Jesus of Nazareth Part Two Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection Read online

  JESUS

  OF NAZARETH

  __________

  JESUS

  OF NAZARETH

  __________

  PART TWO

  Holy Week

  From the Entrance into Jerusalem

  to the Resurrection

  by

  Joseph Ratzinger

  Pope Benedict XVI

  English translation provided by the

  Vatican Secretariat of State

  IGNATIUS PRESS SAN FRANCISCO

  Original German edition:

  Jesus von Nazareth:

  Zweiter Teil:

  Vom Einzug in Jerusalem

  bis zur Auferstehung

  All rights reserved

  Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations (except those within

  citations) have been taken from the Revised Standard Version of

  the Holy Bible, Second Catholic Edition, © 2006. The Revised

  Standard Version of the Holy Bible: the Old Testament,

  © 1952, 2006; the Apocrypha, © 1957, 2006; the New Testament,

  © 1946, 2006; the Catholic Edition of the Old Testament,

  incorporating the Apocrypha, © 1966, 2006, the Catholic Edition

  of the New Testament, © 1965, 2006 by the Division of Christian

  Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the

  United States of America. All rights reserved.

  Translated by Philip J. Whitmore

  Front cover art (left):

  Christ’s Passion: Descent from the Cross

  and

  Front cover art (right):

  Christ’s Appearance Behind Locked Doors

  The Maestà Altarpiece

  Painted 1308-1311 for the Cathedral of Siena

  by Duccio di Buoninsegna

  Museo dell’Opera Metropolitana, Siena, Italy

  © Scala / Art Resource, New York

  Photograph of Pope Benedict XVI by Stefano Spaziani

  Cover design by Roxanne Mei Lum

  © 2011 by Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City

  Published in the United States © 2011 Ignatius Press, San Francisco

  All rights reserved

  ISBN 978-1-58617-500-9 (HB)

  Library of Congress Control Number 2010937202

  Printed in the United States of America

  CONTENTS

  Abbreviations

  Publisher’s Note

  Foreword

  1 THE ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM AND THE

  CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE

  1. The Entrance into Jerusalem

  2. The Cleansing of the Temple

  2 JESUS’ ESCHATOLOGICAL DISCOURSE

  1. The End of the Temple

  2. The Times of the Gentiles

  3. Prophecy and Apocalyptic in the Eschatological Discourse

  3 THE WASHING OF THE FEET

  The hour of Jesus

  “You are clean”

  Sacramentum and exemplum—gift and task: The “new commandment”

  The mystery of the betrayer

  Two conversations with Peter

  Washing of feet and confession of sin

  4 JESUS’ HIGH-PRIESTLY PRAYER

  1. The Jewish Feast of Atonement as Biblical Background

  to the High-Priestly Prayer

  2. Four Major Themes of the Prayer

  “This is eternal life. . .”

  “Sanctify them in the truth. . .”

  “I have made your name known to them. . .”

  “That they may all be one. . .”

  5 THE LAST SUPPER

  1. The Dating of the Last Supper

  2. The Institution of the Eucharist

  3. The Theology of the Words of Institution

  4. From the Last Supper to the Sunday Morning Eucharist

  6 GETHSEMANE

  1. On the Way to the Mount of Olives

  2. The Prayer of Jesus

  3. Jesus’ Will and the Will of the Father

  4. Jesus’ Prayer on the Mount of Olives in the Letter to the Hebrews

  7 THE TRIAL OF JESUS

  1. Preliminary Discussion in the Sanhedrin

  2. Jesus before the Sanhedrin

  3. Jesus before Pilate

  8 CRUCIFIXION AND BURIAL OF JESUS

  1. Preliminary Reflection: Word and Event in the Passion Narrative

  2. Jesus on the Cross

  The first of Jesus’ words from the Cross: “Father, forgive them”

