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Jesus the Prophet Dr. Michael Zarb, Cobble Hill, BC
Jesus the Prophet Gospels
Mark
The members of the court mocked Jesus’ fame as a prophet who is supposed to know what is hidden, ‘And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.’ (Mk 14.65) Prophesy could just mean ‘guess’ but considering Mark’s context, i.e. that Jesus is known as a prophet, the word acquires a more specific significance. Another indication of Jesus’ prophetic character is his speaking ‘with authority’, “he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes,” (Mk 1:22 cf. 1:27). Mark, however, connects ‘authority’ (exousia) with other actions of Jesus than speech, namely, to forgive sins (2.10), to cast out demons (3.15; in 6.7 Jesus extends this authority to the twelve). All the evangelists blend the characteristics of the different titles applied to Jesus. In Mk 6.4 ( par. Mt 13.57; Lk 4.24; Jn 4.44), though Jesus does not directly call himself ‘prophet’, he employs a version of a common proverbial saying to compare his fate with that of a prophet: “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” This is the closest that Mark comes to making Jesus declare himself a prophet. The wonder worker aspect of the portrait of Jesus was inspired by and/or
originated from and clearly modeled on the stories of the wonder working
prophets of the Old Testament especially Moses, Elijah and Elisha.
A scene where Mark comes closest to indicating Jesus as the prophet like Moses is the Transfiguration (Mk 9.2-8). ‘Elijah with Moses’ appear talking with Jesus (v.4). The interpretation that the two personages represent ‘the Law and the Prophets’ does not really fit Mark’s text, Elijah is mentioned first and there is no evidence that he was considered as the representative of the prophetic literature comparable to Moses representing the Torah which he was believed to have written. Mark intends to convey the tenet that Jesus is superior to and now replaces the two main prophetic figures of Judaism; the voice from the cloud says, “This is my Son, the Beloved;listen to him!” (v.7) ‘ listen to him’ is reminiscent of Dt 18.15 describing the prophet like Moses, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall listen to him.’ The details of this story have certainly been influenced by, or borrowed from the story of Moses’ vision on Mt Sinai: compare the six days, the three named companions, the cloud veiling the divine presence and the voice out of the cloud (Ex 24.) Some Old Testament prophets expressed their message not only in words but at times also by performing symbolic actions e.g. Isaiah goes naked and barefoot in the streets of Jerusalem to symbolize captivity (Is 20:3ff). A symbolical prophetic action in Mark is the cursing of the fig tree (Mk 11.13f.,20f) which expresses with figurative realism the rejection of Israel. Perhaps we have here an original parable that the tradition later turned into a symbolical action corresponding to those of the OT prophets. One may note here that Luke does not reproduce this episode from Mark but has the parable of the Barren Fig Tree (Lk 13.6-9), in its turn, not featured in Mark and Matthew. Other prophetic symbolic actions, viewed and intended by Mark as such, could be the entry into Jerusalem and the incident in the temple. Old Testament prophets are often reported to have visions, auditions and ecstatic experiences. So also occasionally the Gospels suggest that Jesus had comparable experiences. At his baptism Jesus experiences a vision and an audition: he sees heaven opened and the Spirit come down like a dove; he also hears a voice from heaven, Mk 1:10 f -- for Mark this constitutes the ‘call’ of the prophet, similar to the prophetic calls of some OT prophets (e.g. Isaiah 6:1ff), where Jesus is adopted and declared God’s ‘Son’. There are several examples in the Gospels of a prophetic reading of the thoughts of people. In the healing of the man let down through the roof Jesus ‘saw’ the faith of those who brought him, (Mk 2:5), he knows the thoughts of the scribes in Mk 2:6,8 (’ perceived in his spirit’) and the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Herodians (Mk 12: 15), he can read the rich man, (Mk 10:21 ‘ looking at him, loved him ‘) and also he perceives the situation of the poor widow ( Mk 12:43.) The Markan Jesus does not only see into those who meet him he also knows future events: he has a good dose of clairvoyance, particularly in the passion story. When Jesus sends his disciples on he tells them all the details by virtue of his higher knowledge: the beast is a foal on which no one has yet sat and which is tied up, Mk 11:2; in the preparation of the Passover, he sees that the disciples will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water whose master has a room which he will put at Jesus’ disposal, Mk 14:13 ff. He also knows in advance that one of the disciples will betray him ( Mk 14:18), that all the disciples will fall away ( Mk 14:27), and that Peter will deny him (Mk 14:30). He spoke in advance, on several occasions, of his suffering, death, and resurrection, Mk 8:31 , 9:31 , 10:32 ff. , 14:27 f. These statements, in view of the vividness of the detail in their present form, belong to the post crucifixion period, though this does not exclude the probability that Jesus expected a violent death considering the social situation of the time and his own religio-political involvement. Other instances of predictions, characteristic of the prophet, are e.g.: the promise that some of Jesus’ contemporaries will experience the coming of the kingdom of God in power (Mk 9.1 par. Mt 16.28; Lk 9.27), Jesus’ prediction to the sons of Zebedee that they will drink the same cup as he in Mk 10:39, and of course Mk 13, the longest and most complicated prediction on the lips of Jesus, which blends material from Jewish apocalyptic, description of events in the destruction of Jerusalem and the reflections of the community on these latter events. Matthew Let me summarize the Matthaean picture where it parallels that of Mark
and point out the Matthaean additions.
