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Jesus, John and Repentance
E. P. Sanders, in seeking distinctives in the ministry of Jesus, maintains that a contrast can be
observed in the treatment of repentance between Jesus and John. He also maintains that it is
Luke who blurs the line between these treatments and has ever after obscured the distinction.
"The story of Levi and the other tax collectors (Mark 2.14-17) does not say that they
repented, repaid the money, added 20 per cent, and took a sacrifice to the Temple. Moreover, the
words 'repent' and 'repentance' are very rare in Matthew and Mark. If Jesus' aim was to bring
dishonest people to repentance, we would expect the word 'repent' to be a prominent one in his
teaching"
Sanders points out that the disputes regarding associations with sinners would not have been
credible if each instance resulted in penitance and faith on the part of the sinner. The statistics
he cites are dramatic:
"The principle Greek words for 'repent' and 'repentance' occur 62 times in the New
Testament, of which 14 occurrences are in Luke, 11 in acts, and 12 in Revelation. The figures for
the other gospels are 10 in Matthew, 3 in Mark and 0 in John."
His conclusion is striking:
"Jesus thought that John's call to repent should have been effective, but in fact it was only
partially successful. His own style was in any case different; he did not repeat the Baptist's
tactics. On the contrary, he ate and drank with the wicked and told them that God especially
loved them, and that the kingdom was at hand. Did he hope that they would change their ways?
Probably he did. But 'change now or be destroyed' was not his message, it was John's..."
231ff --E.P. Sanders THE HISTORICAL FIGURE OF JESUS, London, Penguin Press 1993, also
JESUS AND JUDAISM, p 203ff.
"Repentance" is found in the synoptics in these locations:
Mat 3:8 JB
Mat 3:11 JB
Mar 1:4 JB
Luk 3:3 JB
Luk 3:8 JB
Luk 5:32
Luk 15:7
Luk 17:3 brothers
Luk 24:47 risen charge
"Repent" is found in the synoptics in these locations:
Mat 3:2 JB
Mat 4:17 "from that time" (not in Lk)
Mat 11:20 woes on cities (Lk 10.12-15 w/out repent)
Mar 1:15 after JB arrested
Mar 6:12 disciples
Luk 13:3 Pilate's victims
Luk 13:5 "
Luk 16:30 Dives
Luk 17:4 brothers
The bare fact of word and verse statistics suggests that after establishing the theme of Jesus'
early ministry as identical with that of the Baptist, the synoptics go on to portray quite a different
emphasis on the part of Jesus. In the matter of comparing Mark and Q in the document issue,
this has implications. Mark's is the picture of Jesus as wonder worker. Q's is the body of
teachings. The teachings are somewhat generic, that is, they might be attributed to more than
one source. Sanders' findings now would indicate that there is a characteristic in the Q material
that is not typically dominical...that of repentance! It is also indicative of the actual source of this
character...Baptist. It is not his motive to draw this conclusion, and there is no indication that this
is on his mind. But it seems to warrant a place alongside of the infancy narratives as indicative of
Baptist sources in Luke, and appears to extend that influence to Q as a whole.
Arland D. Jacobson's "The Literary Unity of Q" (translated in
Kloppenborg) builds extensively on the identification of
Deuteronomic tradition as a unifying theme in the Q material.
The following examples are cited:
Luke 13:34
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and
stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I
have gathered your children together as a hen gathers
her brood under her wings, and you would not!
Luke 6:23
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your
reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to
the prophets.
Luke 11:47-51
Woe to you! for you build the tombs of the prophets
whom your fathers killed.
So you are witnesses and consent to the deeds of your
fathers; for they killed them, and you build their
tombs.
Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send
them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill
and persecute,'
that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the
foundation of the world, may be required of this
generation,
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who
perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I
tell you, it shall be required of this generation.
Luke 14:16-24
But he said to him, "A man once gave a great banquet,
and invited many;
and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to
say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for all is
now ready.'
