Where did Jesus appear: Judea or Galilee, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Capernaum, Betsaida?
thanks for your comment on the translation of Marcion's opening, and I also went back to your blog to read, again, through all the fascinating discussion related to your theory about Bethsaida asf. I think, we simply have to acknowledge that from what I have seen so far, the beginning of Marcion's Gospel is one of, if not the most difficult part with regards to a potential reconstruction. If the rest were of the same complexity, one would better give up. Now, from reading on in the text, it becomes slightly clearer what might (or might not) have been part of the opening. I have long thought about the Isa. 61:1 quote, and also thought about what has been written on your blog - especially in the light of Luke 7:20-3, and I certainly will have to rethink it, when commenting on this latter passage. Unfortunately, the earliest testimonies about the beginning of Marcion's Gospel are incoherent. Now what to prefer from the choice that we have? The savest option, and that seems to me to be a hermeneutical rule of interpretations is: What does our oldest sources say? (Oldest being Justin, Irenaeus, Tertullian, if we follow the accepted theories; I, in addition, always also check the Synoptics - as, if my theory proves to be right, these would be our earliest readers, editors and, hence, sources for Marcion. But not to end in a circular argument - I only use this step as a final test, not as part of the working out of the text). Having gone for the oldest source-texts, I then look sceptical at what our sources repeat, but is not mentioned by the oldest sources, but could derive from our (canonical) gospels, as I reckon that - as already in Justin - those texts exert some influence (and even more later on). It looks to me (again, needs detailed further work) as if Tatian has used Marcion's Gospel, but also canoncial gospels.
To come back to your proposal with Betsaida. I fully agree that, given the previously mentioned premises, this is a vital option for the identification of Jesus' location of appearance, especially with your ingenious interpretation as 'House of the Demons'. If this came from the Diatessaron, it would not be late, but early, and could, indeed be by Marcion. I agree, it would fit well the content, of what he writes, and also harmonizes with some other witnesses (Irenaeus included) who believe that according to Marcion, Jesus appeared in Judea. And perhaps we need to leave it with this. I have excluded Galilee, also Nazareth - as this information may have been added into our sources by reliance on the Synoptics, but, more importantly, I have left out of the main text any location, because of the conflicting sources, but I will add Betsaida and your description of its potential meaning into my commentary. Why I am reluctant in putting Betsaida into the main text is solely the thought that, if Marcion did, indeed, have Betsaida in his Gospel, why do we have such conflicting evidence precisely with regards to the location. One counter-argument against this of which I can think of might be against the weight of the canonical writings later. And yet, as you still rightly write, Irenaeus still dared to report that according to Marcion the Lord came down into Judea. Maybe a potential solution is that Irenaeus is right (especially as it goes against the Synoptics), and that the Diatessaron with its Jewish background, also knowing of Luke's suggestion, decided to combine Marcion's Judea and Luke's Galilee and turned it into the city which you have then rightly identified as Jerusalem, the place of the 'temple', built by the demons.
O wonderful wonder, delight, power and astonishment that we cannot speak about it [i.e. faith], think about it [i.e. faith], or compare it [i.e. faith] with anything.
1:1 <Beginning> of the Gospel of Christ.
1:2 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, 1:3 Jesus who had come down from above, appeared and began teaching in the synagogue. 1:4 And all were puzzled at the gracious words coming out of His mouth.
1:5 And they said, 'Isn't this Joseph's son?
1:6 What have we to do with you, Jesus! Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are – the Holy One of God.' 1:7 But Jesus rebuked him.
1:8 They got up, forced him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 1:9 But he passed through the crowd and went on his way.
As they had done it, they caught so many fish <that their nets were torn. So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they were about to sink.
1:17 But when> Simon Peter <saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying: 'Go away from me'> For Peter was terrified about the catch of fish that they had taken, and <so were James and John,> Zebedee's sons, <who were Simon's business partners>.
1:19 So when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
1:30 <After this, while Jesus went again along the sea, he taught the crowd that followed him. Passing along, he saw Levi sitting at> the tax booth and said to him: 'Follow me', 1:31 <And he got up and followed him, leaving everything behind.
2:12 <It happened> in those days that he went out to the mountain <to pray>, and he spent all night in prayer. 2:13 <When morning came, he called his disciples and> chose twelve <of them, whom he also gave the title> apostles: 2:14 <first> Simon (whom he named also Peter), <and his brother Andrew; and James, his brother John, whom he nicknamed Boanerges that means 'sons of the sunder', and Philip and Bartholomew, 2:15 and Matthew and Thomas, the one called Didyme, and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 2:16 and Judas, the son of James, and> Judas <Scarioth, who also became> a traitor.
'Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God belongs to you.
2:22 Blessed are you when people hate you, and <when they> exclude and reject your name as evil on account of the Son of Man! 2:23 For their ancestors did the same things to the prophets.
