Author Archives: jblock@uoregon.edu

Team 5, Question 2: Jesus and Social Justice in Luke

Posted on by under luke

In Luke 13:10-17, Jesus heals a woman with “a spirit that crippled her” for 18 years so she could not stand up straight. Jesus’ attention to her and subsequent healing of her infirmity is offensive to the synagogue leader who is “indignant” that Jesus healed on the sabbath. The incident juxtaposes Jesus with the Jewish leaders who were more concerned with doing things the right way then doing what is right. Jesus responds with anger and wonders at the hypocrisy of people who would help their animals on the sabbath but not a fellow Jew who has been bound up for years. The healing reflects Jesus’ larger mission, as quoted in Luke 4:18: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus’ mission is further illustrated in the banquet parable of Luke 14:13-24. This parable has similarities to Matthew’s wedding banquet parable. In Matthew, the story seems more concerned with morality or character (using words like good and bad to describe the guests) and is a warning tale, violently depicting those who are not selected to join the kingdom of God. Luke’s story, while it has similar framework, portrays the guests quite differently. For one, it removes the idea of the originally invited guests as being bad, but further emphasizes them as too concerned with their own temporal matters. While Matthew’s version of the story serves primarily as cautionary tale, stressing the punishment of the excluded or unfaithful, Luke’s version is more focused on who is included in the kingdom of God; specifically “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” and doesn’t stop there, but also extends the offer to anyone who will come. The banquet parable echoes Jesus’ earlier mission statement of who he has come for – the poor and the blind. Luke is making very clear that he sees Jesus as the champion of the oppressed and marginalized, that there is a place for all in God’s community.

Another parable further develops the social reformer aspect of Luke’s Jesus. A story in Luke 18:1-8 tells of a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people (a description in which the judge of the story even uses of himself). He is a person of power who is wearied by the cries of a widow who comes to him continually seeking justice and begging for help. The unjust judge gives in and helps her, not out of concern for her plight, but because he is tired of her incessant pleas. This parable was meant to illustrate that God responds to the ones who cry out to him – the ones in need, vulnerable people. Jesus tells them that God hears their cries and is quick to respond with help and justice. While God will surely grant justice quickly, what about those with power to do so on earth? (v. 8 – “will he find faith on earth?”) It is a call not only to those in need to cry out and pray to God, but also a exhortation to those in power to use it justly and to care for the vulnerable in society.

White compares Luke’s Jesus to Greek and Roman philosophers (White, 340). In this way, social justices stories may have been somewhat familiar to a first-century audience who may have heard similar Cynic criticisms of wealth and improper treatment of the poor. If so, Jesus would resonate as one morally elite, a worthy leader who has wisdom, compassion and authority. This depiction of Jesus would likely be very positive to the mostly Gentile community that Luke was writing to, regardless of their particular social-economic status. For those who identified with the lower strata of society, this Jesus would be attractive as a champion of their plight. For the more educated and wealthy in the community, this Jesus would be appealing as a moral philosopher. While his ideas and inclusiveness may have been challenging or even offensive to some leaders of more established religion (such as the Jewish Pharisees), Luke is trying to build a new group that is set apart from religious elitism and portrays Jesus as both hospitable host and social reformer.

