surprising absences in such a saying
(Marginal Jew 2.308-309). 'In its essence it is an authentic saying of Jesus' (Becker, Jesus
341); similarly Lüdemann, Jesus 97.
244. Dodd, Parables 158-74.
428