REVISITING THE EMPTY TOMB: THE POST-MORTEM VINDICATION OF JESUS IN MARK AND Q

Abstract

AbstractQ 13:34-35 connects Jesus' disappearance with his future eschatological role as the "Coming One" in a manner suggestive of other Jewish materials that understand the assumption of a prophet or sage as the basis of a special eschatological function. If Q also betrays a knowledge of Jesus' death, the assumption of Jesus becomes, for Q , the mode of his post-mortem vindication. Mark's "Empty Tomb" story (Mark 16:1-8) may be seen as a post-mortem disappearance narrative; this raises the possibility that Q and Mark (or a pre-Markan source) may have expressed a belief in Jesus' vindication by God in quite similar terms.