2:24 <But> woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation already.
2:25 Woe <to you> who are well satisfied with food, for you will be hungry.
2:27 But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies, <do good> to those who hate you, 2:28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 2:29 <To the person who strikes you> on the cheek, offer the other as well, and from the person who takes away your coat, do not withhold your tunic either. 2:30 Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your possessions back from the person who takes them away. 2:31 In the way that you would want them to treat you, treat others. 2:32 <If you love those who love you>, what credit is that to you? <For even sinners do this and love those who love them. 2:33 And if you do good to those who do good to you>, what credit is that to you? <Even sinners do the same.> 2:34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to be repaid, what credit is that to you? <Even sinners lend to sinners, so that they may be repaid in full.> 2:35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back and you will be sons of God, because he is kind to ungrateful and evil people. 2:36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
2:37 Do not judge, so that you will not be judged; do not condemn, so that you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. 2:38 Give, and it will be given to you: A good measure, pressed down and running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use will be the measure you receive. 2:39 <He also told them a parable:> 'Someone who is blind <cannot> lead another who is blind, can he? <Won't they both> fall into a pit? 2:40 A disciple is not greater than his teacher, <but everyone when fully trained will be like his teacher. 2:41 Why do you see> the speck which is in <your brother's> eye, but <do not recognize the beam of wood in your eye? 2:42 Or, how can you say to your brother, 'let> me remove the speck from your eye', <and see, the beam rests in your eye? Hypocrite! First remove the beam from your eye, and then you can see clearly> to remove the speck from <your brother's> eye.
2:43 For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 2:44 <for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from brambles. 2:45 The good> person out of the good treasury <of his heart> produces <good, and the evil person> out of his evil (heart) produces <evil, for his mouth speaks from what fills his heart>. 2:46 Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and don't do what I tell you?
3:3 'Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible anguish'.
3:4 And he [Jesus] said to him: 'I will come and heal him'.
1:1 Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 1:2 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, 1:3 when Jesus came down from above, he appeared and began teaching in the synagogue. 1:4 And all were puzzled at the gracious words coming out of His mouth. 1:5 And they said, 'Isn't this Joseph's son? 1:6 Let be! What have we to do with you, Jesus! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God.' 1:7 But Jesus rebuked him and said to them: 'No doubt you will quote to me the proverb, "Physician, heal yourself!"' 1:8 They got up, forced him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 1:9 But he passed through the crowd and went on his way. 1:10 As the sun was setting, <all those who had any relatives sick with various diseases brought them to him.> He placed his hands on them and healed them. 1:11 Demons also came out, crying out: 'You are the Son of God!' 1:12 But he rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
And all were puzzled at the gracious words coming out of His mouth.
1:6 Let be! What have we to do with you, Jesus!
'No doubt you will quote to me the proverb, "Physician, heal yourself!"' 1:8 They got up, forced him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 1:9 But he passed through the crowd and went on his way.
1:10 As the sun was setting, <all those who had any relatives sick with various diseases brought them to him.> He placed his hands on them and healed them. 1:11 Demons also came out, crying out: 'You are the Son of God!' 1:12 But he rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
1:4 In the wilderness John the baptizer began preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
1:12 The Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness. 1:13 He was in the wilderness forty days, enduring temptations from Satan. He was with wild animals, and angels were ministering to his needs.
1:21 Then they went to Capernaum. When the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.
1:22 The people there were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them like one who had authority, not like the experts in the law.
1:24 "What have we to do with you, Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!" 1:25 But Jesus rebuked him and said: "Silence! Come out of him!" 1:26 After throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. 1:27 They were all amazed, so that they asked each other, "What's happening here? A new teaching of substance? Even the unclean spirits he commands and they listen to him!" 1:28 And the message of him spread instantaneously everywhere into the region around Galilee.
1:40 Now a leper came to him and fell to his knees, asking for help. "If you are willing, you can make me clean," he said. 1:41 Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing. Be clean!" 1:42 The leprosy left him at once, and he was clean. 1:43 Immediately Jesus sent the man away with a very strong warning. 1:44 He told him, "See that you do not say anything to anyone, but go, show yourself to a priest, and bring the offering that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." 1:45 But as the man went out he began to announce it publicly and spread the story widely, so that Jesus was no longer able to enter any town openly but stayed outside in remote places. Still they kept coming to him from everywhere.
4:1 Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 4:2 where for forty days he endured temptations from the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, he was famished. 4:3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." 4:4 Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man does not live by bread alone.'" 4:5 Then the devil led him up to a high place and showed him in a flash all the kingdoms of the world. 4:6 And he said to him, "To you I will grant this whole realm – and the glory that goes along with it, for it has been relinquished to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. 4:7 So then, if you will worship me, all this will be yours." 4:8 Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'" 4:9 Then the devil brought him to Jerusalem, had him stand on the highest point of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 4:10 for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' 4:11 and 'with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" 4:12 Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.'" 4:13 So when the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until a more opportune time.
