In connection with Jesus' predictions about his violent death, several related questions arise: How did Jesus understand his death? How did he consider the possibility of a violent death? How did he reconcile this possibility with his ministry? Did he see salvific value in it? Unfortunately, this appendix does not expect to answer these questions, but it may nevertheless shed some light on the debate.

1. Synoptic Predictions of the Passion and Violent Death of Jesus

   Here is a table of synoptic predictions of Jesus' passion and violent death.

   	Mark		Matthew		Luke
   	2: 20		9: 15		5: 35
   I	8: 31	I	16: 21	I	9: 22
   	9: 12		17: 12b		(voir 17: 25)
   II	9: 31	II	17: 22-23	II	9: 44
   					13: 33
   					17: 25
   III	10: 33-34	III	20: 18-19	III	18: 31b-33
   	10: 38		20: 22		(12: 50)
   	10: 45		20: 28
   	12: 7-8		21: 38-39		20: 14-15
   			26: 2
   	14: 8		26: 12
   	14: 21		26: 24		22: 22
   	14: 27-28		26: 31-32

   1. Less Precise or More Allusive Predictions
      1. The four predictions under the thick black line are rather part of the passion narrative and cannot be considered as true predictions long before the predicted events.
         • In Mt 26:2 Jesus tells his disciples, "The Son of Man is going to be given over to be crucified," a simple chronological indication taken from Mk 14:1 ("The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were to take place two days later") to remind us of the theological notion that God planned what was to happen.

         • The scene of the woman in Bethany in Mk 14:8 - Mt 26:12 ("beforehand she perfumed my body for burial") is more a retrospective statement after death than a prediction.

         • In Mk 14:21 || Mt 26:24 || Lk 22:22 ("For the Son of Man is going according to what is written about him, but woe to the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!"), Jesus looks more like he knows what has just happened, while Judas has concluded his deal with the chief priests.

         • The text of Mk 14:27-28 || Mt 26:31-32 ("You will all fall away, for it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But when I rise again, I will go before you into Galilee") may appear to be a prediction, since it refers to the resurrection, but it does not refer to the Son of Man and it explicitly quotes Scripture.

      2. Mk 2:20 || Mt 9:15 || Lk 5:35 ("But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast on that day"), whose vocabulary seems a possible echo of Isa 53:8 ("Yes, he was cut off from the land of the living"), does not necessarily refer to a violent death, nor is it a clear example of a prediction of Jesus' imminent death.

      3. Mk 9:12 || Mt 17:12b ("how is it written of the Son of Man that he must suffer much and be despised [exoudenein]?") follows the first prediction of Jesus' death (8:31) and the announcement of his resurrection (9:9). The parallel in Luke (17:25) appears after the second prediction of death. But although these references clearly anticipate the passion and crucifixion of Jesus, they are in themselves little more than a description of the OT of the righteous man mistreated by his enemies; moreover, we find in Isa 53:3 the same verb exoudenein.

      4. Lk 13:33 ("But I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, for it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside Jerusalem"). Even though this is clearly a reference to a violent death, it is not a prediction, but an inevitable situation.

      5. Mk 10:38 ("Can you drink the cup I am about to drink, or be baptized with the baptism I am about to be baptized with?) This word follows the third announcement of the passion and thus clearly refers to his violent death. But in itself this phrase is a mere allusion, and if Jesus had not died as we know, it would be just as valid.

      6. Mk 10:45 - Mt 20:28 ("For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many"). Because this phrase appears after the third announcement of the passion, we understand that "to give his life" refers to the cross. But in itself this phrase could still make sense even if there had been no crucifixion. Moreover, according to several biblical scholars, the expression "as a ransom for the many" is secondary and is above all a reflection on the servant of Isa 53:11-12.

      7. Mk 12:7-8, Mt 21:38-39, Lk 20:14-15 gives us the parable of the son of the master of the vineyard whom the vinedressers reject and kill. But Jesus could have been rejected by the authorities in a way other than by the death sentence, and this parable could still have been applied to Jesus, although it is a very Semitic exaggeration.

