The Story of Jesus. Roy A. Harrisville

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СКАЧАТЬ the second four, and the third four. Of Luke’s independent narratives the first contains five, the second five, the third four, the fourth five, and the sixth five ingredients. The first “constant” or ingredient might well be Mark’s own editorial additions or “seams,” simply repeated in the parallel narratives of Matthew and Luke. Next, in a goodly number of instances, the word uttered by Jesus or joined to an action is exorcistic in nature. In 1:41 Jesus commands the leper,“be made clean!” In 1:43 he is angered at the leper and sends him away at once. In 5:13 the same verb is used for the herd’s entering the swine as for the exorcism in 1:25. Use of the Aramaic (“Talitha cum”) in 5:41, “Ephphatha” in 7:34 are suggestive of a secret formula or incantation, and in 9:26 the same verb appears as is used in 1:25 and 5:13.

      Obviously, not all the stories recorded by Mark and repeated in Matthew and Luke deal with demon possession, but the repetition of the constants adhering to the exorcism narratives and repeated in the healing stories suggests that Mark used the mould of the exorcism for the majority of those healing narratives, with Matthew and Luke following suit where their stories are in parallel. This would square with the observation that Mark records the story of Jesus as a continuation of the struggle between the Spirit and Satan begun at his temptation.

      In John’s “Book of the Seven Signs,” the same constants appear. The scene of the first sign (John 2:1–11) is a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother states the problem: the wine has given out. The narrrative is interrupted with Jesus’ retort that it is of no matter to him since his “hour” has not yet come.

      Surprisingly, at this his mother summons the servants to do whatever he commands. Jesus makes multiple application to the problem. He instructs the servants to fill the six water jars intended for Jewish rites of purification, then summons them to fill them, next to draw some out, and bring it to the steward, who performs the role of chorus by exclaiming that good wine is always served first, but in this instance has been reserved for last. There is dual choral response with the evangelist’s note that at this first of Jesus’ signs, his disciples believed in him. Cana is also the scene of the second sign (John 4:36b–54). The problem: A royal official arrives to plead with Jesus to come down and heal his son, ill and near death at Capernaum. Again the narrative is interrupted with Jesus’ comment that his audience will not believe unless it sees signs and wonders. Jesus advances to the problem by summoning the official to go, stating that his son lives. The result is announced by the official’s servant who tells him that his child is alive, that he began to recover the moment Jesus said he would live. The chorus consists of the official’s coming to faith together with his entire household. Scene of the third sign is the Pool of Bethesda, at which lies a man with a thirty-eight year illness (John 5:2–47). Again the sequence is interrupted with a dialogue between Jesus and the invalid. Jesus then advances to the problem with the word that the man “stand up, take your mat and walk,” the result of which is that the man is immediately cured. The chorus is a compound: The Jews’ complain that the deed was done on the Sabbath, then ask who was responsible for the cure; the erstwhile invalid admits his ignorance of Jesus’ identity; Jesus encounters the fellow in the temple and enjoins him to sin no more, lest worse befall; the man informs the Jews that it was Jesus who healed him, following which they commence their persecution for his sabbath breaking, and at his word that he and his Father are at work, plan to kill him. The scene for the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:1–15) is variegated. At the Sea of Tiberias a crowd follows Jesus due to his “signs. . .for the sick.” Near to Passover, Jesus goes up the mountain with his disciples, and himself describes the problem. With the crowd coming toward him, he asks Philip where they are to buy bread for the crowd to eat. The sequence is interrupted with the evangelist’s note that Jesus was testing Philip. The problem is accented with Philip’s response that six month’s wages would not buy enough for each to get a little, and with Andrew’s information about a boy with a mere five loaves and two fish. Finally, Jesus advances to the problem with a command that the people sit down. He takes theloaves, gives thanks, and distributes them along with the fish. The result is initially downplayed with the simple statement that “they were satisfied,” then aemphnasized with the gathering of the remnants in twelve baskets, at the sight of which the people chorus with the word that “this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world,” rush to make Jesus king, while he withdraws to the mountain. The same constants or ingredients are present in sign number five, Jesus’ walking on the water, shared with his co-evangelists (John 6:16–21) as noted above. The scene is set near the sea where the disciples board a boat for Capernaum in the dark. The problem involves a rough sea, hard rowing, and terror at the sight of Jesus walking near the boat. Jesus advances to the problem, says: “It is I; do not be afraid.” The result: the boat immediately reaches the shore toward which the disciples were first headed. The chorus follows the people’s search for Jesus after discovering the disciples had taken to the sea without him, and finding him on the other side ask: “Rabbi, when did you come here?” The scene for the sixth sign, the healing of the man blind from birth (John 9:1–41), is set with a mere two words (kai paragon), translated “as he walked along,” presumably in sight of the temple where Jesus had just engaged in dialogue with the Jews over Abraham (John 8:39–59). The problem is that of the man born blind. Jesus’ application to the problem, interrupted by his remonstrating with the disciples respecting the cause of the man’s condition (“Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind to that God’s works might be revealed in him,” 9:3), involves spitting on the ground, making mud with the saliva, spreading it on the man’s eyes and ordering him to wash in the pool of Siloam. The result: The man returns from the pool able to see. The chorus consists of a dialogue between the man and the Pharisees respecting Jesus’ breach of the Sabbath with his healing, their interrogation of his parents who allow he can speak for himself, and after a second dialogue with the Jews, ends with the man’s confession, “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing,” in response to which his interrogators drive him out of the synagogue. The seventh and final sign is that of the raising of Lazarus, like the sixth, consuming the entire chapter (John 11:1–57). The scene is set in Bethany, home of Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus. The sisters inform Jesus of the problem: their brother is ill. Solution to the problem is interrupted by Jesus’ diagnosis (“this illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory,” 11:4b), and by the protracting of his visit to Bethany, following which the narrative is strewn with dialogue, first with Jesus’ conversation with the disciples who warn him against another visit to Judea, next with his announcement of Lazarus’ death and of his plan to return to Bethany, on the way toward which he meets Martha who tells him her brother has died, then with a dialogue with her over the resurrection and her confession of him as Messiah, Son of God, then with Martha’s informing her sister of the “Teacher’s” arrival, and Mary’s reproach (“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” 11:32b), and finally, with the Jews’ query concerning Jesus’ power (“Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 11:37). At last, Jesus makes advance to the problem, but not before another dialogue with Martha at his order to remove the stone to the tomb. He looks upward, says “Father, I thank you for having heard me,” an aside uttered for the sake of those standing by,36 cries with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” And the result: the dead man comes out with bound hands and feet, his face wrapped in a cloth. In what has come to be a typically Johannine device, the chorus is divided between those who believe in Jesus and the chief priests and Pharisees who call a meeting, at which the high priest Caiaphas prophesies Jesus’ death “for the nation,” and the crowd at Jerusalem before Passover in doubt over Jesus’ showing himself in public.

      Now the question arises as to whether or not these miracles of healing are to be set down as legendary, at best containing a smidgin of historical fact blown out of all proportion through multiplication. What urges toward this assessment is the fact that stories such as are told of Jesus’ healing abound in pagan literature. First and foremost among the divine men of the period was the first century wandering Pythagorean Apollonius of Tyana (ca. 15—ca. AD 100) a figure much discussed by the fourth century Church fathers. A current introduction to a textbook on the New Testament teases the reader with a СКАЧАТЬ