John Kilgallen, «Jesus’ First Trial: Messiah and Son of God (Luke 22,66-71)», Vol. 80 (1999) 401-414

Luke, according to the Two-Source Theory, read Mark. At the first trial of Jesus, that before the Sanhedrin, Mark has together, "Messiah, Son of God". Luke has intentionally separated the two titles. The present essay finds the explanation for separating Son of God from Messiah in the Annunciation scene of the Gospel. It is Luke’s intention that the reader understand Son of God in a way that admittedly the Sanhedrin did not. The laws of narratology indicate that Luke 1,35, a part of the Lucan introduction, be used by the reader to interpret Son of God at Luke 22,70.

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        In his effort to focus the reader’s attention on the identity of the one who is condemned by two authorities in Palestine and thus sent to death, Luke reminds his reader that Jesus is Son of God in a mysterious and unique way, that Messiah of the Tradition must be understood through the reality about Jesus’ sonship from God. He means to establish this reminder successfully by separating the two titles, Messiah and Son of God, which he saw joined together in Mark’s presentation of Jesus before the Sanhedrin. The structure he followed in his own presentation of the trial of Jesus is that of the Annunciation, a three-step procedure by which he hoped to alert the reader that the revelation given in the Annunciation story should be recalled in this trial story. One can imagine that Luke, by presenting Jesus as Messiah and Son of God in Luke’s sense, hoped to accomplish a number of things. One thing he hoped to accomplish is that the status of him who now suffers the final condemnation is clear: mysteriously related to the Father, it is the Son who, born holy, dies in obedience to the Father. Once again, the reader catches a glimpse of a relationship which remains, for all of Luke’s efforts, finally mysterious; Luke 1,35, however, is a precious guide to approaching this mystery correctly and it is by its guidance that one understands, in a way the Sanhedrin did not, what it means to call Jesus, the Messiah, Son of God.