Author Archives: amanzo

Team 4, Question 2

Posted on by under luke

The Lukan Jesus is a humanitarian, concerned with social justice and inclusion of marginalized groups in the coming kingdom of God. This is explicitly stated by Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 where he states his mission, “to bring good news to the poor…to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.”

A passage that shows Jesus’ commitment to this mission can be found in Luke 13:10-17 where, in the middle of teaching, he heals a disabled woman on the sabbath. He is faced with opposition, but his response puts into perspective how technicalities should not be important when it comes to helping someone in need. In the story, the woman had been bent over, unable to stand up straight for eighteen years and he heals and frees her from that burden. I would imagine this resonated with many in the Lukan author’s community because it was commonplace to believe that any ailment or disability was divine punishment, that God hated you. Luke’s Jesus is reassuring these people that they will not be looked down upon or rejected so long as they remain faithful and grateful as has the woman for 18 years. As far as the opposition, they are primarily against Jesus doing any type of work because it is the sabbath, but Jesus says to them that they are hypocrites for saying this. They help their thirsty animals on the sabbath day but will deny aid to a more needy and worthy human being.

Along with the poor, the new kingdom would welcome the Gentiles which we learn in the parable of the great dinner. In the parable (Luke 14:13-15, 16-24), a man was going to have a banquet but many of those invited gave excuses as to why they could not attend. In response, the master sent his slave out to bring in the “poor, crippled, blind, and lame” off the streets so as to fill the empty spots at the table. However, there were still empty seats so the slave was sent out once again to bring more people off the street. Here, the master symbolizes God, the banquet symbolizes his kingdom, and the invitations symbolize the new people welcome to join in the faith. White states that the first invitation is to the “marginal people within society” and the second is for the Gentiles (334). This further solidifies Luke’s view of Jesus as a figure that is welcoming to all, not giving priority only to Jews as the chosen people, but still aware of those that gave excuses to not attend by stating that it is their choice but they will not “taste [his] dinner” (heaven).

The theme of social justice that Luke carries is again brought up in the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow. The story goes just as it sounds, there is a judge who is selfish and unconcerned with others’ well-being and there is a widow who continually returns in hopes to be given justice. The judge eventually grants her that justice but only because she is wearing him out. Luke’s Jesus uses this parable to tell his listeners that God is not like this judge. He will listen to those that pray to him for justice and when he grants it it will be quick, but his followers must have faith in that. The widow, again a person normally rejected in society, ties into Luke’s overall interest in social justice. All of these stories must have resonated well with those in the first century who were suffering, but also maybe with those not. The stories may have been instrumental to changing the perception of who was welcome into the kingdom of God (Gentiles) and society in general (disabled, poor. etc).

ROJ 5/10 Team 4, Question 2

Posted on by under mark

Throughout Jesus’ travels between Jewish, non-Jewish, and mixed territory we see a variety of miracles. Along with that, we see differing reactions to Jesus’ acts and  we get some allusions to current events of the time this gospel was written. Mark’s gospel is not the most impacting or narrative, but he did a good job interconnecting current events, Jewish figures, and the idea of this new kingdom of God.

Jesus’ miracles often were repeated where the second repetition “intensifies some aspect of the first, usually dealing with the theme of misunderstanding” (White 268). The miracles we see twice are sea miracles, exorcisms, healings, and feeding of many. Also, most of the miracles were done in either Jewish or mixed territory, or en route between the three. Another thing I noticed is that most miracles were done in non-Jewish or mixed territory, while questioning and disbelief came in Jesus’ hometown and around there. The reason for this, I believe, was to signify the spreading of the new kingdom that would be open and available to everyone, not just Israelites. Both healing miracles signify Jesus extending help to those around Israel just like the food miracles do as well. Before these events, however, the first exorcism of the demon “Legion” is a strong indicator of Jesus’ new ideals on rule. Here, he exorcises a demon name “Legion” (symbolic of Roman legion or division of Roman military that had conquered and still occupied the country) and put the demon into a herd of pigs which Jews were not allowed to eat. The pigs then were cast into the sea and thus destroyed. The footnotes in the bible state that this miracle is in reference to the “destruction of Pharaoh’s army in Israel’s Exodus deliverance” (1801).