But they all alike began to make excuses. The first
said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out
and see it; I pray you, have me excused.'
And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and
I go to examine them; I pray you, have me excused.'
And another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore
I cannot come.'
So the servant came and reported this to his master.
Then the householder in anger said to his servant, 'Go
out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and
bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.'
And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been
done, and still there is room.'
And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the
highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that
my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited
shall taste my banquet.'"
These passages reflect later Deuteronomic tradition by
characterizing the whole history of Israel as persistent
disobedience for which Yahweh repeatedly sends prophets calling
for repentance. These prophets are resisted and even slain in
the Deuteronomic tradition, which appears throughout Q as well.
(Luke 7:31f )
"To what then shall I compare the men of this
generation, and what are they like?
They are like children sitting in the market place and
calling to one another, 'We piped to you, and you did
not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.'
For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and
drinking no wine; and you say, 'He has a demon.'
The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you
say, 'Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax
collectors and sinners!'
Yet wisdom is justified by all her children."
(Luke 10:2-16 )
And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the
laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the
harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the
midst of wolves.
Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and salute no one
on the road.
Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this
house!'
And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest
upon him; but if not, it shall return to you.
And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what
they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages; do not go from house to house.
Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat
what is set before you;
heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of
God has come near to you.'
But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive
you, go into its streets and say,
'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet,
we wipe off against you; nevertheless know this, that
the kingdom of God has come near.'
I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on that day for
Sodom than for that town.
"Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if
the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and
Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in
sackcloth and ashes.
But it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre
and Sidon than for you.
And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You
shall be brought down to Hades.
"He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you
rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent
me."
(Luke 3:7 f)
He said therefore to the multitudes that came out to be
baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you
to flee from the wrath to come?
Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for
I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up
children to Abraham.
Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees;
every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is
cut down and thrown into the fire."
John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but
he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose
sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his
threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his
granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable
fire."
(Luke 6:20 f)
And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: "
Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
"Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be
satisfied. "Blessed are you that weep now, for you
shall laugh.
"Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they
exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as
evil, on account of the Son of man!
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your
reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to
the prophets.
"But woe to you that are rich, for you have received
your consolation.
"Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger. "
Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
"Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so
their fathers did to the false prophets.
"But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other
also; and from him who takes away your coat do not
withhold even your shirt.
Give to every one who begs from you; and of him who
takes away your goods do not ask them again.
And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that
to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what
credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive,
what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to
sinners, to receive as much again.
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting
nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and
you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to
the ungrateful and the selfish.
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
"Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not,
and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be
forgiven;
give, and it will be given to you; good measure,
pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be
put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the
measure you get back."
He also told them a parable: "Can a blind man lead a
blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?
A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when
he is fully taught will be like his teacher.
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye,
but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me
take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you
yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye?
You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye,
and then you will see clearly to take out the speck
that is in your brother's eye.
"For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a
bad tree bear good fruit;
for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are
not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a
bramble bush.
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart
produces good, and the evil man out of his evil
treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the
heart his mouth speaks.
"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I
tell you?
Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does
them, I will show you what he is like:
he is like a man building a house, who dug deep, and
laid the foundation upon rock; and when a flood arose,
the stream broke against that house, and could not
shake it, because it had been well built.
But he who hears and does not do them is like a man who
built a house on the ground without a foundation;
against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell,
and the ruin of that house was great."
(Luke 10:2 f)
And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the
laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the
midst of wolves.
Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and salute no one
on the road.
Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this
house!'
And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest
upon him; but if not, it shall return to you.
And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what
they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages; do
not go from house to house.
Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat
what is set before you;
heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of
God has come near to you.'
But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive
you, go into its streets and say,
'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet,
we wipe off against you; nevertheless know this, that
the kingdom of God has come near.'
I tell you, it shall be more tolerable on that day for
Sodom than for that town.
The remarkable thing about these passages is how well they conform to everything we know about the message of John.
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