In the mocking at the trial Matthew does not clearly bring out the prophetic characteristic of knowing the hidden since he omits the covering of the face, yet strangely, adds with Luke, ‘Who struck you” which doesn’t make sense if Jesus is able to see who struck him. Perhaps this is another ‘inadvertence or negligence’ like Jesus riding on two animals at the entry into Jerusalem! - ‘Then they spat in his face, and struck him; and some slapped him, (68) saying, “Prophesy to us, anointed one. “Who is it that struck you?” ( Mt 26:67f). Following Mark, Matthew has Jesus indirectly claim to be a prophet by the saying of the prophet without honour (Mt 13:57): ‘And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.”’ (par Mk 6.4) Matthew also has the people avow that Jesus speaks ‘with authority’ Mt 7:29. Matthew similarly connects ‘authority’ with forgiving of sins (9.6), over unclean spirits (10.1) and according to special Matthew Jesus has ‘All authority in heaven and on earth’ (28.18) Regarding prophetic actions Matthew includes the three in Mark, the cursing of the fig tree (Mt 21:19f.), the entry into Jerusalem and the incident in the temple. The entry into Jerusalem is more closely associateed with the prophet concept than in Mark,- Matthew adds the crowds saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Mt 21:11) and later in the chapter stresses the crowds’ regard for the prophet Jesus as the reason of the authorities to refrain from arresting him, ‘They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.’(Mt 21:46) Matthew reproduces Mark’s story of the vision of ‘the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him’ as Jesus comes out of the water at baptism.(Mt 3.16) As to the audition, Matthew is not clear who heard the voice, presumably Jesus, the subject of the previous verb, but the words are in the third person as if addressed to another audience, not addressed to Jesus.(v.17 - Mk 1.11 has ‘You’) The temptations (Mt 4.1-11, Q // Lk 4.1-13) could be envisaged as vision/audition presenting Jesus having contact with a supernatural being, - whichever way they are interpreted today e.g. as internal psychological conflict it is most probable that the authors and/or their source (Q) considered them as visions/auditions, - Jesus hears the tempter and sees what he showed him (cf ‘showed him all the kingdoms of the world...’) In parallel with Mark, Matthew presents Jesus knowing the thoughts of men: the faith of those who brought the paralyzed man, (Mt 9:2) , the thoughts of the scribes (Mt 9:4), and of the Pharisees (Mt 12:25 ), and the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Herodians (Mt 22:18). Matthew takes up most of Mark’s passages regarding Jesus having knowledge
of future events. The disciples will find the donkey and colt ( Mt 21:2),
Jesus knows the betrayer (Mt 26:21), knows that all the disciples will
desert him (Mt 26.31), and that Peter will deny Him, (Mt 26:34). Matthew
also reproduces the Markan predictions of the passion, (Mt 16:21ff, 17:22ff,
20:17 ff.)
By adding the Q passages Matthew stresses the superiority of Jesus to the OT prophets: “A greater than Jonas is here” (Mt 12:41) and “Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” (Mt 13:17) Though Matthew does not quote Dt 18:15, regarding the prophet like Moses
who is to come, as does Luke in Acts the idea is realized/ concretized
through typology in some stories told about Jesus.
