4
Jesus
The vast majority of Jesus' encounters with people whose teachings or practices
he opposes involve this identical cross-section of Jewish leadership. If we begin with
Mark, most likely the oldest of the Gospels, we first encounter significant opposition in
the pentad of conflict or controversy stories that span Mark 2:1-3:6 and parallels.
9
Clearly a central concern is Christological. The Pharisees and scribes do not accept
Jesus' implicit appeals to divine authority in forgiving sins, in eating with society's
notorious sinners and in assuming the role of "Lord of the Sabbath" (2:27). Matthew's
additional observation that twice in these contexts Jesus appealed to Hosea 6:6 ("I desire
mercy, not sacrifice"--cf. Matt. 9:13, 12:7) demonstrates a priority for what the church
would later call the "moral law" above the "ceremonial law."
10
Portraying perhaps the harshest interchange between Jesus and the Jewish leaders
in all the Synoptics, Mark 3:22-30 and parallels depict certain scribes who accuse Jesus
of exorcising by the power of the devil. After pointing out how self-defeating this would
be, Jesus in turn implies that his accusers come perilously close to committing an
unforgivable sin--blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. The context enables us to define
this sin fairly precisely as being so out of touch with the true God of the universe as to
attribute patently obviously divine manifestations to the power of God's arch-enemy.
11
This exchange should make us extraordinarily cautious about using the language of
diabolical influence on a fellow Christian, since to do so mistakenly places us in the
identical position of those Jesus warned against unforgivable blasphemy.
9
On which, see esp. Joanna Dewey, Markan Public Debate (Chico: Scholars, 1980).
10
Or, as I described it in my Matthew ([Nashville: Broadman, 1992], 157), "the priority of interpersonal
relationships over religious ritual."
11
Cf. now Joel Marcus, Mark 1-8 (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 284.