Jesus' Priestly Role in Gospels and more on this Sunday's Readings

[KarlAdam]

Michael Barber has a new video up and corresponding post on TheSacredPage.com which goes into depth on this Sunday’s readings, covering the Request of James and John, Jesus’ role as the Suffering Servant and the Son of Man, he’s teaching about giving his life as a ransom for many, and much more. There’s a lot of great stuff here, but I wanted to highlight this:

The Ransom Saying
Jesus teaching that “the Son of Man has come not to be served but serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” seems to draw from the Suffering Servant song of Isaiah 53. Indeed the teaching has numerous points of contact with this prophecy, particularly as it stands in the MT [Masoretic Text, e.g., Modern Hebrew Bible]. Davies and Allison[11] list a number of parallels:

1. The terminology of “the many” (רבים) plays an especially important role in Isaiah 53:11–12. 2. The language of “for many” (ἀντὶ πολλῶν) evokes Isaiah 53:11, where the Servant is said to “make many לרבים] to be accounted righteous.”
2. Jesus’ words about “giving his life as a ransom” (δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ λύτρον) is similar to the language in Isaiah 53:10, “when he makes himself an offering for sin” (אם־תשים אשם נפשו) in Isaiah 53:10 (cf. 53:12).[12]
3. Jesus explanation that he has come “to serve” (διακονῆσαι) evokes the imagery of the “servant” (עבד; Isa 52:13; 53:11).
   In fact, Davies and Allison point out that Romans 4:25 reveals that the connection between Jesus’ death and Isaiah 53 was forged early on. Page puts it well:

“The link between the πολλῶν ("many") and rabbîm ("many"), which appears in Isa. 52:14, 15 and 53:11, 12, has often been pointed out, but it has not always been appreciated that what makes it significant is the occurrence in both Mark 10:45 and Isaih 53 is the notion of one dying in the place of the ‘many’. The similarities of detail, along with the fact that the general ideas of service and vicarious death are held in common, lead us to the conclusion that the ransom saying was formed in conscious dependence upon the Isaianic picture of the Suffering Servant.”[13]

Thus, while other Isaianic texts also seem to have connections with Jesus’ teaching,[14] the connection with Isaiah 53 therefore appears quite strong.[15]

Although it may at first seem strange that Jesus’ links his role as the Danielic Son of Man with imagery from the Isaianic Suffering Servant passage, it should be noted that elsewhere the book of Daniel itself appears to specifically describe the righteous of the eschatological age with imagery drawn from Isaiah 52–53 (cf. Dan 11:33; 12:1).[16] In addition, 1 Enoch also appears to link Isaianic imagery to the “Son of Man” figure.[17] The connection between “Son of Man” language and the Isaianic Servant is thus not lacking precedent.

Priestly Imagery
Given that this is the Year for Priests, I thought I also ought to highlight the priestly dimension of the saying.

Of course, that Jesus appears to allude to Isaiah’s Suffering Servant is especially significant for our purposes since the Isaianic figure is specifically linked with cultic imagery. The Servant serves as a cultic sacrifice, offering his life as a guilt offering (cf. Isa 53:10). Of course, implicit in this is a priestly role―he is the one who presents a sacrifice for sin.[18] Indeed, other cultic imagery also occurs within the passage. In particular, the Servant is said to “bear” (נשא) the iniquities of the people―an image not only linked with the scapegoat of Yom Kippur (cf. Lev 16:22) but also connected with the priests (cf. Lev 10:17: “that you may bear נשא] the iniquity of the congregation”). That Jesus associates himself with the Suffering Servant would thus seem to imply that he perceives himself as in someway taking upon a priestly role.

In fact, that Jesus specifically identifies himself with the language of “ransom” (λύτρον) would also seem to point in the direction of some sort of priestly self-identification. What is virtually universally ignored by scholars is the fact that the only instance in Jewish literature in which humans are described as functioning as a “ransom” (λύτρον) is Numbers 3 and 8 where Moses is told to “present” the Levites before the Lord in the place of the first-born. Thus one can make the case that the idea of a human serving as a “ransom” is a priestly one.[19]

Go check out the whole thing on his site.