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The Two Traditions of the Last Supper, Betrayal, and Arrest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Extract

The relationship between John and the Synoptics and the closely linked question of the historicity of an independent John-source have been the concern of contributors to this journal since its institution. In a recent article Ivor Buse has drawn attention to the ‘striking similarities’ between certain of the Marcan Passion Narratives and the account in John, basing his study on the conclusions reached by Dr Vincent Taylor in his commentary on St Marks Gospel. I should like to pursue this question further.

Type
Short Studies
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1960

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References

page 77 note 1 N.T.S. I (1954), 29–41,Google ScholarSanders, J. N., ‘Those WhomJesus Loved,’ called ‘a contribution to the reopening of the question of the historical truth of some narrative portions of the Fourth Gospel’ (p. 29); I, 77–91,Google ScholarBultmann, R., review of C. H. Dodd's The Fourth Gospel; I, 210–18,Google ScholarBarrett, C. K., ‘The Lamb of God’; II (1955), 75–86,Google ScholarDodd, C. H., ‘Some Johannine “Herrnworte” in the Synoptic Gospels,’ in which he concluded that ‘with as high a degree of probability as the conditions of the problem admit…John is to be regarded as transmitting independently a special form of the oral tradition, and not as dependent on the Synoptic Gospels’ (p. 86); II, 110–14,Google ScholarLeaney, A. R. C., ‘The Resurrection Narratives in Luke’; III (1956), 50–8,Google ScholarLee, E. K., ‘St Mark and the Fourth Gospel’; III, 74–6,Google ScholarSanders, J. N., Review of C. H. Barrett's The Gospel According to St John; IV (1958), 119–23,Google ScholarBraun, F. M., ‘Le Lettre de Barnabé et l'Evangile de SaintJean’; IV, 215–19,Google ScholarBuse, S. I., ‘St John and the Marcan Passion Narrative’; IV, 263–81,Google ScholarRobinson, J. A. T., ‘Elijah, John and Jesus’; IV, 282–307,Google ScholarMendner, S., ‘Zum Problem “Johannes und die Synoptiker”’, V (1959), 157–73,Google ScholarCullmann, O., ‘L'Opposition contre le Temple de Jérusalem, Motif Commun de la Théologie Johannique et du Monde Ambiant’.Google Scholar

page 77 note 2 N.T.S. IV (1958), 215–19.Google Scholar

page 77 note 3 The Gospel According to St Mark (1955), Additional Note J, pp. 653–64.Google Scholar

page 77 note 4 P. 658. Taylor associates the A tradition with the Christian community at Rome and attributes the B source to the ‘reminiscences of Peter’. I believe that we can discuss the two sources without coming to so definite a conclusion regarding origins.Google Scholar

page 77 note 5 Taylor makes this division, p. 658, op. cit. Google Scholar

page 79 note 1 The reference in John xiii. 2 b to Judas' plans for betrayal appears to be an editorial addition, not in the John-source which parallels Mark-A. There are so many verbs in the series of verses, xiii. 1–5 that the R.S.V. has added ‘Jesus’ in v. 3. This original would have been possible: ‘…when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart Out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And, there being a supper, he rose from the supper and layeth aside his garments…;’ (xiii. 1–2a, 4 ff.). When the additions were inserted, v. 2 b to harmonize with the Synoptics, and v. 3 as an editorial comment, the whole was thrown out of balance.Google Scholar

page 79 note 2 See page 77, note 5.Google Scholar

page 79 note 3 Cullman, O., Early Christian Worship (1953), p. 19.Google ScholarHiggins, A. J. B., The Lord's Supper in the New Testament (1952), p. 48.Google Scholar See also Kittel, F., ‘Die Wirkungen des Abendmahls nach dem N.T.,’ Theol. Stud. Krit. 96–7 (1925), 224,Google Scholar and Lietzmann, H., Messe und Herrenmahl (1926), passim.Google Scholar

page 80 note 1 In this connexion, J. A. T. Robinson has recently commented, ‘If true (i.e. that I Thess. iv. 15 iS based on John xiv. 3) it would support the suspicion that we have in the eschatological discourse of the Fourth Gospel (John xiv–xvi) traditional material at least as authentic as in its Synoptic counterparts’ (Jesus and His Coming, 1957, p. 25, note 1. Cf. also pp. 172–6).Google Scholar

page 80 note 2 The importance of the Messianic Meal in the community of the Qumran Scrolls is a much-discussed matter. For two recent viewpoints and summaries of the material see Kuhn, K. G., ‘The Lord's Supper and the Communal Meal at Qumran,’ The Scrolls and the New Testament, ed. Stendahl, K. (1957), pp. 6593,Google Scholar and Cross, F. M. Jr, The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Bible Studies (1958), pp. 62–7, 177–80.Google Scholar

page 80 note 3 In John xvi. 21 the expression is used is used in connexion with the parable of a woman in travail before giving birth, representing the picture of the crucifixion before the resurrection, a parallel use of the hour is come.Google Scholar

page 80 note 4 The whole of Mark x. 35–45 could very well fit into a Last Supper tradition. Jesus and his apostles, sitting at table, having the sort of discussion given in John xiv–xvi, would have provided just the sort of situation which would have led to the suggestion of James and John that this arrangement be continued when Jesus came into his glory (John xiii. 31–2). Would it be going too far into the field of supposition to suggest that ifJames and John were sitting at the right and left at the supper at which Jesus gave the eschatological address (John xiv–xvi) this would explain John xiii. 23? (N.B. Matthew's softening of the impact of the episode by attributing the question to the mother, xx. 20, does not concern the original tradition.)Google Scholar

page 82 note 1 It is noteworthy that the story of the supper in John begins and ends (xiii. 1 and 34–5) with an emphasis on showing the unity of theJohn-source nucleus. Perhaps the original tradition of the ‘Summary of the Law’ is given in Luke x. 25–7, where this application of Jesus' ‘charge to love’ is put into the mouth of the lawyer who is quoting Jewish scripture. The Church knew the tradition, preserved here in vu. 34–5 that Jesus gave ‘the new charge, that ye love’, which is reflected elsewhere in the New Testament in this general form. The ‘charge’ of Jesus was then read back into the tradition preserved by Luke, so that Jesus was made to quote the Jewish scripture with the Shema added.Google Scholar

page 82 note 2 N.T.S. II, p. III.Google Scholar

page 83 note 1 I cannot help feeling that there is something wrong with John's ‘lanterns and torches and weapons’. If ‘torches and weapons’ represented a mistaken variation of the original ‘swords and staves’, with lanterns added, then the John-source would be in harmony with the Mark-A/Luke. source tradition. But I have not yet worked Out an answer to this problem which is satisfactory.Google Scholar

page 83 note 2 Westcott, B. F., The Gospel according to St John, The Greek text (1908; 1954, photolithoprint), p. 266.Google Scholar

page 83 note 3 Luke xxii. 53b, not reflected in Mark, suggests that Luke's sources included some of the teaching on darkness and light which is so prominent in the Fourth Gospel.Google Scholar