Latro

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 27 Apr 2015, 16:35 · from 2015-April.txt.gz

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From: danldo at gmail.com (Dan'l Danehy-Oakes)
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2015 09:35:44 -0700
Subject: (urth) Latro
In-Reply-To: <BLU175-W6CBCDC7B9DFEA6AC90F95CFE90 at phx.gbl>
References: <BLU175-W6CBCDC7B9DFEA6AC90F95CFE90 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <CAJ8=rthmfRc8OebiGvwMxa1iezvuMu83cvZiHkpPbCvYDNTwnQ at mail.gmail.com>

Lee,

Jesus' concern/love for the poor/common man was actually a continuation/
confirmation of what several of the Prophets in the Old Testament had said
on the subject.

It would not be at all accurate to say that Second Temple Judaism was
centered on "reverence for wealth, power, and inherited social status."
Indeed, the Law made a number of exceptions, especially in the matter of
required sacrifices, for the poor. (The Presentation of Jesus in the Gospel
according to Luke illustrates this: when Joseph and Mary take Jesus to be
"redeemed" at the Temple, they buy and offer two doves, which is the
sacrifice of "those who cannot afford a lamb.")

Second Temple Judaism was very much centered on the Law of Cleanliness, or
ritual purity. Even a poor man's house would have a _mikvah_, a basin where
you would wash your hands before entering or eating. (It was the water for
the _mikvah_ that Jesus turned to wine in the wedding at Cana.)

And, yes, Jesus is quite critical of the wealthy _who do not care for the
poor_. In general, His deepest scorn is reserved for hypocrites; consider,
for example, the parable of the Goats and Sheep, in which many who claim
Him as Lord but did not care for the unfortunate* are told "I never knew
you," while those who did care for the unfortunate but didn't know Him are
told, "It was Me you served all along."

-----
* not only the poor, but the sick, crippled, weak, and imprisoned.
-----

The point of the parable of the Good Samaritan is similar: the hypocrisy
and selfishness of the Kohain and the Levite are contrasted with the
earnest caring of the Samaritan: and it must be remembered that to a Jew of
the Second Temple, "Samaritan" was something like "Palestinian" must be to
an Israeli today, or like "Black" was to a white South African during the
Apartheid days. Someone lesser, unclean, a bit disgusting, and definitely
an enemy.

On Mon, Apr 27, 2015 at 9:18 AM, Lee <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:

> >Dan'l Danehy-Oakes:  And you're right to wonder how many wives the
> Sanhedrin might have had;
> >Paul says that an elder (presbyter, priest) should have only one.
>
>
> Thanks for that confirming info. I find the proscription against polygamy
> to be the most
>
> anthropological/sociologically profound difference between Christianity
> and its predecessors and
>
> competitors, yet it is so rarely discussed.
>
>
> >Antonio Pedro Marques: Jesus was certainly opposed to the Saducees. There
> is no dearth of verses
>
> >chiding them as enemies of God. But not every priest was a Saducee, not
> even the whole Sanhedrin,
>
> >and the evidence is that the common Jew didn't do anything regarding
> religion that Jesus especially
>
> >condemned.
>
>
> I think you are right that there was a special place in Jesus' heart for
> the common man. But there was
>
> (and perhaps still is) a belief among jews of the time that those with
> wealth, status and power had
>
> been specially blessed by God.
>
>
> But over and over, the message of Jesus is that the lofty trappings of
> wealth and high social status
>
> in this world are not only irrelevant to the Kingdom of Heaven but can be
> seen as signs of disfavor
>
> with God. The Eye of the Needle and Good Samaritan parables come to mind
> as generally critical of
>
> the wealthy and the superior, priestly castes of Cohains and Levites.
>
>
> This is what I meant by saying Jesus' ministry was an attack on the
> prevailing practice of Judaism at
>
> the time. It was rather centered around reverence for wealth, power and
> inherited social status.
>
>
> (There are some arguments that much of Jesus' ministry was a veiled
> criticism of jewish toleration and
>
> veneration of Roman rule but that's controversial and a whole other can of
> worms to open.)
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-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
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