The Jewish Annotated New Testament (226 page)

24.1
–12: Women at the tomb
(Mt 28.1–8; Mk 16.1–8; Jn 20.1–13).

1
:
Taking the spices
, see 23.55–56n.

4
:
Dazzling clothes
suggest angels (see v. 23), as does sudden appearance and supernatural knowledge (vv. 5–7).

6
:
He told you
, 9.22; 13.32–33.

10
:
See 8.1–3; Jn 19.25; 20.2.

11
:
They did not believe
, many commentators claim, incorrectly, that the men did not believe because Jews do not accept women’s testimony; to the contrary, the eleven do not believe because they do not expect Jesus to rise (see Jn 20.25).

24.13
–35: Emmaus incident. 13:
Two of them
, Cleopas (v. 18) and an unidentified follower, who may be a woman.
Seven miles
, lit., “sixty stadia”; a “stadion” was approximately 600 feet (180 m). The location of Emmaus is uncertain.

16
:
Their eyes were kept from recognizing
, 9.35n.; 18.34.

20
:
Chief priests and leaders
, Cleopas does not blame all Jews, although he ignores Roman involvement.

21
:
Redeem
(Gk “lutroō,” “ransom”; see Mt 20.28; Mk 10.45; 1 Tim 2.6), bring about the messianic age. There is no reason to presume only a political import (see 1.68).

22
:
Women
, see 24.11n.

25
:
Prophets have declared
, Jesus’ followers searched the scriptures for allusions to him.

26
:
The messiah should suffer
, not part of general Jewish messianic views.

27
:
Moses and all the prophets
, see 16.16n.; 24.44; Acts 28.23; Moses was regarded as having written the Torah.

30
:
Took bread, blessed and broke
, see 9.16; 22.19.

31
:
Their eyes were opened
, revelation is connected with the breaking of bread in a fellowship meal (see v. 35; Acts 2.42; 20.7; 1 Cor 10.16). The “recognition” scene (“anagnorisis”) was conventional in Greek and Roman literature.

34
:
Appeared to Simon
, see 1 Cor 15.5.

24.36
–43: Jesus’ appearance to his disciples
(Jn 20.19–23).

36
:
Peace be with you
, see 10.5n.

37
:
Ghost
, a mistaken identification (see vv. 39–40 on Jesus’ corporeality); Luke stresses the reality of Jesus’ resurrection.

42
:
Broiled fish
(cf. Jn 21.9–13).

43
:
He
…
ate
, ghosts, like angels, do not eat.

24.44
–53: Final teachings and ascension
(see Mk 16.15,19).

44
:
Vv. 26–27; Acts 28.23.
Written about me
, Luke continues to stress that Israel’s Scriptures predicted Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection (see vv. 25–26). The
Psalms
formed the opening and the longest part of the Ketuvim (“Writings”; see 16.16n.).

45
:
Opened their minds
, without divine revelation, readers would not see the predictions about Jesus in the Scriptures (24.32).

46
:
It is written
, no text explicitly states that “the messiah” should suffer, and Luke cites no specific text. Isaiah 53 and Hos 6.2 are sometimes claimed as proof texts (see also 1 Cor 15.3–4).

47
:
Repentance and forgiveness of sins
(see Acts 5.31; 10.43; 13.38; 26.18), Jews believed God is always ready to forgive the repentant.
To all nations
, anticipates the Gentile mission (see Acts 1.8).

49
:
What my Father promised
, the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2.1–21).

50
:
Bethany
, see 19.29n.
Lifting up his hands
, see Lev 9.22.

51
:
Was carried up into heaven
, Acts 1.9–11. The verse explains why Jesus no longer appears.

53
:
Continually in the temple
, Jesus’ followers continue as faithful Jews (see Acts 2.46).

1.1
–18: Prologue
. In contrast to Matthew and Luke, John does not include an infancy narrative describing Jesus’ conception and birth; neither Joseph nor Mary figures in the account of Jesus’ human origins. Rather, Jesus’ arrival in the world is described in cosmological terms, and his role as God’s son emphasized.

1
–3:
In the beginning
, echoing the opening of Genesis.
The Word
signifies God’s power of creation and redemption; as a means of expression, reason (or truth), and grace it is identified with Jesus (vv. 9,14,17). It suggests Wisdom terminology (Ps 33.6; Prov 8.7–30; Wis 9.1,9; 18.15; Sir 24.9; 43.26). For the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher Philo, God’s Logos was the very first fruit of creation;
Leg. all
. 3.175. In the Wisdom of Ben Sirach, Wisdom is strongly associated and even identified with the divine commandment, that is, the Torah (Sir 24.22–23), This identification persists well into the rabbinic period, as attested by its presence in
Gen. Rab
. 1.10, probably redacted no earlier than the fifth century. See also the use of “memra” (“word”) in the Aramaic Targumim to Genesis (see “John’s Prologue as Midrash,” p.
546
).
With God
, as in Prov 8.22–31, “I [Wisdom] was there … I was beside him [the Lord].”

