Biblica_1:Layout 1 21-11-2011 12:59 Pagina 382 382 PHILIPP F. BARTHOLOMÄ idence for his claims when he states that “the very works that I am doing testify on my behalf ”. That these works (including but not limited to the miraculous) serve as witnesses to himself is certainly the idea behind Jesus’ answer to John the Baptist in Matt 11,4-5 par. Luke 7,22. Here he points out that his own deeds ought to prove his divine identity [0/1–level of closeness] 17. As with John 5,32 we may again point to Matt 12,28 as a conceptual parallel in the synoptic tradition with Jesus referring to his exorcisms done in divine power as meaningful witnesses to his own person [0/1-level of closeness]. A similar appeal to Jesus’ miracle working as testi- mony to his authority can be found in Matt 9,6a par., where the healing of a lame man is preceded by the statement, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to for- give sins” [0/1-level of closeness; cf. also Matt 11,20-24 par., as well as Matt 8,27 par.; Luke 5,21] 18. John 5,36c.37a and 37b take the theme of the Father’s witness one step further. Not only does the Father testify indirectly through the works of Jesus but “the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf”. Jesus’ self-conception as God’s envoy, the one sent by the Father, is clearly a common motif within the three Synoptic Gospels (Matt 10,40 par.; Luke 10,16 [0/2-level of closeness]; cf. also Matt 15,24; Luke 4,43; as well as the parable of the wicked ten- ants in Matt 21,37 par.). The exact referent of the divine testimony in 5,37b is difficult to determine. It probably comprises more than the voice at Jesus’ baptism (cf. Matt 3,17 par.; 17,5 par.) or the wit- ness of Scripture. Taking it in a broader sense as a “general reference to all of the Father’s revealing [and thus authorizing] work” 19, we detect at least some conceptual overlap with the most “Johannine” of synoptic statements in Matt 11,27 par. Here the divine testimony manifests itself in that “all things have been handed over to me by my Father” [0/1-level of closeness]. Despite the Father’s witness, people “do not believe him whom he has sent”. Charging the crowd in this way with unbelief as found here in John 5,38b is, of course, not exclusively Johannine. The contrast between receiving divine testimony and not believing (ex- 17 BROWN, John I, 227; cf. for this parallel also the 27NA margin. 18 Matt 12,28 and Matt 9,6a par. are also listed as synoptic parallels to John 5,36 in 27NA. 19 CARSON, John, 262.