The family in the Jesus movement

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Fall, 2004 by Santiago Guijarro

These premises about leadership in the Jesus movement permit us to draw three conclusions. First of all, we can affirm that the disciples gathered around Jesus had an external purpose. They were oriented toward the concrete task of promoting and leading a peasant mass movement centered on the imminent coming of the reign of God. Second, it is very probable that, in order to carry out this task, those disciples closest to Jesus, who did not come from the peasantry but rather from higher social strata, had to assume a lifestyle that involved rupture with their own families. Finally, this group of disciples did not remain in a totally needy situation, because they formed, together with Jesus, a new family of brothers and sisters that had God as father.

Mission to Households

As we have observed, Jesus called a group of disciples to help him in the task of announcing by word and deeds the imminent arrival of God as king and patron of his people. This purpose appears in an explicit way in the traditions about the commissioning of the disciples. In them we find a series of recommendations concerning reception and rejection in households that can help clarify the attitude of Jesus toward the family. To achieve this clarification we must explain the role of the household in the mission entrusted to the disciples: Did Jesus actually send them to households in order to announce the coming of the kingdom of God; Did some of these households receive them and offer them effective support?

The tradition of the commissioning of the disciples has a solid historical basis. It has come down to us in three different versions (Q 10:1-12; Mark 6:7-13 and GThom. 14). The various coincidences between the first two are an indication that both come from an older tradition, while the relationship of both of them to the sayings of the Gospel of Thomas reveals that this instruction was composed with sayings that Jesus uttered in different circumstances. This cluster of sayings is, in the opinion of J. D. Crossan "the most important unit for understanding the historical Jesus, the Common Sayings Tradition, and the continuity from one to the other," and constitutes "the dearest evidence that Jesus and his earliest companions had not just a vision but a program" (Crossan: 325-26).

The following is a synopsis of the versions found in Mark and Q, according to the reconstruction of the Critical Edition of Q (Robinson-Hoffman-Kloppenborg):

       Mark 6:10-12                           Q 10:5-12

10 Whenever you enter a house      5 Into whatever house you enter,
                                   first say, "Peace be to this house!"
                                   6 And if a son of peace be there,
                                   let your peace come upon him; but
                                   if not, let your peace return upon
                                   you.

stay there                         7 And in that house remain, eating
                                   and drinking what they provide,
                                   for the worker is worthy of
                                   one's reward. Do not move around

until you leave that place         from house to house.
                                   8 And whatever town you enter
                                   and they take you in, eat what is
                                   set before you;
                                   9 and cure the sick there and say
                                   to them, "The kingdom of God has
                                   reached unto you."

11 And if any place will not       10 But into whatever town you
welcome you or listen to you,      enter and they do not take you in,
                                   on going out from that town

shake the dust off your feet when  11 shake off the dust from your
you leave, as a testimony against  feet.
them

                                   12 I tell you: For Sodom it shall
                                   be more bearable on that day than
                                   for that town.