Quoting Jesus

One surprising mystery to me is how rarely any of the first disciples quote Jesus in the Acts of the Apostles (it occurs only twice).   This is made more surprising by the fact the Evangelist Luke is thought to be the author of the Acts of the Apostles; it is part two of his Gospel.  So one might think that Luke would have the apostles quoting Jesus on occasion if for no other reason than to closely tie together the two parts of his written work. 

One teaching of Jesus directly applicable to issues raised in the Acts of the Apostles is Matthew 15:1-20 (paralleled in Mark 7:1-23.  NB there is no parallel in Luke’s Gospel).  In this passage Jesus has an extensive conversation with Pharisees and scribes regarding ritual washing before eating (perhaps a 1^st Century discussion about kashrut).  Jesus declares that eating with unwashed hands cannot defile you, since food passes through the digestive system, while defilement involves an unclean heart  - so it is what comes from the heart that defiles you, not what goes to your stomach.  This is one of several disagreements Jesus has with the Pharisees about keeping Torah in which He declares Himself to be Lord not only of the Sabbath but of the Torah and thus more important than the Torah.   Christians have understood from these teachings that more than strict obedience to Law, the purpose of the Torah was to train us to love God and love neighbor which is God’s real goal for His people.  Mere submission to the law can be done without submitting one’s heart to God, and God is far more interested in what  is in our hearts (or comes out of our hearts) than what we put in our mouths.

This discussion of Matthew 15/Mark 7 comes to mind when reading Acts 10:9-17 /11:1-18, the vision of St. Peter which leads him to accept Gentiles into the Christian fellowship.  Yet Peter never mentions the teaching of Jesus regarding being clean or unclean as a result of what one eats.  (Interestingly 11: 16 is the only time Peter quotes Jesus in Acts, but not about food or being unclean.  He quotes Jesus talking about John the Baptist.  The only other person to quote Jesus in Acts is St. Paul in 20:35.  In this verse Paul quotes Jesus but offers a quote not found in the canonical Gospels). 

Another point in Acts at which the Matt 15/Mark 7 words of Jesus seem relevant is the discussion regarding circumcision in Acts 15 where the main question is whether Gentile converts to Christianity must first become Torah-observant Jews before they can be accepted as Christians.  Both St. Peter the leader of the Apostles and St. James the brother of the Lord speak to the issue to the 1st recorded council of  Apostles and presbyters but neither even once quotes Jesus in their speeches or calls to mind anything Jesus said.  Certainly the decision of the Apostolic/presbyteral is in agreement with what Jesus taught in Matthew 15, but it is interesting no one is recorded as quoting or even referencing Jesus in their deliberations.

I assume the reason that the Apostles do not quote Jesus in the public kerygma is  they knew quoting Jesus would not have any impact on their hearers since Jesus was at that point an unknown at best but also an executed convict, hardly the type of person to be quoting if you want to impress the public.  Outside of the immediate followers of Jesus, Christ had no respect in either the Jewish or Roman world.  Quoting Him would have had no positive impact on the hearers of the Gospel.   To the Jewish listeners the Apostles quote the Jewish Scriptures which were authoritative to the Jews.   Not until much later in history when Christianity has significant numbers of converts who are interested in what Jesus would have to say do we find the teachers of Christianity quoting Jesus.  By then Jesus was a person of authority to believers and what He said was of authentic importance.

Some historians have said that since Jesus left no writings we know virtually nothing about him – we only know what the apostles attempted to do in His Name and what they said about Jesus.  Thus some historians claim the Apostles  are the real founders of Christianity for they shape the message about Jesus.    However, what one has to note is that in Acts from the very beginning of the Apostolic preaching  the person of Jesus looms large and certainly is the focus of their message.  It is obvious that Jesus impacted the apostles in a very profound way and it is HIM they proclaim.  He is the Gospel.  His teachings, works, message and signs are significant only in that they present Him to us – they are merely the witness, evidence or proof to support the Apostolic proclamation of Jesus.   More than His teachings and miracles, it is Jesus Himself whom the Apostles present to the world.  He is more important than His teachings, more important than the temple or the Torah.  The Apostles understood this about Jesus from their experience of the risen Lord reinforced by the Holy Spirit coming down upon them at Pentecost.  The Church’s later reflection on the person of Jesus as Lord, the only begotten Son of God, true God of true God, 2^nd Person of the Holy Trinity, of one essence with the Father, and God incarnate is not in fact a late Hellenistic development, but is simply taking the Apostolic focus, kerygma and evangelion  (Gospel) seriously.  The Apostles proclaimed Jesus Christ, not just a message about him nor just His message.   The person of Jesus – who Jesus is – is the central truth of the Apostolic Christian proclamation.  The message of the Church does not change over time, it deepens as the followers of Christ reflect on the implication of who Jesus is.