Biblica_1:Layout 1 21-11-2011 12:59 Pagina 384 384 PHILIPP F. BARTHOLOMÄ word in Matt 5,17 as a parallel to John 5,39 22. Yet, even closer par- allels are observable in Luke 24,44 (“everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be ful- filled”) 23 and also in Luke 18,31 (“everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets”) 24. While the Jewish crowd was willing to listen to John the Baptist for a while (5,35), Jesus declares in John 5,40 that they are not willing to come to him and accept him: “you refuse to come to me to have life”. The motif of the unwillingness of the Jews to come to Jesus is present in the Synoptics as well, as Jesus laments concerning Jerusalem in Matt 23,37 par.: “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing” [1/2-level of closeness; cf. negated form of qe,lw]. “There is [here in Matthew] the same thought of a tender ea- gerness to save, met by a stubborn refusal to be saved” 25. In two syn- optic parables, Jesus addresses the exact same issue. In the so-called parable of the prodigal son, the elder brother is unwilling to partici- pate in the feast of the Father (Luke 15,28): “Then he became angry and refused to go in” [1/2-level of closeness]. The same deliberate re- fusal is visible in the parable of the great banquet in Matt 22,2-14 par., where those invited “would not come” to the wedding banquet. If we take into account that the Johannine Jesus actually implies that coming to him results in the receiving of “life”, several additional synoptic parallels apply. In Matt 11,28 the Synoptic Jesus says “Come to me (…) and I will give you rest” [note the common usage of the phrase pro,j me], while the idea that the enjoyment of (eternal) life [zwh] as linked to the person of Jesus is also present in Matt 19,29 par. , Finally, to acknowledge the Jewish refusal to come to Jesus in order to have life could well be interpreted as a confirmation of Jesus’ assessment in Matt 7,14 that “the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it”. 22 BLOMBERG, Historical Reliability, 117. 23 For this parallel cf. also D. L. BOCK, Luke 9:51–24:53 (BECNT; Grand Rapids, MI 1996) 1936. 24 For this parallel cf. also 27NA; A. J. KÖSTENBERGER, John (BECNT; Grand Rapids, MI 2004) 193; CARSON, John, 264. 25 MORRIS, John, 293. This parallel is also mentioned by 27NA, as well as BLOMBERG, Historical Reliability, 117; BROWN, John (i-xii), 225.