Luke-Acts Luke Luke deals with the prophet motif in parallel with Mark and further develops it on his own. Regarding the people’s opinions: in the rumours heard by Herod [7] ‘because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, [8] by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen.’ (Lk 9:7-8 //Mk 6.15 - the prophet reference is lacking in parallel Mt), by changing Mark’s expression to ‘ one of the ancient prophets’ Luke clearly makes Jesus thought to be one of the classical prophets. Again Mark’s expression is enhanced in Lk 9:19 “John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.” Luke also develops the Elijah motif by using it in his typology. [[see below]] Luke has an individual referring to Jesus as a prophet. ‘The Pharisee who had invited him says to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him-- that she is a sinner.”’ ( Lk 7:39) Apart from Jesus’ renown as a prophet this passage clearly indicates one of the expected gifts of the prophet, that of knowing the hidden. The author works the story around the inner thoughts of his characters. Simon is suspicious of Jesus’ prophetic abilities yet the readers can notice that Jesus can see through Simon’s own heart. In the mocking at the trial Luke with Mark brings out this prophetic characteristic, even making it more explicit adding “Who struck you?” - ‘Now the men who were holding Jesus began to mock him and beat him; [64] they also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?”’ (Lk 22.63f) Like the other evangelists Luke reports Jesus’ fame in speaking with ‘authority’ Lk 4:32, but he also has authority to forgive sins (5.24) and over unclean spirits (4.36). Luke develops the prophet motif much further than the other evangelists
not only by editing Mark’s material but also by adding peculiar material
of his own.
Of the wonders mentioned above in Mark, Luke omits the Walking on the
Water and the Feeding of the 4000.
Like Matthew, Luke compares Jesus with Jonah, “and see, something greater than Jonah is here!” Lk 11.32 (Q) In Lk 10:24 (Q //Mt) Jesus is even higher than the prophets since he is the one who brings in the New Age, “Many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them.” Luke presents Jesus not only as calling himself a prophet but also as equating himself with the persecuted prophets of the OT. “Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.” (Lk 13:33) In Luke’s mind Jesus was killed as a prophet, note the progression: start of hostilities at Nazareth (4.28f), Jesus’ charge of habitual killing of prophets (Lk 11.47-50), this saying above (Lk 13:33), the disciples at Emaus refering to Jesus’ death as that of a prophet (24.19f) and then in Acts Peter charges the people of killing Jesus whom he describes as the prophet like Moses (Acts 2.23, 3.22f). Only Luke has disciples refer to Jesus as prophet. At the end of the book the disciples on the way to Emaus describe Jesus, “... Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word ( i.e. the wonder working prophet) before God and all the people,... the one to redeem Israel” (Lk 24:19,21. cf. also Acts) Possession by the Spirit of God is a characteristic of a prophet (Lk
1.41, 67; 2.26f)
Similarly to Mark and Matthew, Luke has Jesus possessing the prophetic ability to scan the thoughts of people. Jesus perceives the faith of those who let down the sick man through the roof (Lk 5:20), he also knows the thoughts of the scribes (Lk 5:22), and other opponents (Lk 6:8; 11:17; 20:23). He knows what his disciples are thinking (Lk 9:47), the thoughts of his host (7.39f) and can read Zacchaeus (Lk 19:5). The Lucan Jesus also knows future events: the tied colt on which no one has yet sat (Lk 19:30); the man carrying a pitcher (Lk 22:10 ff.); Judas’ betrayal (Lk 22:21) and Peter’s denial (Lk 22:34). As in Mark and Matthew, in Luke Jesus spoke in advance of his suffering, death and resurrection (Lk 9.22ff; 9.44ff; 18.31ff ). Regarding the prophetic actions Luke probably does not see them as such. The entry into Jerusalem Mark sees as signifying the ‘coming kingdom of our ancestor David’, Luke (Lk 19.35-40), however, by introducing the term ‘king’ seems to see the actual event of the ‘king’ himself, the regal arrival, ‘the king who comes in the name of the Lord’ and further adds that the ‘peace’ and ‘glory in heaven’(reminiscent of the birth story (2.14)) is realized. That the ‘salvation’ event is happening now, not foreshadowed, is further indicated by v.40, in that if the disciples do not shout, the stones will, the event is happening, it cannot be stopped. The following lament over Jerusalem (viewed from Luke’s time) clearly shows that the Jesus event was the ‘visitation’ of God, ‘because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you’ (19.44). For Luke Jesus is the agent of ‘salvation’ not its symbol. This conforms with the realized eschatology of Luke, ‘the kingdom is within/among you’ already. Similarly with the temple incident, Luke does not elaborate, actually condenses - it is not a symbolic action. The cursing of the fig tree Luke omits. Acts