Team 5, Question 2 – Miracle Chain in Mark

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In Mark chapters 4 through 8, Jesus travels with his disciples to both Jewish and non-Jewish regions around the Sea of Galilee. While the miracles probably came from earlier written or oral sources, they did not include the elaborate context that Mark’s narrative gives. One of Mark’s main goals in his story-telling was to convey to his audience that God’s kingdom was quite unlike the types of kingdoms or empires they were used to, and not at all what they would expect. Jesus’ miracle ministry unfolds by demonstrating that faith in God could come from non-Jews as well as Jews, and that faith was essential to the advancement of this heavenly kingdom. Most of the miracles in Mark come in doubles (two sea miracles, two healings, two food miracles, two exorcisms). It is interesting that the bulk of these miracles happen in either non-Jewish or mixed territories. It seems that Mark may be making a statement on empty religion that brings about the wrong kind of kingdom (for example, he cannot do many miracles when a region lacks faith, and he refuses when religious leaders demand miracles). Many of the miracles involve a physical touch of Jesus, and all of them are misunderstood by the disciples.
Mark’s elaborations on the miracle stories offer the reader (or listener) a context for the greater meaning of Jesus’ mission. Jesus’ first words in Mark are “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near…” (Mk 1:15). The miracle stories each carry undertones of what that kingdom is to look like – quite different than the Roman kingdom, in that the power structure would be inverted, the marginalized would become central, and the hypocrisy of the religious elite would be proven empty compared to those with humble faith. Mark used language familiar to his contemporaries regarding this new kingdom, which was to be an “alternative to the empire of Rome.” (Wainwright, Basileia Movement). Keeping in mind the context of when Mark’s gospel was written, I expect this imagery and mission of Jesus would have been incredibly powerful to his audience. For example, the Jews were facing war, the storming of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple at the hands of the Roman legion, so I imagine audiences would have had a strong reaction to the story of Jesus casting out the demon “Legion” from the possessed and violent man in Gerasenes. Like the man could not be restrained by the community while the demon Legion had invaded his body, so Mark’s audience may have felt powerless against the Roman legion invading Jerusalem. But in the context of this miracle story, Jesus’ ministry has expanded as he now come to cast out the Roman empire and set up God’s empire.
Further, the miracles themselves and the ones who experience the miracles paint a picture of something very different that the religious leaders were expecting (which would fit in with Mark’s prevalent theme of misunderstanding). Jesus chastises the Pharisees who criticize him for dining with tax collectors and sinners, healing on the sabbath, feeding his hungry disciples. Many like the Pharisees may have thought law-keeping would be key in God’s kingdom, and purity and religious status to be its characteristics. But Jesus, by visiting and healing non-Jews as well as Jews, by expressing compassion in his ministry over rules and regulations, and by having miracle success as a result of people’s faith (rather than their “rightness”) shows that the kingdom to come would be ruled in a very different way. The disciples consistent lack of understanding drive the point home even more to Mark’s audience – almost like letting them in on a secret that the characters in the story can’t seem to grasp. Jesus’ traveling miracle narrative is like the literal “way” that John the Baptist prophesied about in Mark 1:2-3, setting in motion the beginning of a new rule that according to Mark’s gospel, Jesus believed was at hand.

Team 5, Question 2 – Apollonius as Divine Man

Posted on by under divine man

Philostratus’ third-century commissioned biography served to enhance the reputation of Apollonius as a “divine man” and defend Apollonius against those critical of him. Apollonius had lived roughly two hundred years earlier, and while magic was a part of the very structure of society and religion during the time, people were suspicious and dismissive of those who practiced magic for evil purposes. It is clear in Philostratus’ biography that he desires to paint a picture of Apollonius as incredibly pure and wise, and as practicing magic only for good.

To restore Apollonius’ identity, Philostratus begins by making connections between Apollonius and the revered Greek philosopher Pythagoras. He claims that Apollonius was much like Pythagoras in wisdom and yet was even more divine. Not only was Apollonius exceedingly wise and divine, he had a “purified and healthy body.” His practices were far from evil or impure, in fact, Philostratus claims that Apollonius “set straight the errors of all,” restoring temples in many cities where he became much loved by the kings and wise people there. Through these professions, Philostratus urges the reader to think of Apollonius in a revered light and sets a foundation on which to build the rest of his story.

It is very characteristic in portraits of divine men to include miraculous birth stories. The story of Apollonius is no different as Philostratus includes visions and divine visitations during both the pregnancy and birth of Apollonius. His mother is visited by an apparition of an Egyptian demigod who foreshadows that her son will be no ordinary child. Exceptional events surround Apollonius’ birth as his mother delivers him in a meadow surrounded by singing swans. Philostratus even includes a miraculous sign in the form of a thunder bolt striking the earth at the very moment he was born. In all these ways, the story of Apollonius does not stray from the typical divine man story – illustrating this was no ordinary man.

Writers of divine man stories also often include precocious childhood stories, often describing their subject as having wisdom or talent or beauty (or any combination of such) far beyond what is natural for a child of their age, and far beyond what they could have learned from the adults around them. The child is typically described as excelling in some way and amazes all who observe them. Philostratus fits Apollonius in this model by detailing his exceptional knowledge, ability, and attractiveness. Further, Apollonius had far superior moral priorities and was not driven by the typical lusts of young men, preferring to spend his time studying over pursuing temporal desires. This pure and perfect portrait of Apollonius is clearly intended to depict a man of the highest character.

Apollonius’ words and deeds benefit those around him, including his own brother with whom he is contrasted (his brother is described as crass and a slave to vice). Through his gentleness and wisdom, Apollonius manages to win over his brother to pursue a straighter path in life. He also gave the majority of his inheritance to relatives. While people may have accused Apollonius of engaging in immoral activity, Philostratus claims this is unequivocally false, and that rather his nature was noble and beneficial to all around him. Apollonius even had his own secret worship practice that only the truest and most dedicated could learn and participate in. He understood every language without learning it and was recognized as divine for this quality. Philostratus argues that through all these exceptional qualities, Apollonius had favor and connection with the gods and should be remembered with reverence and his ways followed and practiced.

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