  Jesus is mocked

  Jesus’ cry of abandonment

  The casting of lots for Jesus’ garments

  “I thirst”

  The women at the foot of the Cross—the Mother of Jesus

  Jesus dies on the Cross

  Jesus’ burial

  3. Jesus’ Death as Reconciliation (Atonement) and Salvation

  9 JESUS’ RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD

  1. What Is the Resurrection of Jesus?

  2. The Two Different Types of Resurrection Testimony

  A. The Confessional Tradition

  Jesus’ death

  The question of the empty tomb

  The third day

  The witnesses

  B. The Narrative Tradition

  Jesus’ appearances to Paul

  The appearances of Jesus in the Gospels

  3. Summary: The Nature of Jesus’ Resurrection and Its Historical Significance

  EPILOGUE: He Ascended into Heaven—He Is Seated at the Right Hand of the Father, and He Will Come Again in Glory

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  GLOSSARY

  ABBREVIATIONS

  The following abbreviations are used for books of the Bible:

  Acts Acts of the Apostles

  Amos Amos

  Bar Baruch

  1 Chron 1 Chronicles

  2 Chron 2 Chronicles

  Col Colossians

  1 Cor 1 Corinthians

  2 Cor 2 Corinthians

  Dan Daniel

  Deut Deuteronomy

  Eccles Ecclesiastes

  Eph Ephesians

  Esther Esther

  Ex Exodus

  Ezek Ezekiel

  Ezra Ezra

  Gal Galatians

  Gen Genesis

  Hab Habakkuk

  Hag Haggai

  Heb Hebrews

  Hos Hosea

  Is Isaiah

  Jas James

  Jer Jeremiah

  Jn John

  1 Jn 1 John

  2 Jn 2 John

  3 Jn 3 John

  Job Job

  Joel Joel

  Jon Jonah

  Josh Joshua

  Jud Judith

  Jude Jude

  Judg Judges

  1 Kings 1 Kings

  2 Kings 2 Kings

  Lam Lamentations

  Lev Leviticus

  Lk Luke

  1 Mac 1 Maccabees

  2 Mac 2 Maccabees

  Mal Malachi

  Mic Micah

  Mk Mark

  Mt Matthew

  Nahum Nahum

  Neh Nehemiah

  Num Numbers

  Obad Obadiah

  1 Pet 1 Peter

  2 Pet 2 Peter

  Phil Phillipians

  Philem Philemon

  Prov Proverbs

  Ps Psalms

  Rev Revelation (Apocalypse)

  Rom Romans

  Ruth Ruth

  1 Sam 1 Samuel

  2 Sam 2 Samuel

  S
ir Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)

  Song Song of Solomon

  1 Thess 1 Thessalonians

  2 Thess 2 Thessalonians

  1 Tim 1 Timothy

  2 Tim 2 Timothy

  Tit Titus

  Tob Tobit

  Wis Wisdom

  Zech Zechariah

  Zeph Zephaniah

  The following abbreviations are also used:

  CCSL: Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina. Turnhout, 1953—. This is a collection of critical editions of all the Latin texts from the first eight centuries of the Christian era. By February 200100, 194 volumes had been published.

  PG: Patrologia Graeca, ed. Jacques-Paul Migne, 161 vols., Paris, 1857-1866. This is a collection of ancient Christian sources in Greek.

  PL: Patrologia Latina, ed. Jacques-Paul Migne, 217 vols., Paris, 1844-1855. This is a collection of ancient Christian sources in Latin.

  TDNT: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. G. Kittel and G. Friedrich, 100 vols., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964-1976.

  Publisher’s Note

  The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is the preferred translation for scriptural quotations within the text. In some instances, however, in order to reflect as clearly as possible the verbal associations emphasized by the author, it has been necessary to translate directly from the original biblical text.