4
:
Life
, whose source is God (Gen 1.20–25);
light
, the first created thing (Gen 1.3); a frequent image for God or God’s presence or favor (Isa 2.5; Ps 27.1; 36.9). Cf. also Wis 7.26.

5
:
Creation (Gen 1.2). The
light/darkness
contrast, a prominent theme in the Gospel of John, is evident also in the Dead Sea Scrolls, e.g., 1QS 3.13–4.26, but direct influence of the DSS on the Gospel is unlikely.

6
–8:
These verses preview 1.19–34.
John
the Baptist is also mentioned by Josephus,
Ant
. 18.116–119.

10
–12:
These verses summarize the basic plot of the Gospel, on both the historical and cosmological levels: Jesus’ own people, the Jews, failed to accept him and indeed they led him to his death; those who did accept him become God’s children and receive eternal life.
The world
(Gk “kosmos”) is used in two senses, meaning both creation and humankind, or, more specifically, that portion of humankind that rejected Jesus (cf. 12.31; 16.11).

11
:
His own people
are the Jews (4.22; cf. Ex 19.5).

12
–13:
Contrast between a biologically based covenant, such as that of the Jews, and a faith-based covenant, such as that the Gospel proposes (cf. 8.33–40).
Believed in his name
, gave him due honor.
Children of God
, contrast Deut 14.1, where the “children” are enjoined from following other religious practices than those given to them.

14
:
Word became flesh
, a paradoxical formulation since “flesh” is all that is perishable and “logos” is a divine quality that is eternal; cf. Isa 40.6–8, “All people [lit., ‘flesh’] are grass … The grass withers … but the word of our God will stand forever.” This point marks the “incarnation,” the moment at which the Word becomes a human being. The idea that a divine being, “God’s son,” can simultaneously be human is seen as a major dividing line between Judaism and Christianity by many Jews and Christians today. It should be noted, however, that Jews in the Second Temple period believed in the existence of supernatural beings, such as angels, who could at times take human form (e.g., Raphael in the book of Tobit). This is not to say that Christ-confessors believed Jesus was human in form only (this was argued by the Docetists, a group labeled as heretical by the developing Christian church), but simply that the boundaries between human and divine were understood in a more porous and less absolute way at this time.
Lived among us
, the Gk means “tabernacled,” an allusion to the Tabernacle that the Israelites constructed in the wilderness and the precursor of the Jerusalem Temple (e.g., Ex 25.9). There may also be a connection to the Heb “shekhinah”, which in some texts, such as
Tg. Onq
. at Deut 12.5, was used as a technical term for God’s presence among God’s people.
Glory
, Gk “doxa” is the usual LXX equivalent of Heb “kavod,” the visible manifestation of God’s presence (e.g., Ex 16.10).

17
–18:
Contrast between Jesus and Moses, and the superiority of the Gospel to the Torah (Ex 34.18).
Grace and truth
, both God’s loving presence (Heb “hesed,” “steadfast love,” e.g., Ps 85.10) and God’s firm faithfulness (Heb “‘emet,” “truth” that does not give way).

1.19
–34: The testimony of John the Baptist. 19:
The Jews
, here refers to the Jerusalem authorities most closely associated with ritual purification.

20
:
John the Baptist was revered by the Mandaeans, a little-known monotheistic group, adherents of which still exist today, mostly in Iraq.

21
:
Elijah
(2 Kings 2.11) and
the prophet
were believed to be the forerunners of the messiah (Mal 4.5 [3.23 in MT]). Elijah’s ascent to heaven in a fiery chariot (1 Kings 2.11) led to speculation that he was still alive and would return before the messianic age. Elijah’s role as a forerunner of the messiah is indicated in a number of rabbinic stories, e.g.,
b. Sanh
. 98a; “the prophet” may be a reference to the expectation that the messiah would be a “prophet like Moses” (Deut 18.15–18; see also 1 Macc 4.46; 14.41). The expectation of a prophet-messiah is also present in the DSS (e.g., 1QS 9.11). The inclusion of this interrogation may be part of a polemic against those who viewed John the Baptist as a messianic figure.