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Benedict XVI and Jesus of Nazareth (Part 2)

Jesus’ Preaching
We continue the journey of Traces concerning some problematic questions that the Pope tackles in his book. Here we are helped to approach the Gospels with full reason, so as to grow in friendship with Jesus.  In this section, the author deals with the announcement of the good news to the “poor,” that is, to tax-collectors and sinners, and the scandal of a God who sits down at table with sinners

by José Miguel García

in his book Jesus of Nazareth, Benedict XVI dedicates a long chapter, Chapter 4, to Jesus’ preaching, commenting on the Sermon on the Mount. The announcement of the Good News certainly goes beyond these three chapters of Matthew’s Gospel. The Pope probably reflects on this great composition of the evangelist because in it Jesus is presented as the new Moses: “With this great discourse, Mathew puts together a picture of Jesus as the new Moses… in the profound sense…” (p. 65). He does not include in his reflection, however, an important aspect of the preaching of Jesus–the good news to the poor, which, according to Joachim Jeremias, a great New Testament scholar, is the most important aspect of his public ministry.

Jesus’ reply to the messengers
of John the Baptist
According to the evangelists Matthew and Luke, while John the Baptist was in prison, he comes to know of Jesus’ activity and wants to know if the one performing these works was the Messiah who was to come into the world. So he sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus in person. According to Matthew, Jesus replies, “Go and tell John what you see and hear, the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are healed, the deaf hear again, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them, and blessed is the one who takes no offense at me” (Mt 11:4-6). Jesus’ reply recalls the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah (cf. Is 35: 5-6; 61:1), but at the end, a rather strange phrase is added: “and blessed is the one who takes no offense [scandalon] at me.” Why should anyone take offense or be scandalized at the fact that the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are healed, or the dead are raised? If these prophecies of salvation become a reality in Jesus’ public ministry, it is hard to understand why they should be a motive for scandal. Scandal consists in considering something that someone says or does as being contrary to the Law or offensive to God. In fact, it is not the miraculous events listed that are the source of the scandal, but the affirmation that the poor have the good news preached to them, an expression that alludes to the salvation that Jesus offers to a certain group of people. In order to understand why this offer of salvation is a motive of scandal we need to know who these people are whom Jesus calls “the poor.”

The “poor” in the Gospel
The Gospels affirm that amongst Jesus’ followers there were publicans and sinners. In the Judaism of Jesus’ time, the word “sinner” did not refer simply to those who despised or acted explicitly contrary to the commandments of God, but also, and especially, to those who did a job that was considered essentially sinful. The Jewish writings contain lists of these prohibited works. In part, these are occupations that, according to public opinion, led to immorality, but, above all, there are occupations that experience shows lead to injustice. To this second category belonged, amongst others, gamblers, usurers, shepherds and publicans. It is well known that the publicans were tax collectors; they collected a particular type of tax. The taxes for lands, houses, activities or persons were controlled by the revenue authorities, and a regular census was carried out with the aim of collecting them. There were other taxes for the transit of goods through customs or for entering a town, and these could not be fixed a priori, though they were regulated by tariffs. The revenue authority farmed out the collection of these taxes to outstanding citizens who, in their turn, sub-contracted the work to others–who were called publicans.
The contempt for sinners of this kind was so great that their civil rights were limited. In a list of those who could not form part of a tribunal, nor give evidence, the Sanhedrin section of the Mishna includes “those who play at dice, usurers, those who breed doves, those who traffic in the fruits of the Sabbath year (which, according to the Law, Lev 25:1ff, have no owner)” (3:3). And another texts adds, “Shepherds, publicans and those who live off interest” (bSanh. 25b). People avoided contact with them, because they would be considered impure. A publican, according to a passage of the Mishna, makes all that is in a house impure simply by entering it, like a pagan (Baba Q. 10:2). Moreover, people of this kind are seen as equal to gentile slaves in the Rabbinic literature (Ros Ha-Shana 1:8). In Jewish society at the time of Jesus, therefore, the most rigid prohibition was the religious one. Thus, for example, if a man belonging to the Pharisee community became a tax collector, he would be expelled.
A good number of Jesus’ followers, therefore, was made up of those who, according to the canons of pharisaic orthodoxy, had no access to divine salvation. Jesus’ attitude toward them is marvelously expressed in His reply to those who are scandalized because He eats with publicans and sinners: “I came not to call the just, but sinners” (Mk 2:17); or in words like these: “Truly, I say to you: tax collectors and prostitutes will go before you into the kingdom of God,” or, “they will enter, but you will not” (Mt 21:31).
According to the Gospels, Jesus forgives sins explicitly only on two occasions: for the paralytic who was lowered on a stretcher (Mk 2:1ff.) and for the sinful woman who anointed his feet during a banquet (Lk 7:36-50). Moreover, the words “forgiveness” and “forgive” do not appear often on His lips. This fact led some scholars to doubt that Jesus ever granted forgiveness for sins. Here the statistics do not help much, given that Jesus, being an oriental, does not express Himself in abstract language, but through images and metaphors, and many of these are used to express the reality of forgiveness: the servant whose debt was condoned (Mt 18:27), the publican justified (Lk 18:14),   the finding of the lost sheep (Lk 15:5),  the prodigal son welcomed home (Lk 15:22-24), etc. All these metaphors and parables are concrete descriptions of forgiveness and of communion that is re-established with God.