  FOREWORD

  At last I am able to present to the public Part Two of my book on Jesus of Nazareth. In view of the predictable variety of reactions to Part One, it has been a source of great encouragement to me that such leading exegetes as Martin Hengel (who sadly has since passed away), Peter Stuhlmacher, and Franz Mussner have strongly confirmed me in my desire to continue my work and to complete the task I had begun. While not agreeing with every detail of my book, they regarded it, in terms of both content and method, as an important contribution that should be brought to fruition.

  A further joy for me is the fact that in the meantime this book has, so to speak, acquired an ecumenical companion in the comprehensive volume of the Protestant theologian Joachim Ringleben, Jesus (2008). Anyone who reads both books will see, on the one hand, the great difference in approach and in underlying theological presuppositions through which the contrasting confessional backgrounds of the two authors are concretely expressed. Yet, at the same time, a profound unity emerges in the essential understanding of the person of Jesus and his message. Despite the differing theological viewpoints, it is the same faith that is at work, and it is the same Lord Jesus who is encountered. It is my hope that these two books, both in their differences and in their essential common ground, can offer an ecumenical witness that, at the present time and in its own way, can serve the fundamental common task of Christians.

  I also note with gratitude that discussion of the methodology and hermeneutics of exegesis, and of exegesis as a historical and theological discipline, is becoming more lively despite a certain resistance to some recent developments. I consider especially important the book by Marius Reiser Bibelkritik und Auslegung der Heiligen Schrift (2007), which brings together a series of previously published essays, forms them into a whole, and offers important guidelines for new exegetical approaches, without abandoning those aspects of the historical-critical method that are of continuing value.

  One thing is clear to me: in two hundred years of exegetical work, historical-critical exegesis has already yielded its essential fruit. If scholarly exegesis is not to exhaust itself in constantly new hypotheses, becoming theologically irrelevant, it must take a methodological step forward and see itself once again as a theological discipline, without abandoning its historical character. It must learn that the positivistic hermeneutic on which it has been based does not constitute the only valid and definitively evolved rational approach; rather, it constitutes a specific and historically conditioned form of rationality that is both open to correction and completion and in need of it. It must recognize that a properly developed faith-hermeneutic is appropriate to the text and can be combined with a historical hermeneutic, aware of its limits, so as to form a methodological whole.

  Naturally, this combination of two quite different types of hermeneutic is an art that needs to be constantly remastered. But it can be achieved, and as a result the great insights of patristic exegesis will be able to yield their fruit once more in a new context, as Reiser’s book demonstrates. I would not presume to claim that this combination of the two hermeneutics is already fully accomplished in my book. But I hope to have taken a significant step in that direction. Fundamentally this is a matter of finally putting into practice the methodological principles formulated for exegesis by the Second Vatican Council (in Dei Verbum 12), a task that unfortunately has scarcely been attempted thus far.

  Perhaps it would be helpful at this point to clarify once more the guiding intention of my book.

  I need hardly say that I did not set out to write a “Life of Jesus”. Excellent studies are already available concerning chronological and topographical questions to do with the life of Jesus. I refer especially to Jesus of Nazareth: Message and History by Joachim Gnilka (translated by Siegfried S. Schatzmann; Peabody, Mass., 1997) and to the exhaustive study by John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew (4 vols., New York, 1991, 1994, 2001, 2009).

  A Catholic theologian has labeled my book, together with Romano Guardini’s masterpiece, The Lord, as an example of “Christology from above”, not without issuing a warning about the dangers inherent in such an approach. The truth is that I have not attempted to write a Christology. In the German-speaking world there is already a whole series of important Christologies by authors ranging from Wolfhart Pannenberg through Walter Kasper to Christoph Schönborn, to which the magnum opus of Karl-Heinz Menke, Jesus ist Gott der Sohn (2008), may now be added.

  Closer to my intention is the comparison with the theological treatise on the mysteries of the life of Jesus, presented in its classic form by Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae (S. Th. Ill, qq. 27-59). While my book has many points of contact with this treatise, it is nevertheless situated in a different historical and spiritual context, and in that sense it also has a different inner objective that determines the structure of the text in essential ways.