      How do we evaluate these findings? All the passages cited refer to a death with suffering, sometimes using OT language and imagery. In themselves, none of them can be seen as a prediction of Jesus' crucifixion at the hands of the Romans. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, they express a growing antagonism against Jesus. In this, we would have the normal expression of an audience that at first is sympathetic to the preaching of a religious figure, but as the features of his message become disturbing, this sympathy fades and is replaced by opposition. Thus, it is quite plausible that as Jesus' ministry progressed, opposition became stronger, and Jesus himself would have become more pessimistic, anticipating the worst. And if the passages analyzed are vaguely allusive to Jesus' death, it is because they do not reflect exactly what really happened in the passion as told by the evangelists. Thus it is not possible to consider them simply as a retrojection into Jesus' ministry by the evangelist of what happened in the passion.

   2. The Three Detailed Predictions of the Passion and Death of the Son of Man

      Here are the contents of the three announcements of the passion according to the Synoptics.

      I. First Passion Prediction
      Mark 8: 31	Matthew 16: 21	Luke 9: 22
      That it is necessary for the Son of Man	That it is necessary for him (Jesus)	That it is necessary for the Son of Man
      	to go away to Jerusalem
      to suffer many things	and to suffer many things	to suffer many things
      and to be rejected		and to be rejected
      by (hypo) the elders and the chief priests and the scribes	from (apo) the elders and the chief priests and the scribes	from/by (apo) the elders and the chief priests and the scribes
      and to be killed	and to be killed	and to be killed
      and after three days	and on the third day	and on the third day
      to rise	to be raised	to be raised

      II. Second Passion Prediction
      Mark 9: 31	Matthew 17: 22-23	Luke 9: 44
      That the Son of Man	The Son of Man	For the Son of Man
      is given over	is about to be given over	is about to be given over
      into the hands of men;	into the hands of men;	into the hands of men;
      and they will kill him.	and they will kill him.
      and having been killed,
      afteer three days	on the third day
      he will rise	he will be raised

      * The numbers in Luke's column give the true sequence of words

      III. Third Passion Prediction
      Mark 10: 33-34	Matthew 20: 18-19	Luke 18: 31b-33
      And the Son of Man	And the Son of Man	4. And to the Son of Man
      will be given over	will be given over	1. will be completed
      to the chief priests and the scribes;	to the chief priests and the scribes;	2 all the things written 3. through the prophets;
      and they will judge against him to (dative) death	and they will judge against him unto (eis) death
      and they will give him over	and they will give him over	for he will be given over
      to the Gentiles	to the Gentiles	to the Gentiles
      and they will mock him	to mock	and he will be mocked
      		and he will be arrogantly mistreated;
      and they will spit on him		and he will be spat on;
      and they will scourge him	and to scourge	and having scourge (him)
      and they will kill (him)	and to crucify	they will kill him
      and after three days	and on the thir day	and on the thir day
      he will rise	he will be raised	he will rise

      In general, this synopsis of Jesus' predictions allows us to note the priority of Mark which copies Matthew and Luke. However, we can note that Matthew and Luke break away from Mark to prefer the kerygmatic formula "to be raised (egeirein) on the third day" (see 1 Cor. 15:4) to his formula "to rise after three days", a sign of the existence of an oral tradition. Moreover, in the second prediction Matthew and Luke prefer the future tense ("is about to be given over") to Mark's present tense ("is given over"), instinctively perceiving the need to clarify Mark. Finally, we note a greater freedom in Luke, who truncates the second prediction and rephrases the beginning of the third.

      This being said, the question arises: did the historical Jesus make three different predictions of his death in three different circumstances? Most biblical scholars choose one of the predictions as original, and the others as variants of the first. On the other hand, John, an evangelist who does not know the Synoptics, also presents three predictions. But at this point we would have a pre-evangelical source that Mark and John develops in their own way. This leaves intact the question of the number of original predictions. In particular, the third prediction adds so much detail that it seems to be copied from the passion narrative, and thus would be quite secondary. Let us examine the factors involved in this problem.

      1. All three predictions include mention of the resurrection. According to the gospels, Jesus died late on Friday, and by Sunday morning he was risen, limiting his stay in the tomb to just over twenty-four hours. So to speak of "after three days" is inaccurate, and to speak of "the third day" may only be a rough estimate. But in fact this mention simply means: a short period of time. As for the expression "rising" or "raising up" to describe the resurrection, this is probably a way of expressing after the fact a more general prediction of Jesus about a violent death at the hands of his enemies and his confidence that he would eventually be vindicated.

      2. The second factor concerns the expression "Son of Man" and the possibility that Jesus used it to speak of himself. Recall that the expression comes from Dan 7:13-14; Ps 80:18) which speak of "one like a son of man" to whom God gives his strength and makes victorious; he has become the specific human figure through whom God manifests his eschatological triumph. There is nothing to prevent us from thinking that Jesus knew this passage from Daniel and that he saw himself as this instrument of God's plan.

