Jesus and John the Baptist in the Pepysian Harmony

by Yuri Kuchinsky

(This is Part 2 of my analysis of PH. Part 1 was posted to Synoptic-L, and
to loisy-l on March 28.)

SUMMARY: What we see in PH is a very close association of JB's disciples
with Jesus' disciples. JB's status is quite exalted in PH, more so than in
the canonicals. This strengthens the theory that JB and Jesus were close
associates. Also, in one of the following passages, PH seems to preserve
the narrative sequence that is very early, and perhaps earlier than the
four canonicals.

PH has Jesus baptized by John the Baptist (Par. 7) in an impressive scene
that contains many very early textual features, as Boismard argues in his
book.

In my view, a very interesting part of JB's baptism in PH is that the
Pharisees are not portrayed nearly as negatively as in the canonicals.
They are not cursed out harshly by JB as in Mt and Mk, but are merely told
to repent, or else, "God might make some good men out of those who no one
had any hope in before."

"..for whi God miGht make also gode men of hem that noman hadde hope
jnne." 9

(It may be noted that in this PH passage, JB is also portrayed as a
vegetarian, which is quite significant in relation to the various heresies
that were associated with vegetarianism at various times.)

After baptism, Jesus goes into the wilderness and undergoes the
temptation. After that, Jesus comes back to JB (Par. 9).

Then Jesus and JB are portrayed together active in the same geographical
area. Some of JB's disciples begin to follow Jesus. In this PH follows Jn
1 where close early association of Jesus with JB and with his disciples is
made quite clear.

Disciples of JB come and visit Jesus' house (here PH is parallel to Jn
1:39). But in this scene, where Jn has "4 in the afternoon", and disciples
stay in Jesus' house only during the day, PH has the disciples arrive at 9
in the evening, and they stay overnight. Quite a significant divergence,

".. & Jesus ledde them hom to his jn & herberewed them [provided lodging
for them?] that niGth; for it was passed ouer none." (p. 11)

Then the miracle at Cana follows, then the cleansing of the Temple. PH
follows Johannine sequence in these passages (Par. 11).

After the cleansing, Jesus comes back to JB once again (Par. 12), and JB's
discourse about Jesus follows, parallel to Jn. As usual the discourse is
related in the third person, for example,

"For it bihoued nedes that Jesus wex & that he vnwex."

Next in PH sequence, JB is arrested (parallel to Lk 3:19). But here we
find a very significant difference in order in PH compared to all the
canonicals, because in the following PH scene Jesus hears about JB's
arrest, and escapes to Galilee,

"And as sone [soon] as Jesus herde [heard] that John was enprisoned & that
the Pharisewes gruchchended [grumbled] that he baptiGed so mychel [many]
folk, tho [then] lefte Jesus Jude [Judea] & wente in to Galilee." 15

Of course in Mt and in Mk JB's arrest is also followed by Jesus' escape to
Galilee, but this happens right after the Temptation in the Wilderness.

In a passage similar to PH, Jn 4:1-3 also places Jesus' decision to go to
Galilee right after the discourse by JB. Yet the motivation to do so is
not clear.

Jn 4:1
The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing
more disciples than John,
2
although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his
disciples. [this v. 2 seems like a later expansion -- YK]
3
When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went
back once more to Galilee.

Here one may wonder, Why hearing this news about the Pharisees would have
caused Jesus to go to Galilee? Jn says nothing here about the arrest of
JB, and yet it seems like the arrest is implied in the text, and it may
have been originally a part of this sequence. This then would explain the
escape.

But, interestingly, Lk places the arrest just before the baptism! It
certainly stands to reason that the arrest was originally after the
baptism -- in fact that this was a late switch-over seems rather apparent.

So in this passage PH appears to preserve the earliest sequence that is
implied both in Lk and in Jn, which both appear to have altered
subsequently, with the view of disguising somewhat (in the case of Jn),
and diminishing (in the case of Lk) the close connection of the career of
Jesus and the career of JB.

It seems to me like in this case PH preserves the original sequence of the
proto-narrative standing behind all the four canonicals, in which the
careers of JB and of Jesus were closely linked. Mt and Mk seem to preserve
a small part of this sequence as well, but omitting some of the events
still preserved by PH. Jn also preserves these events quite well, but
alters them somewhat, while Lk both abbreviates and scrambles the sequence
somewhat.

The alternative interpretation may be that Jn added various events linking
Jesus and JB into a basic narrative sequence borrowed from Mt/Mk (and then
PH merely depends on Jn in these passages, rather than preserving the
original proto-sequence), but it is not clear why the rather late Fourth
Gospel would be making these things up ex nihilo and raising the status of
JB at the time when the prevailing theological tendency was to diminish
the role of JB in the early movement, and generally to understate the
Jewishness of Jesus. So a more logical assumption seems to be that both Jn
and PH preserve the original proto-narrative, but PH does it better than
Jn. Or, at the very minimum, PH preserves better the original sequence of
Jn and Lk.

As I mentioned before, in Mt and in Mk JB's arrest is also followed by
Jesus' escape to Galilee, but this happens right after the Temptation in
the Wilderness. Here for example is Mt's version,

"When he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee." Mt
4:12

In reference to this, it seems probable to me that the original source of
Mt and Mk was longer in this passage, and perhaps similar to PH, because
the logical implication of both Mt and Mk is that Jesus was in the same
geographical area as JB at the time of the arrest, and needed to escape
from that area. So in the source of Mt/Mk there probably stood some
passage, similar to PH, where Jesus and JB were portrayed as associates.

PH comes back to the theme of JB later, similarly to the Synoptics (Par.
30). In this case PH parallels the text of Lk.

Lk 7:26
But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell
you, and more than a prophet.
27
This is the one about whom it is written: "`I will send
my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way
before you.'
28
I tell you, among those born of women there is no one
greater than John; yet the one who is least in the
kingdom of God is greater than he."

Here PH has,

"[words of Jesus:] '..ne he nys no prophete; ac he is more than a
prophete, for he is the aungel that God bihett [promised?] that schulde
come & make the weye tofore Crist.' And atte ende he seide that there nas
neuer Gut [yet] non heiGer man ybore [born] of womman." (p. 31)

This is a very significant difference from Lk's text. First of all, JB is
described as an "angel", which raises his status. And even more
importantly, the qualification "yet the one who is least in the kingdom of
God is greater than he" is missing. In this, there's a clear parallel with
the Hebrew Mt, where such a qualification of the status of JB is also
missing. So as a result, both in HMt and in PH Jesus seems to accept that
JB is greater than he.

(In the concluding Part 3 of this analysis, I will look at the unique very
close connection in PH of the two incidents: the beheading of JB, and the
feeding of the 5000. In this case, again, it seems like PH preserves a
very early sequence that stands behind all the four canonicals.)

Best regards,

Yuri.

Yuri Kuchinsky | Toronto | http://www.trends.ca/~yuku/bbl/bbl.htm

Biblical history list http://www.egroups.com/group/loisy - unmoderated

The goal proposed by Cynic philosophy is apathy, which is
equivalent to becoming God -=O=- Julian