g-ladd-presence-of-the-future

112 THE PRESENCE OF THE FUTUREoppressed. This was no new theology or new idea or new promise; itwas a new event in history. "The wretched hear the good news, theprison doors are open, the oppressed breathe the air of freedom, blindpilgrims see the light, the day of salvation is here.":"This was an unexpected and astonishing announcement, and thefirst reaction of the audience was a favorable one; but they marveledthat one of their neighbors-one whom they had known from childhood-couldproclaim such a message of the grace of God. Jesus wasnot trained as a rabbi; he was only a layman. How then could he presumeto announce the coming of the messianic age?16The note of fulfillment is again sounded in Jesus' answer to thequestion about fasting. Jesus explained why he and his disciples didnot follow the usual Jewish custom of fasting with the words, "Canthe wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As longas they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast" (Mark 2:19). The metaphor of the bridegroom was not a contemporary messianicexpression; but the relationship of Israel to God was describedin terms of marriage (Hos. 2:20; Ezek. 16:8 ff.), and sometimes themessianic salvation was depicted in similar terms (see Hos. 2:19-20;Isa. 54:1 ff.;62:4 f.). The marriage feast thus became a metaphor inJudaism for the messianic consurnmation.v and even though Jeremiasbelieves that the messianic significance of the bridegroom metaphordoes not go back to Jesus because his audience would not have15 J. Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus (1954), p. 94. Jeremias recognizes theseas authentic words of Jesus. In his earlier work, Jesus als We1tvoIIender (1930),Jeremias used this incident in Nazareth as the first illustration of Jesus as the"Weltvollender in der Niedrigkeit" (pp. 12 ff.). See also the detailed analysisby N. B. Stonehouse, The Witness of Luke to Christ (1951), pp. 76-85. "Thecoming kingdom of God ... begins to come to realization through his mightydeeds" (p. 85). G. Duncan, Jesus, Son of Man (1949), p. 38: "The age ofpromise has, for Jesus, given place to one of fulfillment."16 J. Jeremias, Jesus' Promise to the Nations (1958), pp. 44 f. See alsoA. R. C. Leaney, A Commentary on the Gospel according to St. Luke (1958),p. 119. Jeremias thinks the crowd was angered because Jesus omitted the wordof judgment upon the Gentiles. For a different interpretation, see J. W. Bowman,The Intention of Jesus (1943), pp. 92-97, who thinks "words of grace"refers to the manner of Jesus' preaching, not to the message.11 See J. Jeremias, 'I'WNT, IV, p. 1094; Strack and Billerbeck, Kommentar,I, p. 517.