      3. The third factor concerns the fact that Jesus could associate the figure of the son of man with suffering. Yet Dan 7:25 speaks of the fourth beast, one of whose horns oppresses the saints of the Most High, i.e., those like a son of man, for a period of three and a half times, before the Most High gives them the kingdom or dominion. If Jesus saw his own role here, he could have used the phraseology of Dan 7:25 to predict that he would be given over into the hands of hostile men and would have to wait a period of three days before he would experience victory. Thus Daniel could be the background for the second prediction where the Son of Man is given over and suffers.

         It is also very likely that other OT passages were combined with the book of Daniel in the formulation of the predictions, especially the figure of the suffering servant of Isa 52:13 - 53:12. For example, the Aramaic Targum on Isa 53:5 "given over (msr) for our iniquities" may have provided Jesus with the words about the Son of Man who is given over in the second prediction. Isa 53:3 speaks of the servant as "despised, we did not value him at all" and 53:4 as "our sufferings he bore (sbl)", and can therefore be the background to the first prediction that the Son of Man is rejected and must suffer greatly. All this does not mean that Jesus identified himself with the suffering servant. But the fact remains that he perceived his role as that of a servant. Finally, Isa 50:6 ("I gave my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore off my beard; I did not hide my face from insults and spitting") could be the background for the third prediction. It should be noted that if the figure of the suffering servant of Isaiah could have influenced the three predictions of Jesus' death, they did not retain the atoning and soteriological aspect of the role of this servant, so dear to the first Christians (see Mk 10:45; Rom 4:25; 8:32).

      4. A final factor concerns the language of predictions: does it bear the mark of Christian preaching and at what stage? One cannot simply say that if the vocabulary of a word is found in Christian preaching it cannot be traced back to Jesus. For one must assume a certain continuity between the formulas of Jesus and the preaching of his disciples. On the other hand, such continuity is impossible with a Greek phrase whose possible source cannot be reconstructed in an Aramaic that Jesus could have pronounced. But this situation is very rare. Moreover, one must be careful in this exercise. For the writers were influenced by the Greek of the Septuagint, a very Semitic Greek. In any case, it is highly unlikely that the expression "Son of Man" was created in Greek, and thus certainly represents the Aramaic expression br'nš.

         Before concluding, let us consider the predictions in John's gospel.

2. Johannine Predictions of the Passion and Death of Jesus

   Unlike the synoptic accounts where Jesus makes only one visit to Jerusalem at the end of his life, the gospel of John presents several visits of Jesus to Jerusalem. And in the middle of his ministry, the "Jews" and the authorities in Jerusalem begin a series of attempts to kill him, attempts that culminate sometime before Passover in the meeting of the Sanhedrin to establish an official plan to put him to death (5:18; 7:1, 25; 8:37, 40, 59; 10:31; 11:8, 49-53). As the opponents become more and more aggressive, Jesus sees his violent death as inevitable ("and I lay down my life for the sheep", 10:15), and even predicts it in a way with the scene where Mary anoints Jesus' feet with a very expensive perfume ("She observes this custom in view of my burial", 12:7).

   However, it is the predictions with the expression "Son of Man" that are most important:

   1. 3: 14: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up"
   2. 8: 28: "When you have raised the Son of Man, you will know that I AM"
   3. 12: 32-34: "'As for me, when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself.' With these words he indicated by what death he would die. The crowd answered him, 'We have learned from the Law that the Messiah must remain forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?'"

   The expression "to be lifted up" clearly refers to the death of Jesus as the evangelist states in the third prediction. And this death implies hostile action by his opponents as the second prediction suggests. It also implies crucifixion as can be deduced from the first prediction, reinforced by the third. We can therefore conclude that these are really predictions. This elevation is not only physical with the cross, but also symbolic with the exaltation by which Jesus returns to his Father and draws all beings to himself, a prediction that is fulfilled with the intervention of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, new disciples, who come to give him a decent burial.

3. Comparison of John and the Synoptics and Conclusions

   The three Johannine predictions are clearly related to the three synoptic predictions concerning the Son of Man.

