Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

The proclamation of the reign of God thus not only introduced a final time of decision; to say that would not be enough. Matthew 10:34-36 says also that Jesus himself is the reason why the time is coming to its end. He himself is the cause of the crisis. He himself tears apart the closest social ties. He himself compels decision. “I have come to set… against.…” Jesus would have had the opportunity to speak of this final decision in various other ways. He could have said, “You have to decide for or against repentance. You have to choose to believe in the good news, or not. You must decide for the reign of God and thus for God, or against God.” And he did say all that. But Jesus dares to go beyond this and say: you have to choose for me—or against me. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matt 12:30 // Luke 11:23).

We have already had (in chap. 4) an overview of all that echoes in the concept of “gathering.” Every one of Jesus’ hearers who was even slightly familiar with Sacred Scripture necessarily associated this concept with the prophetic hopes for the “gathering of Israel,” something that had become a central concept for salvation from the time of the exile. Gathering Israel from its Diaspora then was often paralleled with “uniting,” “liberating,” “saving,” and “redeeming.” Thus it was clear that it is God’s own self who gathers Israel. That God is the one who gathers Israel even became a predicate, an attribute of God.

When Jesus now says that he is gathering Israel, he is claiming to do precisely what God himself will do at the end of time: gather, sanctify, and unite Israel. Then the word can only be interpreted to mean that Jesus speaks and acts as if he is standing in God’s stead. In any event the saying “whoever is not with me is against me” betrays a claim that had to cause irritation, the claim to unconditional and direct authority. No prophet could ever have spoken that way. A prophet would have to say:

Thus says the Lord GOD:

I will gather you from the peoples,

and assemble you out of the countries

where you have been scattered. (Ezek 11:17; cf. 28:25; 34:13)

Jesus’ Scandalous “I”

Jesus’ “I” of his own authority has replaced the “I” speech of God that runs throughout the books of the writing prophets of the Old Testament. We really have to read through the first three gospels and note this phenomenon. Only then will we experience the “aha!” of recognizing what is actually happening:

“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49). “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners” (Mark 2:17). “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Matt 5:17). “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times.… But I say to you…” (Matt 5:21-22). “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock” (Matt 7:24). “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and [so] follow me” (Mark 8:34). “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning” (Luke 10:18). “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has [already] come to you” (Luke 11:20). “You spirit that keeps this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!” (Mark 9:25). “See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you” (Luke 10:19). “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves” (Matt 10:16). “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me” (Luke 10:16). “You are those who have stood by me in my trials; and I [hereby] confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom” (Luke 22:28-29). “Truly [or: Amen] I tell you…” (Matt 11:11, and frequently elsewhere). “And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me” (Luke 7:23). “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35). “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs” (Mark 10:14). “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8).