Forgiveness through actions
Jesus did not proclaim the granting of forgiveness only in words, but also through actions. Amongst these, according to Jeremias, the most relevant are the meals taken with publicans and sinners: “The way to proclaim forgiveness–proclaiming it through the action that was most striking for the men of His time–was to eat in communion with sinners: the fact that Jesus should sit at the same table. Jesus invites them to His home (Lk 15:2), and at a banquet for a feast He sits at table with them (Mk 2:15ff.). These accounts are historically true, as the scornful remarks addressed to Him reveal (Mt 11:19; Lk 7:34), which certainly date from the days of Jesus’ public ministry” (J. Jeremias, New Testament Theology). Unlike the Pharisees who avoided all contact with publicans and sinners, Jesus welcomed at His table all those who, according to the orthodox Jewish interpretation, were not worthy of forgiveness, and to whom the gates of salvation were closed. Jesus’ behavior does not derive from a humanitarian feeling for the marginalized or from a rebellion against the socio-religious barriers in the society; to interpret Jesus’ communion with sinners at meals in this way would mean to censure its true meaning and to be unable to understand the motive for the violent refusal that this fact produced amongst the Pharisees. In order to understand what Jesus was doing when He ate with sinners, we need to know that in the East, even today, to welcome someone at your table is an honor that means offering him peace, brotherhood and forgiveness.
In Judaism, eating together as a community also had a religious dimension. The banquet began with the blessing of bread pronounced by the head of the family, who then offered a piece of the blessed bread to each person at table. By eating it, they came to share in the blessing. So to eat at the same table meant at the same time communion with God. This is why, in admitting publicans and sinners to his table, Jesus grants them forgiveness. Jeremias says, “These meals are the expression of Jesus’ mission and message (Mk 2:17), eschatological meals, anticipated celebrations of the salvific banquet at the end of time (Mt 8:11ff.), in which is presented even now the communion of saints (Mk 2:19). Welcoming sinners into the salvific communion, a welcoming that is realized in the common table, is the clearest expression of the message of divine love that redeems.”

God eats with men
Jesus’ communion at the same table with sinners is witnessed not only in the Gospels, but also in inter-testamentary Jewish literature. For example, in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, a work of the 2nd century BC, are found clear Christian interpolations in the Greek copies, introduced by Judeo-Christian copyists, who knew the Jewish mentality and language. Two interpolations are very interesting. In the discourse of the Patriarch Simeon, in which he declares his faith in future salvation and the Resurrection, we read, “Then I will rise in joy and will bless the Most High for His wonders [because God, in taking a body and eating with men, saved them]” (6:7).
The same idea of God who eats with men is found in the testament of Asher. This Patriarch, announcing that his descendents will be punished for his impiety until God has compassion and frees them from tribulations and hardships, says, “You [will be] dispersed to the four corners of the earth; and you will be despised in the diaspora like useless water, until the Most High will visit the earth, coming Himself as a man among men, eating and drinking; He will save Israel and all the peoples” (7:2f.).
In the Hebrew language, these interpolations proclaim that God will save men by becoming man and eating with them. These copyists not only knew the profound symbolism of communion at table for the Jews, but also the facts narrated in the Gospels: Jesus ate with publicans and sinners. Therefore, in eating with publicans and sinners, Jesus makes a symbolic gesture that expresses friendship between God and the sinner. Jesus’ forgiveness is God’s forgiveness; the friendship He offers by sharing His table with publicans and sinners is friendship with God.
Among Jesus’ followers there were at least two publicans whose names we know: Matthew and Zacchaeus. The first is called by Jesus to form part of the circle of His most intimate followers (Mk 2:14; Mt 9:9; 10:3); the second was the sub-contractor of the taxes in the district of Jericho and, therefore, a very well known figure. In front of everyone, Jesus enters His house and stays there (Lk 19:5). With all this, Jesus wants to show that these men are welcomed by God, have access to God’s friendship, and the right to be happy in His kingdom. This proclamation and this behavior of Jesus were certainly scandalous–above all for the most observant, the Pharisees.