   • All have the "Son of Man" as their subject
   • The first prediction in both cases states that there is a necessity (it is necessary, he must: dei)
   • The synoptic predictions speak of "killing", and Matthew's third speaks of "crucifying", while John speaks of "lifting up" to designate the type of death
   • In the 2nd and 3rd synoptic prediction the passive form "to be given over" is used, while the 1st prediction emphasizes human intervention, while the 1st and 3rd Johannine prediction uses the passive form "to be lifted up", while the 2nd emphasizes human intervention
   • While the three synoptic predictions point to the ultimate victory in the form of rising or raising up, the Johannine predictions point to the same victory in the form of an lifting up that is an exaltation

   It may be thought that in a pre-Gospel period there was a collection of three predictions of the death and resurrection of the Son of Man, which the Marcan and Johannine tradition took up and developed independently. While the idea of someone as a son of man persecuted by the forces of evil but exalted in ancient days comes from Dan 7, the Marcan tradition of predictions retained some of Daniel's vocabulary and imagery, but left out the image of exaltation, while the Johannine tradition did not retain Daniel's imagery, but retained the idea of an exaltation on a throne. We may have here the influence of Isaiah, especially of Isa 52: 13: "Behold, my Servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up and shall be very high." Note that in both the Septuagint version of Daniel and Isaiah the verb hypsoun (be lifted up) is used. It is probably this scriptural connection that produced the pre-evangelical motif of three predictions that have come down to us independently in Mark and John.

   But can this influence of Isaiah and Daniel in the pre-gospel tradition go back further, i.e. to the pre-Greek period, if not to Jesus himself? Similarly, is there a single basic prediction behind the three predictions, or are there several? Such a demand for precision is impossible to meet with our present methods of investigation. For the moment, let's just list the elements that can be affirmed with a certain degree of certainty.

   1. Historically, Jesus was associated with John the Baptist, who was put to death by Herod Antipas because his preaching made him a dangerous figure. The beginning of Jesus' ministry corresponds to the end of the Baptist's career. Seeing the fate of John the Baptist, how could Jesus not anticipate his own?

   2. It is quite plausible that Jesus spoke on this anticipation. When one looks at the predictions about the Son of Man in the Synoptics and John, as well as the more general allusions, one cannot help but notice that Jesus was repeatedly attributed in different languages with some anticipation of what would happen to him. It would be difficult to reduce all this to a single prediction. Of course, Christian preachers may have expanded and intensified Jesus' foreknowledge of the divine plan, but such creativity may have been based on what Jesus himself said, even if it is impossible to determine what exactly he said.

   3. A number of the predictions echo the OT description of the righteous man suffering and being persecuted by the wicked. No doubt the early Christians used scripture to understand the death of Jesus, but one might think that Jesus also used scripture to understand his role in God's plan. He took certain actions that evoke Elijah and Elisha, and he must have known the hostility they engendered among the authorities. He must have known the fate of Jeremiah in denouncing the authorities in Jerusalem. For the Jews of Jesus' day, most of the prophets had been killed by the hostile authorities. So as Jesus encountered opposition in his ministry, his reflection on the Scriptures certainly awakened him to the fate that might await him. One can even imagine that Daniel and Isaiah marked this reflection.

   4. If Jesus was able to anticipate his violent death through biblical language, one wonders about the degree of detail in his description of a violent death. In fact, only the synoptic predictions provide any detail, and one might think that Jesus could not have anticipated his death with such a level of detail. Yet this is not entirely impossible. For example, conflicts in Jerusalem involved the chief priests. And if the Sanhedrin had to intervene, then the elders and scribes were also involved. Also, since Jesus went to Jerusalem on the major feasts, the Roman prefect was present, so the religious authorities had to involve him if there were conflicts at that time. Finally, with regard to details such as the scourging, the insults, the spitting, if Jesus anticipated moments of suffering, how could he have imagined it otherwise than with the language of the OT? Let us note that we rarely find these details in the mouth of Jesus. But that Jesus never envisaged something similar seems impossible.

   5. Such an anticipation of his fate would therefore stem in part from Jesus' ability to discern the signs of the times and his knowledge of Scripture, especially the prophets, but it should not be forgotten that it could also stem from his conviction that he is the one sent by God to proclaim the kingdom, and that the beginning of this kingdom comes through his own activity, and that his fate is dependent on this God.

   In short, it can be said that Jesus may have expected and prepared for a violent death and that he prepared his disciples for it. However, he could not be certain of exactly what would happen. And there is no way to determine how his relationship to God could have turned his anticipation into foreknowledge, and Jesus himself would probably have been unable to answer this question.