-
Rejected Prophets
- Augsburg Fortress Publishers
- Chapter
- Additional Information
8 Rejected Prophets In chapter 5, we saw how Luke depicts immediate and consistent Jewish rejection. Starting with Jesus’ sermon in Nazareth and ending with his crucifixion in Jerusalem, Jews object to his sabbath breaking, his assumption of God’s prerogative to forgive sins, and his gestures toward Gentile inclusion. They challenge him; they conspire against him; they arrest him; they mistreat him; they condemn him; they accuse him to Pilate; they demand his execution. This is a shocking outcome for God’s Messiah. Luke, however, assures his audience that Jewish rejection is part of God’s plan. Prophets like Simeon and Jesus foretell Jewish rejection all along. Moreover, the Scriptures anticipate the Messiah’s rejection and vindication. David himself says that the people of Israel, along with the Gentiles and their rulers, set themselves against God’s Messiah. They are the “builders” who reject God’s “cornerstone.” In Luke’s view, this is not so unusual. Jesus is a prophet, and Israel has always rejected God’s prophets. Isaiah and Jeremiah explain why: they do not truly listen because they cannot understand. We noted in chapter 5 that this pattern applies particularly to the prophet like Moses foretold in Deut. 18:15, 18-19. For Luke, Jesus is the prophet like Moses—the prophet about whom God says, “You shall listen to him.” The people, however, reject Moses after he strikes down an Israelite’s Egyptian oppressor. Likewise, they reject Jesus after he strikes down unclean spirits, disease, sin, and death. In the words of Stephen, “He supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand” (Acts 7:25). Because Peter is a prophet like Jesus, he will also face rejection by his own people. Luke takes great pains to demonstrate that this, too, is part of God’s plan. Drawing on Mark and Q, he shows how Jesus prophesies Jewish rejection of Peter and the apostles. Three of Jesus’ parables indicate that even after the Jerusalem establishment has condemned Jesus, they will have a second chance to accept the good news of God’s salvation. This lays the foundation for Luke to complete his portrait of Jesus and his apostles as prophets like Moses. Just as 95 the Israelites rejected Moses twice—first in Egypt, then in the wilderness—so the Jerusalem authorities will reject first Jesus, then Peter and the apostles. “You Shall Listen” Luke’s Jesus first prophesies the apostles’ rejection in the Beatitudes, borrowed from Q (Luke 6:20-23//Matt. 5:1-12). Jesus tells them, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets” (Luke 6:22-23). This statement not only forecasts slander and ostracism for the apostles but also compares their rejection to the rejection of Israel’s prophets. Next, Luke begins to echo rejection themes from Mark. Jesus sends out the twelve disciples with instructions for dealing with rejection: they must shake the dust of inhospitable towns from their feet (Luke 9:5//Mark 6:11). He prophesies his own rejection, then tells his disciples that they, too, must carry their cross. They must risk their lives to follow him (Luke 9:23-24//Mark 8:34-35).1 As Jesus begins his journey to Jerusalem, he appoints seventy disciples—a gesture that likens them to the seventy elders appointed by Moses (Luke 10:1; cf. Num. 11:16). After instructing them, he pronounces woes against the Galilean cities that will reject them (Luke 10:13-15//Matt. 11:20-24). These woes, copied from Q, are followed by this statement: “Whoever listens [akouōn] to you listens [akouei] to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me” (Luke 10:16). A similar statement appears in Matthew: “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me” (Matt. 10:40). If this statement comes from Q, then Luke has either retained or substituted vocabulary that best suits his purposes. The issue for Luke is not so much whether Israel welcomes the apostles but whether Israel listens to them or rejects them. This issue seems to lie behind Luke’s version of Q’s woe to the...