Hanna Stettler, «Sanctification in the Jesus Tradition», Vol. 85 (2004) 153-178
According to the Synoptic Jesus tradition, Jesus brings about the eschatological sanctification of Israel promised in Ez 36,22-32 and 37,28. He ushers in the time of the Holy Spirit, and gathers God’s eschatological people, which includes sinners as well as Gentiles. Moreover, he sanctifies people by healing and cleansing them, and teaches them to live a holy life. According to Jesus, the holiness of God’s holy people is no longer jeopardized by ritual impurity. This is not because ritual purity is irrelevant per se, but because in Jesus, the "Holy One of God", God’s holiness has come into the world. Jesus sanctifies people and time so completely that the intention of the ritual Torah is fulfilled. Holiness is now to be lived out through mercy and love, even for one’s enemy.
Sanctification in the Jesus Tradition 175
of the final realization of the eschatological kingdom on Zion†(70).
Here once again the root of Jesus’ understanding of holiness, which at
the same time is the root of his conflict with the Pharisees, comes to
light: It is the dawning of the basileia in his own life and work.
Besides the cleansing of the Temple, Matthew and Luke report
Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem and the Temple (Luke 13,34-35 par. Matt
23,37-39; cf. Luke 19,41-44). In this lament Jesus speaks as the
personification of God’s shekhinah. Like the prophets (Mic 3,11-12;
Jer 7; Ezek 10,18-22; 11,22-23), he announces the end of the Temple,
where the shekinah has hitherto dwelt, as judgement for the
disobedience of the inhabitants of Jerusalem (71). The passage closes
with an outlook on his welcome in Jerusalem as messianic king after
that judgement.
When the religious leaders finally reject Jesus’ call to repentance
and decide to kill him, he is willing to die for their salvation and for the
salvation of the world (72). Jesus’ last Passover marks the point of
transition to this new situation: Again, it is true that Jesus keeps the
Passover regulations, for he duly celebrates it in Jerusalem (Mark
14,13 parr.) and spends the night within the territory of the city (cf.
Deut 16,6-7 to Mark 14,26 parr.). It is not, however, an ordinary
Passover that he celebrates, but the proleptic celebration of the new
covenant (cf. Mark 14,24 parr. to Ezek 45,21-22), which he is about to
inaugurate through his death, in view of the coming basileia (Mark
14,25 par. Matt 26,29; cf. Luke 22,16) (73). This is in harmony with
Ezek 45,21-22, where a new Passover, which “has inaugural
significance†for the new covenant, is celebrated (74).
Finally the curtain shielding the Most Holy Place as the place of
God’s presence, where the high priest on Yom Kippur made atonement,
(70) Ã…DNA, Jesu Stellung zum Tempel, 143, 146 (translation mine). Cf. ibid.,
50-89 for the expectation that the Messiah will build the eschatological Temple.
(71) Cf. GESE, Alttestamentliche Studien, 237-238: “When the shekinah leaves
the second Temple, the latter is destroyed like the first Temple according to
Ezek 10 … The fact that in the lament over Jerusalem Jesus appears as the
shekinah, helps us understand the comparison of his death and resurrection to
the destruction and reconstruction of the Temple in Mark 14,58; 15,29 parâ€.
(translation mine).
(72) Ã…DNA, Jesu Stellung zum Tempel, 440.
(73) Cf. P. STUHLMACHER, Jesus von Nazareth – Christus des Glaubens
(Stuttgart 1988) 76-77. Of the Gospels, only Luke (cf. 1 Cor 11,25) explicitly
speaks of the new covenant; but it is also implied in Mark and Matthew.
(74) Cf. D.I. BLOCK, The Book of Ezekiel. Chapters 25-48 (NICOT; Grand
Rapids, MI 1997) II, 667.
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