4:14 Then Jesus, in the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and news about him spread throughout the surrounding countryside.
"Let be! What have we to do with you, Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!" 4:35 But Jesus rebuked him and said: "Silence! Come out of him!" Then, after the demon threw the man down in their midst, he came out of him without hurting him.
4:36 Amazement happened to all and they talked to each other, "What speech is this? That with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they leave." 4:37 So the news about him spread quickly throughout all around the region.
4:42 The next morning Jesus departed and went to a deserted place. Yet the crowds were seeking him, and they came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them. 4:43 But Jesus said to them, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, for that is what I was sent to do." 4:44 So he continued to preach in the synagogues of Judea. 5:1 Now Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing around him to hear the word of God. 5:2 He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 5:3 He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then Jesus sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 5:4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and lower your nets for a catch." 5:5 Simon answered, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing! But at your word I will lower the nets." 5:6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets started to tear. 5:7 So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they were about to sink. 5:8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" 5:9 For Peter and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 5:10 and so were James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's business partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." 5:11 So when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
What happened in this passage is clear: Mark who is not a slave of words, and more specifically, must have grasped the theology behind The Gospel has written his counter-narrative, his counter-Gospel to it. Beginning with the initial link of his Gospel with the Prophets and the Torah, enhanced by the counter-design of John the Baptist not as the one who takes offense at Jesus, but, on the contrary, prepares his paths, preaches the baptism of repentance and himself baptizes the 'One more powerful', so adds his own historic preface to the Gospel which does not expand on Jesus' childhood or youth, but goes much further back into the beginnings and foundations of Judaism which he sees stretching to Jesus, before in Mark 1:9 he hits for the first time the narrative of The Gospel. And yet, this start of The Gospel is woven into Mark's account of the Baptist precisely at the peak of this preface, where in Mark it is stated that John baptizes Jesus. It was a powerful build-up to this meeting with The Gospel. The temptations follow which, as with Jesus' baptism, underline both, his embeddedness into Judaism while at the same time it elevates Jesus above humans and angels. In this way Mark corrects The Gospels angelic Christology in two directions, it removes its anti-Jewishness, not by debasing, but elevating Jesus' status. The temptations are followed by Jesus proclamation of the Gospel of God in Galilee, starting with the calling of the disciples. But already with the first preaching appearance of Jesus, Mark hits The Gospel again, for the second time at an instance where something happens to Jesus. Then follows the core passage with most of the verbally identical verses. Before we carry on to compare the further passages, let us look at Luke. As already noticed before, Luke is much closer to the wording of The Gospel, not only where we come to the central part of this periscope, but right from the inception of this re-start in his Gospel. And yet, he is no slave of The Gospel either, despite the verbal agreements. Having added the lengthy birth and youth story to his Gospel, he follows the same pattern as Mark. In the headings of their pericopes or paragraphs, they reproduce The Gospel, and, hence, follow The Gospel in its narrative storyline. But like Mark is Luke instantaneously wandering off, and massively add new material. In Luke it is not only that he links the gospel to the Torah and the Prophets, but also to the existing Jewish authorities and creates a historical stage for what The Gospel had presented as a miraculous appearance. He reduces the gap not only between Judaism and Christianity, but also between eternity and time, transcendance and immanence. Now, from this pericope here, is Mark likely to be dependent on Luke or the latter on the former? The tendency of massive expansion over and against Mark's rather modest broadening of The Gospel speaks for the second solution, specifically as Luke is dealing with Mark not differently as he works with The Gospel. Where, for example, he finds Mark which has expanded on The Gospel, he himself wanders off and adds more narrative material to Mark. Only rarely is he leaving out passages of Mark (explain!!! As with Mark 1:2), but instead, where Mark gives a short summarizing account, Luke develops this account into an imaginative, colourful and lively story with dialogues and concret people. To take a few examples. Where Mark stated that 'John the baptizer began preaching a baptism of repenctance for the forgiveness of sins', Luke gives the reader not a summary, but the drastic preaching of John ('You offspring of vipers! …'). When Mark mentions that people came and 'confessed their sins', Luke lets tax collectors and soldiers engage in a dialogue with the Baptist. The ever broadening narrative can be seen in TG 1:3 // Mark 1:9ff. // Luke 3:21ff. The story as in typical storytelling becomes longer, more detailed and more lively the more often it is told. Luke even adds Jesus' genealogy, triggered by Mark's assertion that in