IV. The Origin of Jesus' Messianic Self-Awareness

In the section on apocalyptic demonology, we noted a reference in Jubilees which predicts that there will be no Satan and that all God's servants will be healed in the Messianic kingdom. One doubts that the rulers and the healthy people paid too much attention to this sign of the Messiah. Instead they were probably more interested in other promises such as the regaining of political freedom. But what would be foremost in the minds of the sick people? The answer is obvious: "When the Messiah comes, I will be healed!" It is not difficult to imagine that once Jesus had performed some "miraculous" healings, the sick people thought of him as a Messianic candidate and came to him requesting to be healed. And, of course, if they were healed, they would not be able to contain their joy and belief and would be most likely to apotheosize Jesus as the true Messiah. That those who were "possessed by demons" should have uttered such remarks, the gospel writers regarded as proof that supernatural powers regarded Jesus as the Messiah. This aspect of demonology is especially emphasized in the gospel of Mark. But the origin of these stories is probably in a very real and understandable attitude of the sick people who in their anticipation of healing convinced themselves (and the disciples) that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

All four gospels record that when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, the spirit of the Lord descended upon him like a dove and a voice said 'This is my beloved son," This is generally accepted as the first realization by Jesus of his Messiahship. We have no reason to doubt that some such remarkable experience occurred before his ministry and set it off. But was one such occurrence enough to give Jesus confidence in himself as a Messiah? When did Jesus become famous?

Mark and Luke (Matthew can be demonstrated to have rearranged their material to fit a literary pattern paralleling the history of Israel) put the first events of the ministry in the following order:

Mark 1. Baptism by John 2. Temptation in wilderness 3. Teaching in Nazareth 4. Healing of man with unclean spirit 5. Calling of four disciples

Luke 1. Baptism by John 2. Temptation in wilderness 3. Teaching in Galilee 4. Calling of four disciples 5. Healing of man with unclean spirit

John also begins with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, but he was never much concerned with the activities of Satan or evil spirits, so he does not include these events. Not until after the fifth event in Mark does the fame of Jesus "spread abroad throughout all the region." Luke disagrees and reports such fame after only the second event. For Mark the determining factor is the successful exorcism of a demon, whereas for Luke it is the teaching of Jesus. We may be justified in throwing the emphasis upon the earlier account of Mark which indicates that demon exorcism made Jesus famous for the first time.

Let us try to reconstruct the story. Jesus, previously unsuspecting his Messiahship, had a strange and moving experience when he was baptized by John the Baptist and at this point was first told that he was the "Son of God." This announcement had a profound effect upon him. "Immediately," he went into the wilderness to wrestle with his problems. Upon returning home he discovered that he had acquired strange powers of healing, especially of exorcising demons. This last occurrence, more than any other, gave him the confidence to believe he was the Messiah. The passage from Luke quoted with question (6) indicates that Jesus was aware of the prevailing attitude that associated Messianic power with the ability to exorcise demons. Once fame of his healing abilities had spread, all of the sick people in the surrounding countryside flocked to him to be healed, calling him the Messiah. What could be more bolstering to his Messianic self-awareness?

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