PAUL AND THE RHETORIC OF REVERSAL: KERYGMATIC ...

3. Reversal and Christological Interpretation
At many points, the New Testament writers utilise the theme of reversal, and see it as
coming to fulfilment in the events associated with the coming, suffering, death,
resurrection, ascension, and return of Jesus Christ. From Mary’s song (Luke 1:46-55) to
the New Song (Revelation 5:9-14), the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented as a message of
impending (but inaugurated) reversal. It seems that the events of Jesus Christ were
interpreted in the light of the reversal motif, and prompted a renegotiation of that motif.
Three instances of this christological adaptation of the reversal motif will be noted here:
the parables of reversal in the teaching of Jesus; the use of psalms of reversal in Mark’s
Gospel; and the attitude to “rulers” in Acts.
The Historical Jesus and the Motif of Reversal
The interpretative Christological motif of reversal goes back to Jesus himself. John
Dominic Crossan 35 points to a number of parables that he views as “parables of reversal”
spoken by the historical Jesus, and suggests that “Such double and opposite reversal is the
challenge the Kingdom brings to the complacent normalcy of one’s accepted world”.
Of course, the question of which parables fit this category might be debated. Related to
this, the extent to which Jesus’ teaching claims an immanent or a deferred reversal (or
some combination of the two) is not agreed upon among interpreters.
Interestingly, Jesus is depicted in Mark’s Gospel as explaining his use of parables with a
quotation from Isaiah that itself hints at reversal (Mark 4:12): those who think that they
can see will be blinded by the parables (while, presumably, those who know themselves to
be blind will have their eyes opened). Perhaps Jesus is self-consciously taking on the role
of the Isaianic Servant.
35 John Dominic Crossan, In Parables: The Challenge of the Historical Jesus (Sonoma,
Calif.: Polebridge, 1992), 73-74.
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