Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§12.5 The Kingdom of God
which renders speculation as to its future irrelevant. This note, then, is clearly registered
in all strands which go to make up the Synoptic (and Thomas) tradition, and
all three Evangelists regarded it as particularly characteristic of Jesus' mission. It
can hardly have been otherwise with the tradition on which they drew.
c. The Difference between the Baptist and Jesus
The 'already here' motif is nowhere more obvious than in the difference marked
out in the tradition between John the Baptist and Jesus. John had predicted a
coming judgment (§11.4). That note chimes in with some at least of the teaching
attributed to Jesus (§12.4). But John had nothing of the 'already come' emphasis,
whereas the Synoptic tradition regarded that too as central to Jesus' preaching.
Here we find the chief difference between the preaching of John and that of Jesus.
We have already hinted at it above (§ 12.5a), but the contrast is most obvious
in the material which was gathered together on the subject by Q and expanded by
both Matthew and Luke — another example of the tendency within the oral tradition
to bring material on the same subject together in sequences. 303
Jesus and John
1. Are you the one to come?
2. More than a prophet
3. The kingdom treated violently
4. The Law and the Prophets until John
5. Wisdom's children
1. Matt. 11.2-6
2 When John heard in prison the deeds of the
Christ. he sent bv means of his disciples
3 and said to him. 'Are vou the
one who is to come, or are we to wait for
another?' 4 And Jesus answered them,
'Go and tell John what YOU hear and see:
5 the blind receive their sight, and the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear.
and the dead are raised, and the poor have good
news brought to them. 6 And blessed is anvone
who takes no offence at me'.
Matthew
11.2-6
11.7-10
11.11
11.12-13
11.16-19
Luke
7.18-23
7.24-27
7.28
16.16
7.29-35
Q
7.18-19, 22-23
Luke 7.18-23
7.24-27
7.28
7.31-35
GTh
18 The disciples of John reported all these things
to him. So John summoned two of his disciples
19 and sent them to the Lord to ask, 'Are vou the
one who is to come, or are we to wait for
another?' ... 22 And he answered them,
'Go and tell John what vou have seen and heard:
the blind receive their sight. the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear.
the dead are raised, the poor have good
news brought to them. 23 And blessed is anvone
who takes no offence at me'.
303. See above, §8.6b. For the GTh parallels see above, § 11.2c. Q evidently had 7.24-28
as a single unit; the separation of two of its elements in Thomas can be explained as indicating
either that the two sayings circulated separately, or that Thomas's formation is the result of its
abandoning/rejecting the Baptist tradition (see again § 11.2c above).
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