JESU'S WITHDRAWALS FROM ISRAEL

Chapter 11 ended with a juxtaposition of opposites: the Galilean cities upon whom Jesus pronounced the judgement of destruction (11:20–24), and the ‘simple people’ to whom the Father will reveal the things he withholds from the mighty (11:25ff.). In our interpretation this juxtaposition is ‘proleptic’, or representative of future events. At the moment, the crowds of Israel are still friendly and receptive toward Jesus. The community of those to whom the secret of the Son and the Father is to be revealed has not yet come into existence. Instead, Jesus has healed and taught in Israel. He has called upon disciples there to imitate his way. And he has experienced initial resistance on the part of the scribes and Pharisees. The persecutions and suffering that Jesus announced to his disciples in the Mission Discourse have not yet become a reality, not even for himself.

In the next few chapters the situation comes to a head. Again and again we are given reports of hostility felt toward Jesus by the Jewish leaders. In 12:14 the Pharisees resolve to have him put to death; in 12:24 they accuse him of complicity with the devil. In 12:38 and 16:1 Jesus' Jewish enemies demand a sign. Presumably what they mean in each passage is a cosmic or heavenly sign; simple miracles, which Jesus has, of course, been producing constantly in large quantities, are not enough.