Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§12.5 The Kingdom of God
the celebration that was consequently appropriate. Only one of the four sayings
in the Q sequence expresses the point explicitly in kingdom terms, as does also
the independent saying (4). But it would hardly distort the evidence to sum up
the emphasis in terms of the kingdom being already active in and through Jesus'
mission, in contrast to that of the Baptist.
Of particular importance theologically is the immediate corollary regarding
the difference between the two eschatological views. The Baptist saw the
present only as opportunity to flee from the wrath to come. Jesus saw the present
as already manifesting the graciousness of God. He did not denounce or
abandon John's expectation of judgment. But it was judgment preempted by
grace. 349 This aspect of Jesus' mission will reemerge repeatedly in chapters 13
and 14 below.
In confirmation of what was deduced in § 11.2b, then, it would appear that
Jesus' teaching on and convictions regarding the kingdom were the crucial factor
in his striking out independently of and with different emphasis from John.
John's expectations had been too one-sided; the other dimension(s) of what the
prophets had looked for could be experienced now already. That conviction and
consequent emphases and practice marked some sort of parting of the ways between
John and Jesus. The differing emphases of the traditions examined mean
that we cannot conceptualise the relation between them as a neat dividing line,
'before' and 'after' some clearly defined eschatological turning point. And, so far
as we can tell, there was never any question among Jesus' first followers of simply
dismissing the Baptist or his message. 350 But the change of emphasis was
nevertheless perceived by Jesus in earliest Christian memory as a change like the
dawning of a new day following the darkest hour before dawn.
d. Jesus' Claims regarding His Exorcisms
Without doubt Jesus was known as a successful exorcist. This is a claim which is
easily substantiated, as we shall see later (§15.7b, c). Here we need to take account
of the tradition that Jesus spoke about that success and about its significance.
And here again we find a collection, if not two collections, of Jesus' teaching
on the subject. As with other such collections, the very fact of the collection
349. See particularly Becker, Jesus of Nazareth 74-78, referring to Matt. 20.1-16; Luke
15.11-32; and Luke 18.10-14: 'it is no longer the final moment of the old age before an imminent
judgment; it is the beginning of the new age of salvation' (79). Similarly Merkel,
'Gottesherrschaft' 151-53; Gnilka, Jesus of Nazareth 96-101: the theme of 'incomprehensible,
limitless goodness', 'incredible goodness', 'boundless goodness' (95, 101, 102).
350. Pace Hollenbach ('Conversion of Jesus' 203-17) and Crossan (Historical Jesus
237-38) who press for a radical transformation in Jesus' earlier attitude to John.
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