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Matt 11:25, 27 |
Matt 28:1[8] |
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‘Εξομολουμαι σοι, πατερ κυριε του ουρανου και
της γης. . . . Παντα μοι παρεδοθη υπο του πατρος μου. |
‘Εδόθη μοι πᾶσα ἐξουσία ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς. |
|
I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. . . . All things have
been handed over to me by my Father. |
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. |
. . .
. . . the
language of God as “Father” is Matthean. On one occasion Mark’s Jesus speaks of
“your Father in heaven” (Mark 11:25) and on another Jesus prays “Abba, Father”
(Mark 14:36), but in Matthew, “Father” language is frequent and emphatic. Where
Mark speaks of “the will of God” (Mark 3:35), Matthew speaks of “the will of my
Father in heaven” (Matt 12:50). “Your heavenly Father,” “my heavenly Father,” “our
Father who is in heaven”—all of these are mainstays of Matthean redaction. Of
the four gospels, it is Matthew and John who most frequently use “my Father”
language, fourteen times and twenty-five times, respectively. The phrase never
comes in Mark, and it comes only four times in Luke (Luke 2:49; 10:22; 22:29; 24:49), one of which
is the parallel with the Matthean passage under discussion (Matt 11:27 // Luke
10:22).
The curiosity of
this passage, though, on the element that most clearly gives it its Johannine
ring is the absolute use “the Father” and “the Son” rather than “my Father,”
which is much more common in Matthew, and “My Son.” The Father-Son Christology
itself is Matthean, but this specific way of talking about the Father and the Son
does sound Johannine. The issue is actually an accident of context. Matthew’s Jesus
has been praying to his Father (11:25) and goes on to talk typically of “my
Father” (11:27). But now he is setting up the repetitive converse statement, which
requires a rhythm that does use the possessive that he usually uses. Jesus is
speaking, and so he cannot say “my Son.” In order to make the poetry work, the
pair “the Son” and “the Father” is required. Matthew’s Jesus is simply
referring back to these possessives established previously and balancing the
clauses of the repetitive converse statement.
When viewed as an
element in Matthew’s Gospel, the so-called Johannine thunderbolt looks quite at
home. It is driven through with the language and theology that is typically of
Matthew. The verses also work well in their Lukan context, and when Luke copies
Matthew as closely as he does here, we have reason to imagine that the material
was highly congenial. It is worth noting that the context for the saying segues
in Luke into a series of passages, some from Matthew, some new, which further
explore the themes related to the fatherhood of God.
While the wording
in Matt 11:27 // Luke 10:22 does not occur verbatim in John, there are multiple
parallels in the gospel. The idea that “all things have been given to me by my
Father” is a clear emphasis in John, perhaps most explicitly in John 13:3, “Jesus,
knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands” (εἰδὼς ὅτι πάντα ἔδωκεν
αὐτῷ ὁ πατὴρ εἰς τὰς χεῖρας), but often elsewhere (e.g., 5:19-20, 22; 10:29;
12:49; 17:2-5). Similarly, the idea of mutual knowledge of the Father and the
Son recurs in John, perhaps most explicitly in John 10:14-15, where the knowledge
is similarly extended to Jesus’s own, “I am the good shepherd, and I know my
own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father” (εγώ
εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς καὶ γινώσκω τὰ ἐμὰ καὶ γινώσκουσίν με τὰ ἐμά, καθὼς γινώσκει με ὁ πατὴρ κἀγὼ γινώσκω τὸν
πατέρα), but again, these kinds of thoughts are pervasive in John (e.g., 7:27-29;
cf. 17:20-23, 25-26).
My suggestion is
that the saying in Matt 11:27 // Luke 10:22 is among the most important sources
for the Fourth Evangelist’s thinking. It is key for the development of his
Christology. So much of what he finds in the Synoptics is oblique, subtle,
suggestive. But here is a clear statement of Jesus’s relationship to the
Father, not expressed in kingdom imagery, not expressed in parables, not expressed
through “Son of Man” language. It is an unambiguous christological claim that
coheres with the evangelist’s thinking, and it becomes a central source of his
theological reflection. It gives birth to his favorite language, first of “my
Father,” which is also some of Matthew’s favorite language, and then to “the
Father” and “the Son,” that the intimacy of their relationship. John’s knowledge
of the Synoptics differs here from Matthew’s and Luke’s use of Mark. It is not
so much source utilization as source inspiration. This passage and others like it
inspire John’s Christology. (Mark Goodacre, The Fourth Synoptic Gospel: John’s
Knowledge of Matthew, Mark, and Luke [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2025],
157, 158-59)
