that the question of the messianic authority and mission of Jesus gives the whole work its unity and that the theme of hiddenness is an essential part of it. However, all this is not artificially foisted on recalcitrant material, but is bound up with the innermost nature of the event that is described. Moreover, the whole complex has far more layers and is much more complicated than has been long assumed. Thus the way of Jesus to the cross, his expiatory death for the many and the disciples’ taking