Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” And he left them.

Jesus’ “spirit” was deeply disturbed by this demand for a sign, which was in direct contradiction to his understanding of miracles. Similar demands for signs appear in the Gospel of John (2:18; 6:30-31). Jesus rejects them all severely, even harshly. For him the dimension of faith is part of any miracle. He demanded faith before any miracle could take place, and he presupposed that a deepened faith and repentance would follow the miraculous event. He must have sensed that the signs asked of him simply as legitimation had nothing to do with the longing to be able to believe. There was something Sophistic and seductive about them. Therefore he refused to let himself be legitimated by God (which is what “a sign from heaven” in Mark 8:11 means). He rejected every kind of authenticating miracle and any wonder performed for show. Apparently he regarded such things as idolatrous posing.

So Jesus did not regard the saving deeds he performed as isolated authenticating miracles. His deeds of power had a different origin and goal. They arose out of the crisis, the need he encountered on all sides, and they are the beginning of the new world God is giving. They are signs of the inbreaking reign of God. They are signs that now the Old Testament prophecies are being fulfilled. Hence Jesus’ mighty deeds stand within a referential context that itself makes them what they are. There is absolutely no comparable framework for the miracles otherwise reported in antiquity.

At this point it is worthwhile taking a closer look at the story of the raising of a dead girl by Apollonius of Tyana. This will make it obvious what I mean by a “referential context.” Apollonius, an itinerant philosopher, lived between 40 and 120 CE. He was regarded in antiquity as a preacher and a miracle worker. He is supposed to have forged amulets that protected against earthquake, wind, water, mosquitoes, and mice. We have scarcely any truly reliable sources regarding his teaching and life. Over a hundred years later Philostratus was encouraged by the Roman empress Julia Domna to write a novelistic description of his life that in many respects reads like an “anti-gospel.”³⁰ As part of this Vita, Philostratus tells the following story:

A girl had died just in the hour of her marriage, and the bridegroom was following her bier lamenting as was natural his marriage left unfulfilled, and the whole of Rome was mourning with him, for the maiden belonged to a consular family. Apollonius then witnessing their grief, said: “Put down the bier, for I will stay the tears that you are shedding for this maiden.”

And withal he asked what was her name. The crowd accordingly thought that he was about to deliver such an oration as is commonly delivered to grace the funeral as to stir up lamentation; but he did nothing of the kind, but merely touching her and whispering in secret some spell over her, at once woke up the maiden from her seeming death; and the girl spoke out loud, and returned to her father’s house, just as Alcestis did when she was brought back to life by Heracles. And the relations of the maiden wanted to present him with the sum of 150,000 sesterces, but he said that he would freely present the money to the young lady by way of dowry.

Now whether he detected some spark of life in her, which those who were nursing her had not noticed—for it is said that although it was raining at the time, a vapor went up from her face—or whether her life was really extinct, and he restored it by the warmth of his touch, is a mysterious problem which neither I myself nor those who were present could decide.

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It seems almost required of us to compare this story with that of the raising of the young man of Nain:

Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!” This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country. (Luke 7:11-17)