Let’s call today’s
gospel reading, “A Tale of Two Healings.”
First there was the remote healing of the slave of the Roman
Centurion. Then there was the healing of
the widow’s son in Nain. Even though
these are both healing stories they couldn’t be more different. I believe Luke puts them side by side to make
a contrast between them. And he puts
them right after the Sermon on the Plain that we read last week to contrast
against that.
To understand this
we need to understand the patron/client system that was at work among people of
power in that day. The same is still
true today. We need only look at the worlds
of business or politics to see it at work.
Let’s say you want
to be elected to public office in the state government or the national
government. How do you go about doing
that? Do you just decide to fill out
some paperwork before election season and make yourself a candidate? Nope.
Not at all. You can’t just start
a political career from nowhere. You
start by making connections with existing people in power. Maybe you donate to their own campaigns. Maybe you lobby them for something. Maybe you become an intern in their
office. By some means you get connected
to people who are in power. As you do so
you’re basically showing them that you can be an asset to them. You’ll give them money. You’ll help with door-to-door
canvassing. You’ll help them to make
connections to further their interests.
They in turn will
do things for you. Oh, it may not be
what we’d call corruption, but you’ll get some value back. Perhaps it’ll be making introductions to
other people and connections. Perhaps
it’ll be giving you influence in legislation.
Perhaps it’ll be insider information.
Again, nothing nefarious, although that is possible, it is just giving
you value for the value you are giving to them.
They are the patron. You are the
client.
If you aren’t
getting something from the patron that furthers your life and interests you’ll
leave them and find someone else.
Let’s change the
example with a story. I had a cousin who
worked for a company that managed apartments for college students. He was working at their complex at the
University of West Virginia when there was a budget crunch. He was told that his department had to cut
spending severely for the upcoming year.
The only way he could do that was to not hire his usual amount of
staff. Which meant that he and his one
associate had to do a lot more work themselves.
It became a twelve hour a day job and included working several hours on
Saturday and Sunday. They were loyal
employees and got there division through the year on the reduced budget. At the end of the year they were thanked for
their commitment and given a small raise.
Then the blow fell because they were asked to do the same for the next
year. He balked. He and his associate quit and the company had
to hire five new people to replace them.
The moral of the story: You’re willing to do someone a favor. And maybe you don’t expect a favor in return. But if they keep asking for favors with no
return at all, you quit. You want a give
and take relationship. You do not want a
relationship where you just give and give and give.
In Jesus’ day
things were no different. People in high
places generally got there by doing favors for other people and having favors
done for them. If you were a person who
was poor or weak you’d want to attach yourself to someone significant. You’d support them. They’d protect you. And maybe they’d help you get a bit ahead in
life.
In our gospel
reading we meet a Roman centurion.
That’s a Roman military official commanding 100 soldiers. It takes skill to command and lead 100
people. Even though he could give orders
he knew he could not afford to be a tyrant.
His men would balk, or at the very least drag their feet and not do
things well. He’s also either caring or
shrewd with the people his forces are stationed in. We’ve learned that he’s given support to
build their synagogue. Again, this may
be authentic kindness or it may be shrewdness.
After all, if you’re leading military forces stationed in occupied
territory it may make sense to befriend the locals. They’re less likely to cause you trouble.
Whatever his
motives, they’ve been effective. The
locals appreciate him. When one of his
highly valued slaves is very sick, he wants to see to the slaves needs. He’s the patron. The slave is his client. Then, rather than travel to Jesus, he sends
Jewish elders to contact Jesus. Again,
he’s the patron. The Jews are his
clients. He’s done them favors. Now they’re doing him a favor. When the Jewish leaders encounter Jesus they
immediately tell Jesus of how worthy their patron is. Jesus should do something for him, and
presumably the Jewish leaders would somehow do something for Jesus in return.
We’re not told of
Jesus’ motives at this point, but he goes with them. When he gets near the centurion’s home the
centurion sends friends to him with the message, “Lord, do not trouble
yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did
not presume to come to you. But only
speak the word, and let my servant be healed.
For I also am a man set 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
slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”
Notice the
patron-client system at work all over the place. The centurion has sent friends, not slaves,
to Jesus. These friends are doing him a
favor. He has certainly done things for
them. Then we hear the centurion’s
message about his authority and how he himself is under authority. It is a clear show of favors being exchanged,
and friends seeing to each other’s needs.
Notice that the
man himself never directly appeals to Jesus.
He, a Roman military official, would not directly enter into a
patron-client relationship with Jesus, an itinerant Jewish rabbi. Everything was done through his underlings.
Jesus remarks at
this man’s faith. The centurion is
indeed a model of trust in Jesus. But
let’s not let that sidetrack our thoughts and miss what else is going on.
Jesus does not
play the trading favors game. Remember
this from last week when Jesus preached, “If you love those who love you, what
credit is that to you? For even sinners
love those who love them. If you do good
to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.” (6:32-33)
Does Jesus ask the
centurion for a favor in return for healing his slave? No. It
wouldn’t be correct to say that Jesus breaks down the patron-client system. He does not break it down at all. What he does is shift it from a person to
person patron-client system to a God and person system. God is our patron. We are God’s clients who respond to what God
has given to us. We’ll explore that more
in the weeks ahead. For now we turn to
the next story in our gospel reading.
Jesus goes into
the town of Nain. As he gets there he
encounters a funeral procession of a dead man.
No one asks Jesus to do anything.
Jesus just acts. And remember the
previous story with the centurion when the centurion says, “I am not worthy to
have you come under my roof,” that’s the centurion respecting the Jewish
cleanliness laws. He knows that to ask a
Jew to enter his house would make the Jew ritually unclean. He therefore respects Jesus’ cleanliness by
telling him he doesn’t need to physically come.
But in the same
way Jesus disregards the patron-client system Jesus also disregards the ritual
cleanliness expectations. Asked by no
one, Jesus reaches out and touches the frame the corpse is being carried
on. This would make him unclean. And also asked by no one, Jesus raises the
dead man.
So let’s put this
all together. Immediately prior to the
two healing stories we read this week, we read Jesus preaching to love our
enemies and to do good for those who cannot repay us. What does that mean? What does that look like? Talk is cheap. We need to see words put into action. So the very first story that follows is this
story loaded with patron-client dynamics: a centurion, people he’s done favors
for, people who owe him favors, and levels of command. Jesus ignores all of that and just heals the
slave from a distance expecting nothing in return. Then the next scene pushes it further. Here Jesus is not asked to help. He just raises the dead man out of compassion
for the man and his mother. Nain is no
place important. These people cannot
repay him. He has not asked them
to. And besides, Jesus makes himself
technically unclean in doing so. It is
yet another insignificant place where Jesus spends time and effort.
Now we see what it
looks like to love those who cannot pay us back. It seems sweet, but it is hard. It is difficult to invest time, skill, and
money in people who will not do anything for us in return. It can feel like we have many demands on our
time, skill, and money; so many demands that there’s nothing left over to
share. There’s no easy way out of
that. But it is Jesus’ challenge to us
to break from that system so as to be more open to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment