Sanctification in the Jesus Tradition 165 a) Sanctification Defined in Terms of Love and Mercy If we do not interpret the transfiguration story (Mark 9,2-10 parr.) as a “misplaced Easter story”, but with H. Gese read it “through the eyes of the Old Testament”, it becomes obvious that it is shaped after the pattern of the revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai (33). The important difference between the two accounts is that at Mount Sinai “God revealed himself in the formula of self-introduction, ‘I am Yahweh,’ and then he gave the Decalogue. Here, however, God introduces his son, ‘This is my beloved Son,’ and then continues, ‘listen to him’” (34). The command “listen to him” is an allusion to Deut 18,15, designating Jesus as the messianic prophet like Moses. His instruction is to be seen on a level with God’s commandments. His words, like God’s word, “will not pass away” (Mark 13,31). In his antitheses, Jesus in his messianic authority enforces the will of God unconditionally, thus bringing God’s law and its interpretation by the prophets to completion (Matt 5,17; cf. 7,12b) (35). According to Matthew, Jesus obliges those who would come to him to keep his Torah (11,29-30). At the core of Jesus’ teaching on the will of God we find the double commandment to love both God and neighbour uncondi- tionally (Mark 12,28-34 parr.) (36). Jesus approved of the scribe’s reply that loving God and one’s neighbour “is much more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12,33). This statement is not necessarily to be taken as a rejection of sacrifice and cult. It does, however, give preference to ethical holiness. Besides love the motif of mercy plays an important part in both Luke and Matthew. Human beings are expected to treat their fellow humans with the same mercy that they receive from God. This mercy culminates in love for one’s enemy (Luke 6,27) and is to distinguish Jesus’ disciples from “sinners” (6,32-35). The “good Samaritan” is driven by compassion to love his neighbour (10,33), while the two representatives of the cult, a priest and a Levite, evade this ethical obligation on the pretext of their cultic duties and the purity they wish to maintain (Luke 10,25-37) (37). Jesus commands those who have (33) Essays on Biblical Theology (Minneapolis 1981) 88. (34) GESE, Essays on Biblical Theology, 89. (35) STUHLMACHER, Biblische Theologie, I, 104. (36) Paul followed him in this: cf. Rom 13,8-10; Gal 5,14. (37) Cf. the interpretation of R. BAUCKHAM, “The Scrupulous Priest and the Good Samaritan. Jesus’ Parabolic Interpretation of the Law of Moses”, NTS 44 (1998) 475-489.