The Historical Figure of Jesus by E. Sanders

Author:E. Sanders
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141928227
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2008-11-24T16:00:00+00:00

Did Jesus' contemporaries think that his miracles proved that the kingdom was at hand? Later, the followers of Theudas hoped that he would perform a miracle that recalled Moses' parting of the sea.21 They therefore, I assume, were prepared to think of him as the last great prophet before God brought in his kingdom. That is, some people probably thought that the great new age, the kingdom of God, would be inaugurated with the sort of dramatic signs that marked some of the foundational moments of Jewish history, such as the exodus and the conquest of Canaan. Thus it was possible for a prophet to promise an eschatological miracle and to attract followers. If he then actually produced the miracle, he would have had a much greater following. Although after Jesus' day there were such (unfulfilled) promises, it seems that Jesus did not offer a great eschatological miracle to the public. We must conclude, then, that his miracles as such did not prove to the populace in general, even those sections of it friendly towards him, that he was the end-time prophet. This leaves us with Honi as providing the category into which Jesus fitted in most people's minds.

To conclude this topic: there appear to be two explanations of the relative lack of support for Jesus among the general populace. One is that the gospels exaggerate Jesus' miracles; the other is that miracles in any case did not lead most people to make an important commitment to the miracle-worker. Probably most Galileans heard of a few miracles – exorcisms and other healings – and regarded Jesus as a holy man, on intimate terms with God.

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