Jesus' baptism the voice from heaven declared: 'You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight'. This verse from Mark is literally re-taken by Luke, but because this elevation of Jesus into a divine relation with the heavens must have sounded in Luke's ears like a half-Marcionite Christology. In response, he adds the earthing fact of Jesus age of 'thirty years', when his ministry began – hence, he was anything but a youthful angel or spirit – and his ancestors were indeed Joseph and his fathers. Already here, Luke is preparing his argument of Jesus' family relation which is going to be used by him for the central passage of our pericope. Yes, he comes in his genealogical list to the same result like Mark from whom he started, namely that Jesus is the Son of the Divine, the Son of God – but such sonship does not remove him from this earth. Jesus is full of the Spirit, but as Luke repeats Mark, it is a Spirit that questions and tests Jesus. And again, while Mark gives the reader a short summary of Jesus 'enduring temptations from Satan', Luke knows to report the ensuing dialogue and the actions between these protagonists. The Gospel is the story's idea, Mark is an independent proposal and summary writer, but Luke writes the stage script. For the first time in Mark 1:14 and Luke 4:14 the latter is deviating from the order of the narrative that he found before him. It is an extraordinary alteration, as we have seen above, which goes against the narrative's consistency. Was our script-writer having a weak moment? Rather the contrary seems true, as he skips that passage where, for the very first time, Mark gives himself a full dialogue – with the disciples Simon and Andrew whom the Lord calles – which sounds very much like the stage script dialogues that Luke produced so far. And he must have felt that Mark's summarizing announcement which comes immediately before this dialogue (Mark 1:14: 'Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the gospel of God'), needed the stage script dialogizing first, before he could add Mark's calling the disciples dialogue. This editorial decision follows from the previous ways how Luke dealt with both The Gospel and Mark. Hence, the calling was placed behind the synagogue scenario which Luke developed by further broadening Mark's elaboration of The Gospel (TG 1:3 // Mark 1:21 // Luke 4:15ff. This procedure – the double retrospective dependence of Luke who reads The Gospel already through the eyes of Mark also let him make one alteration in the order of The Gospel – an alteration which, in my eyes, is the clearest literary evidence, so far, that our reconstruction of this development must come close to the historical reality. Luke only places exactly those two elements of The Gospel's core synagogue scenario prior to the repetition of this scenario itself which are missing in Mark. So, because he follows Mark in the wording of what happens in the synagogue, and obviously trusts this author, he moves "Isn't this Joseph's son?" and "No doubt you will quote to me the proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself!'" in front of the Capernaum synagogue scene and creates an additional one which he rightly places into Nazareth. With this Nazareth scene, he can forcefully endorse, what he had already elaborated on before: Jesus' family environment, the links to his hometown, his embeddedness into the Jewish present and past. Luke thus starts to explain why Jesus' had problems to be accepted as prophet, physician and messiah. In response to Marcion's Gospel and its portrait of the misunderstood and threatened Jesus, but also in altering Mark's version of it which downplaid the hiat between Jesus and the Jewish past, Luke accepts already here the principle assertion that Jesus was indeed not fully recognized, but the explanation he gives is the environment's familiarity with Jesus, the 'prophet … in his hometown'.
In the central passage of the pericope, the two synoptics repeat The Gospel, here (and only here!), where already The Gospel presents a lively dialogue, neither the outline, nor the stage script alters a word. And where Luke starts altering again (Luke 4:35b. 27), he does so by adopting the wording of Mark (1:25b. 36), where clearly Luke depends on Mark as the content of the 'amazement' does not fit his previous section on the sceptical view of the Jewish audience, unless he would want to make the point that only the Jews in Jesus' hometown did not recognize who he is. The latter seems not entirely the case, as he reduces Mark's word spreading 'message' about Jesus into a weaker spreading 'news'. Trusting Mark on the narrative line, he follows him by adding the Simon's mother-in-law story, although, unlike Mark, he had not prepared for it. Neither is Luke as precise as Mark here with the inner narrative's logic, as shown above. The demons' confession of Jesus being 'the Son of God', which Mark has indicated prior in the baptism of Jesus and Luke refined into 'the Son of God' at the end of his genealogy of Jesus, is now being given as the first confession in The Gospel which is also accepted by Luke – of course against the background of what he has written before. And even in Jesus asking the demons that they do not reveal what they know, the two Synoptics are in agreement with Marcion. Now, in geographical terms, Luke deviates from Mark. Whereas the latter sees Jesus no going 'into all of Galilee preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons (of which he gives the example of a leper, who, as soon as was healed, did abandon Jesus' wish to keep the healing to himself, but 'went out' and 'began to publicly spread the story widely'), Luke mentions that Jesus 'continued to preach in the synagogues of Judea' and he adds the story of him calling disciples – the passage that we read earlier in Mark.
 ἀκοὴ, what one hears of somebody, see the prophetic background of this term in Isa. 6:9-10 (with Matth. 13:14; John 12:40), and Isa. 53:1 (with John 12:38).