It is of great benefit to understand the culture in which Jesus lived here on earth. Some of the things Jesus said and did may shock us; they may not have shocked those around Him. More often, though, are the instances when Jesus said and did things that seem completely normal to us. When we capture how shocking this was to those around Him, it adds importance to the words and works. Notice a few verses compiled together in Matthew’s Gospel — they seem tame, but they should astound you.

Note first that these three narratives may not have happened chronologically; we tend to think the Gospels were written in a chronological fashion. Imagine I were telling you the story of how I grew up in South America. I might have a chapter on the three (or more) experiences I had with the Ecuadorian Police Force. These three events did not happen right after each other, but in a writing style common to the ancient Jews, Greeks, and Romans, I might group them together to form a sort of theme. What do you think the theme is for the following verses?

Matthew 8:1-17 — When He came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to Him and knelt before Him saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” When He entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to Him, appealing to Him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And He said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who followed Him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into utter darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve Him. That evening they brought to Him many who were oppressed by demons, and He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

This series of events appears to be an action-packed day of healing in the life of Jesus. We may gain insight on the life of Jesus; perhaps even the miraculous healings are lost on us. The Gospel of Matthew was written to a Jewish audience and if we can look at this from the eyes of a first-century Jew, we will see much more. Some facts about the time frame will help. The rich class of people consisted of about 5% of the population and was comprised almost exclusively of those who wielded political and spiritual power. This would be anyone in government and the priesthood classes. The middle class was very small, as well — about 15%. These were the very few who owned land and were able to save a little bit of money. The majority – 70% – of people were the poor. These people made enough every day to feed their family that day. The remaining 10% would have been the outcasts of society. It is also important to understand that slavery spanned all groups — they were not necessarily outcasts. Let’s look closer at these narratives.

First, we see Jesus healing a leper. Leprosy was the term used for a variety of skin diseases (for everything you ever wanted to know about ancient skin diseases, read Leviticus 13). The main idea behind leprosy was that these people were unclean. They were outcasts of society. It was unacceptable for anyone to touch them. When we realize that Jesus reached out and touched this leper, we see that this healing was much more intense. Culturally, Jesus was violating a huge rule.

Second, we see Jesus healing the servant of a Roman centurion. Again, this seems like a great story of faith — which it is. The big issue is not that a slave was healed, but that this was all dealing with a Roman. Remember that because of the recent “intertestamental period” issues, the Jews hated the Gentiles. More than just Gentiles — they hated those in political/military control. A Roman centurion would have been a much-hated guy. Jesus not only talks to him openly, but then heals his servant. Another cultural rule broken. What’s more, Jesus throws out a cryptic message that the kingdom of heaven will have Gentiles dining with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob while there will be Jews weeping and gnashing their teeth. To us, as Gentiles, who are very familiar with Paul’s message of salvation to the Gentiles, this may seem unimpressive. A first-century Jew would have been appalled at this.

Third, we see Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law. Some think that Peter was fairly wealthy based on discoveries of a multi-room home in Capernaum (see my picture below). Of course, we cannot know what social class Peter’s mother-in-law came from, but we do know one thing about her — she was a woman. We may be more familiar with the attitude towards women during this time, but that does not lessen the impact of this story next to these others. As a finale, Matthew notes that Jesus also healed a variety of demon-possessed people, who would have also been considered outcasts.

The conclusions of this passage are many. We can appreciate that Jesus was a miraculous healer. We can notice that He broke cultural rules. The greatest application for us today is that Jesus did not discriminate. Discrimination looked different then than it does now. But we can parallel this directly to our time. Regardless of their social class, or the amount of money they have, or the color of their skin, or the nature of their sickness, or the part of the world they live in — our task is to love them as ourselves; even if it breaks cultural rules.

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This entry was posted by zac on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 7:44 am and is filed under Weekly Jib Jab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.