Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§12.5 The Kingdom of God
The other Synoptic Evangelists introduce the note of fulfilment in their
own way. Luke gives headline significance to his account of Jesus preaching in
the synagogue in Nazareth, where the note of fulfilment is struck by Jesus'
reading from Isa. 61.1: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has
anointed me to preach good news (euangelisasthai) to the poor . . .' (Luke
4.18). 281 According to the account, Jesus cut short the reading and announced:
'Today this scripture has been fulfilled (peplerötai) in your hearing' (4.21).
Now it is clear that Luke has brought the episode forward in his telling; Jesus'
mission at Capernaum had been underway for some time (4.23). And much at
least of the account is Luke's own retelling to bring out the importance of Jesus'
message for the poor (the Sidonian widow) and the foreigner (Naaman the
Syrian) (4.25-27). 282 Nevertheless, as with the Markan headline (Mark 1.15),
so Luke has deemed it important that his audiences should hear the note of fulfilment
loud and clear at the very beginning and should hear what follows in
the light of this opening statement, providing, as it does, Jesus' own manifesto
for his mission.
Matthew diminishes the difference between the Baptist and Jesus implicit
in Mark's and Luke's accounts. He has John preaching the same message as Jesus:
'The kingdom of heaven has drawn near' (Matt. 3.2). And he omits Mark's
opening clause; Jesus begins simply, 'Repent! The kingdom of heaven has drawn
near' (4.17). But that can hardly be because Matthew denied a note of fulfilment
to Jesus. On the contrary, it is precisely Matthew's objective to bring out just how
much of Jewish expectation Jesus fulfilled, 283 and it is one of his fulfilment quotations
which takes the place of the Markan fulfilment clause in Matthew's headline
(4.14-16).
b. Expectation Realised
The Q material does not have the same fulfilment theme as the Synoptics, but the
same note is struck even more clearly by two Q sayings — Matt. 13.16-17/Luke
10.23-24 and Matt. 12.41-42/Luke 11.31-32.
281. Luke no doubt regarded this euangelisasthai as 'preaching the good news of the
kingdom' (Luke 4.43; 8.1). See also Beasley-Murray, Jesus and the Kingdom 88-89.
282. See, e.g., Fitzmyer, Luke 526-30. However, it is likely that Luke has drawn on older
traditions: not only Mark 6.1-6a (including the proverb of Mark 6.4), but also those attesting
awareness of the influence of Isa. 61.1-2 on Jesus (see below, § 15.6c), and the references to Elijah
and Elisha (4.25-27; Bultmann, History 32, 116; Becker, Jesus of Nazareth 62-63). See below,
§§13.4, 7; Luke 4.25-27 fits with the eschatological reversal theme (§ 12.4c).
283. See above, chapter 11 n. 5.
439