Sanctification in the Jesus Tradition 173 grain on a Sabbath, too, is more than a demonstration that Jesus considers human need more important than cultic law. In this dispute Jesus refers to David, who like him was the designated king and high priest of Israel and therefore had the right to make use of the “bread of the presence”. According to Matthew, he also reminds his opponents that the Sabbath law does not apply in the temple. Just as there can be no scruples about the Sabbath in the temple, because the very holiness of God dwells there, so also the Son of Man conveys God’s holiness in such a way that the distinction between holy and unholy times no longer applies to those around him. In him, “something greater than the temple is here”, as Matt 12,6 comments. In him, the very holiness of God is present. Because the original intention of the Sabbath command is fulfilled, its literal fulfilment is no longer an issue (64). What we have here is a “clash of agendas”, not a legal controversy (65). By way of summary we can say that according to the unanimous presentation of all the gospels, Jesus, like the prophets, gives preeminence to the ethical sanctification of Israel over against the ritual (66). If need be he subordinates ritual obligations to the ethical core of the will of God. But not only that. In light of the dawning kingdom, ritual law looses its relevance for the sanctification of Israel. The reality to which it points has come. Its literal fulfilment, therefore, has lost its significance. 6. Jesus’ Attitude Towards the Temple Cult In the Old Testament, the cult is the primary means of maintaining Israel’s holiness. It is at the very centre of Ezekiel’s concept of a (64) The claim that Jesus “affirmed the sanctity of the Sabbath” (cf. BOCKMUEHL, Jewish Law, 8), does not seem to be fully warranted in the light of Mark 2,28. Counter to Bockmuehl (ibid. 13) the christological interpretation of this passage is preferable, since “Son of Man” must be interpreted christologically in 2,10 and cannot be taken “as a reference to humankind in general” by any means: cf. O. BETZ, Jesus. Der Messias Israels. Aufsätze zur biblischen Theologie (WUNT 42; Tübingen 1987) 198f and ID., Jesus. Herr der Kirche. Aufsätze zur biblischen Theologie II (WUNT 52; Tübingen 1990) 412-413. To those around him Jesus was conspicuous for his trangressions of the Sabbath. (65) WRIGHT, Jesus and the Victory of God, 395. (66) Cf. WESTERHOLM, “Clean and Unclean”, 131: “While the words at times suggest that the cultic and ritual aspects of religion have no place whatever in a world of ideal piety, the point is rather the condemnation of wrongs than the advocacy of a religion without cult (cf. Amos 5,21-26; Isa 1,10-17; Jer 7,21-24; etc.)”.