  In the foreword to Part One, I stated that my concern was to present “the figure and the message of Jesus”. Perhaps it would have been good to assign these two words—figure and message—as a subtitle to the book, in order to clarify its underlying intention. Exaggerating a little, one could say that I set out to discover the real Jesus, on the basis of whom something like a “Christology from below” would then become possible. The quest for the “historical Jesus”, as conducted in mainstream critical exegesis in accordance with its hermeneutical presuppositions, lacks sufficient content to exert any significant historical impact. It is focused too much on the past for it to make possible a personal relationship with Jesus. In the combination of the two hermeneutics of which I spoke earlier, I have attempted to develop a way of observing and listening to the Jesus of the Gospels that can indeed lead to personal encounter and that, through collective listening with Jesus’ disciples across the ages, can indeed attain sure knowledge of the real historical figure of Jesus.

  This task was even more difficult in Part Two than in Part One, because only in this second volume do we encounter the decisive sayings and events of Jesus’ life. I have tried to maintain a distance from any controversies over particular points and to consider only the essential words and deeds of Jesus—guided by the hermeneutic of faith, but at the same time adopting a responsible attitude toward historical reason, which is a necessary component of that faith.

  Even if there will always be details that remain open for discussion, I still hope that I have been granted an insight into the figure of our Lord that can be helpful to all readers who seek to encounter Jesus and to believe in him.

  On the basis of the underlying intention of the book as here expounded—to understand the figure of Jesus, his words and his actions—
it is clear that the infancy narratives would not fall directly within the scope of the present book. I will try, however, to keep the promise that I made in Part One (p. xxiv) and to prepare a small monograph on this subject, if I am given the strength.

  Rome, on the Feast of Saint Mark

  25 April 2010

  JOSEPH RATZINGER, BENEDICT XVI

  CHAPTER ONE

  The Entrance into Jerusalem and

  the Cleansing of the Temple

  1. The Entrance into Jerusalem

  Saint John’s Gospel speaks of three Passover feasts celebrated by Jesus in the course of his public ministry: the first, which is linked to the cleansing of the Temple (2:13-25), the Passover of the multiplication of the loaves (6:4), and finally the Passover of his death and Resurrection (for example, 12:1, 13:1), which became “his” great Passover, the basis for the Christian celebration of Easter, the Christian Passover. The Synoptics contain just one Passover feast—that of the Cross and Resurrection; indeed, in Saint Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ path is presented as a single pilgrim ascent from Galilee to Jerusalem.

  To begin with, it is an “ascent” in a geographical sense: the Sea of Galilee is situated about 690 feet below sea level, whereas Jerusalem is on average 2500 feet above. The Synoptics each contain three prophecies of Jesus’ Passion as steps in this ascent, steps that at the same time point to the inner ascent that is accomplished in the outward climb: going up to the Temple as the place where God wished “his name [to] dwell”, in the words of the Book of Deuteronomy (12:11, 14:23).

  The ultimate goal of Jesus’ “ascent” is his self-offering on the Cross, which supplants the old sacrifices; it is the ascent that the Letter to the Hebrews describes as going up, not to a sanctuary made by human hands, but to heaven itself, into the presence of God (9:24). This ascent into God’s presence leads via the Cross—it is the ascent toward “loving to the end” (cf. Jn 13:1), which is the real mountain of God.

  The immediate goal of Jesus’ pilgrim journey is, of course, Jerusalem, the Holy City with its Temple, and the “Passover of the Jews”, as John calls it (2:13). Jesus had set out with the Twelve, but they were gradually joined by an ever-increasing crowd of pilgrims. Matthew and Mark tell us that as he was leaving Jericho there was already “a great multitude” following Jesus (Mt 20:29; Mk 10:46).