Then with the feeding of first five thousand then four thousand, we see Jesus once again offering his aid and wisdom to the peoples around Israel. In his hometown, he was questioned because they could not believe like those who had never known Him before He was called into service as a prophet. Jesus’ response to this was to commission the twelve disciples to “build the renewal movement” (1802). Others we see questioning him are his disciples themselves (which Mark did on purpose) and we always saw that disbelief on sea. It seems Mark made them question him on purpose to let the reader or audience see what they could not, thus building a stronger sense of belief in Jesus.

Overall, I would say the reason for these ten miracles in the Markan gospel was to build a faith in a people that were dealing with destruction of both their home and faith itself. Mark worked to show the readers or audience that with Jesus, a new kingdom came and it would be open and available to any who simply believed. Mark’s similarities between Jesus and Moses were also purposeful and changed in order to fit his narrative, but the core of the stories that resembled Moses were there nonetheless.

ROJ 4/14 Team 4, Question 2

Posted on by under emperor cult

Stories of Jesus’ ascension, more specifically, that which is described in Acts was not as entirely unique and astounding to hear as we think it must have been today. In fact, the Romans had a belief of their own, apotheosis, the process in which a Roman emperor would become a god and ascend to the heavens after passing away. White uses a relief (shown on page 70) depicting Empress Sabina, wife of Hadrian, being carried away from the site of her cremation by an angel to further prove this point. More so, the similarities did not end or begin here as it got to the point where philosophers Justin Martyr and Celsus debated on whether or not Christian stories were one of a kind. Celsus questioned how Martyr could site Roman and Greek mythology to defend and assert Jesus’ importance and credibility yet continue to argue that Christian stories were completely different.

As far as worship, divine status being given to kings and emperors occurred in many places in different ways but the emperor cult religious system was prominent. In Israel, the king would be “adopted annually to be God’s son as a symbol of the special relationship between God and nation” (White 71). Here, the king although not divine, was chosen and overseen by the gods (White 71). In Egypt, the pharaoh was a god in every sense of the word, being symbolized as Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis. The emperor cult system came into Hellenistic culture after the death of Alexander when he was then heroized and stories like that of his birth were told to solidify the idea that he was divine. Furthermore, White states that miraculous birth stories “link the divine-man tradition to the rise of the Roman imperial cult” (72). As one would expect, naming emperors as gods became much more popular after Alexander (White 72).

Although the emperor cult system was popular, there were some skeptics, for example, Livy, who wrote about Romulus’ deification. Based on the language he chose to use we can see that he did not fully believe some of the stories he was mentioning because he was using phrases like “I believe,” “it is said,” “as the story goes,” and “it is amazing…” (131). White also mentions that “the worship of the emperor as divine did not sit quite well with the old Roman aristocracy as it might have with the Greek provincials” (73) and goes on to say that Augustus was cautious about titles such as “divi filius,” son of god (74), which hints to some reluctance to keep the practice going.

However, something must have changed along the way because he later chose to expand emperor worship into Greek territory which may have been an attempt at creating some cohesion between the large empire that stretched from Spain to Syria. Building sanctuaries in far places within the empire would then make the knowledge more accessible and that society more willing to follow. This is what I would think Luke is trying to do if I were reading Lk 2:1-14 and 25-35 in the first century, make the idea accessible by molding it to fit into what I know, the emperor cult religious system, just as we have learned all the authors have done while accentuating details that would define Jesus as divine. For example, just like Alexander (a famous figure at the time), Jesus has a miraculous birth story, one of the characteristics that identifies a divine figure.

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