Acts makes it clear that Jesus is obviously regarded as the promised prophet of the last time; the author identifies Jesus as the eschatological prophet, the prophet like Moses by quoting Dt 18.15,19 (conflated with Lev 23.29) in Peter’s speech, ‘Moses said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you from your own people a prophet like me. You must listen to whatever he tells you. And it will be that everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be utterly rooted out of the people.”’ (Acts 3:22, 23 ) This identification is repeated in Stephen’s speech, ‘This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, “God will raise up a prophet for you from your own people as he raised me up.”’ (Acts 7:37) For Luke/Acts the eschaton is now, the Christ event, the time of salvation referred to in the Birth stories ( Lk 1.68f; 2.29ff); this is clearly indicated in Acts 2.16ff. where the words of Joel (Jl 2.28ff) are applied to the events and phenomena resulting from the coming of the Spirit - these are ‘the last days.’ A further parallelism with Moses can be seen in the virtually equivalent terms in the description of Jesus in Peter’s speech in 5.31, ‘ God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.’ and in the description of Moses in Stephen’s speech in 7.35, ‘It was this Moses whom they rejected when they said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge?” and whom God now sent as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.’ John John starts the theme of the expected prophet early in his work: John the Baptist is asked by the envoys of the priests, “Are you the prophet?” which he denies (Jn 1.21). In Jn 1.45 Philip tells Nathanael, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” The future person of whom Moses wrote is again referred to in Jn 5.46, with whom Jesus identifies himself, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.” Apparently John had Dt 18.15ff in mind. Even though John contains relatively few explicit OT quotations, he seems to have woven much of the OT into his system of thought. Examples relevant to this topic are Jn 17:8, “I have given them the words which you gave me” which is comparable to Dt 18:18b “I will put my words in his mouth”, and Jn 12:49b “the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak” which is comparable to Dt 18:18c “he shall speak to them all that I command him”. Chapter 6 of John opens with the multiplication of the loaves by Jesus, and because of the ‘sign’ (a term for symbolic wonder in John) the crowd exclaims, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!”(6:14) Later there is a discourse on the bread of life which is filled with a Moses-Jesus contrast regarding the manna that Moses gave to the fathers in the desert and ending up with Jesus himself disclosed not just as the new Moses but even the real manna: ‘the true bread from heaven’(v.32) and he declares, “I am the bread of life” (v.35). Thus, the whole chapter attests the combination of concepts: Moses typology and prophet. The crowd again thinks Jesus to be the prophet in 7.40, “This is really the prophet.” in this case after they have heard his words. Later in this chapter the Pharisees debate with Nicodemus whether a prophet can come from Galilee, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee..” (7.52) The grounds of their refusal to acknowledge Jesus as the prophet (i.e. no prophet from Galilee) does not accord with the data in the OT since Jonah hailed from Galilee (2Kgs 14.25). John reproduces the reference to the proverb regarding the prophet without honour in his own country (Jn. 4:44); the context, though, is problematic in that Jesus goes to Galilee supposedly his own country. Whatever the solution is, this statement serves the purpose of the topic in hand. John has two other individuals referring to Jesus specifically as a
prophet:
John’s Jesus, like the Synoptic Jesus, has supernatural prophetic knowledge.
He has the ability to search the innermost impulses of the human heart:
Jn. 2:24 f. ‘But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because
he knew all people [25] and needed no one to testify about anyone; for
he himself knew what was in everyone.’;
Regarding visions, John does not report Jesus’ baptism. It is John the Baptist who receives the vision of the dove descending and remaining on Jesus as the pointer to the ‘one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’ (1.29-34). An audition (not only to Jesus but also to the audience) is related in John at 12.28 ‘Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”’ For John, the prophetic characteristics are blended into the other aspects
in Jesus’ profile more than they are in the Synoptics due to John’s higher
christology. John’s Jesus is divine. ‘Son of God’ in the Synoptics does
not connote divinity but the Judaic meaning of the phrase i.e. a person
having a special relationship with God.
Conclusion In conclusion, though the various titles and functions of Jesus in the
NT cannot be sharply separated since these concepts of Jesus merge into
one another, the concept of the prophet is more distinguishable and its
content is less elusive than that of ‘Christos’ (Anointed, Messiah) or
the more problematic ‘Son of Man’.
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The Greek term prophetes (prophet),
and the related word group, primarily expresses the function of declaring,
proclaiming, making known; it was used for the oracle speaker of certain
divining shrines e.g. at Delphi, as well as for minor gods, demons and
men when they spoke in the name of the higher gods. In other words, it
denotes the interpreter, spokesman to the gods; it does not necessarily
connote, though at times it includes, ‘prediction’ of the future. The Septuagint
always translates Hebrew nabi by prophetes and except for
a few instances it also translates Heb. roeh and hozeh (seer)
by the same word. The New Testament writings follow the Septuagint's usage
both with regard to the writing prophets and their writings and with regard
to the ‘active’ prophets, that is those whose prophetic activity is narrated
in stories in the Old Testament. In this article, I intend to present an
overview of the personages and activities deemed to be of a prophetic nature
in the New Testament. Since there is a great amount of material depicting
the prophetic role of Jesus, this work is divided in two main parts: Part
1: Jesus the Prophet, and Part 2: Other Prophets in the NT.