Relationships of Jesus

The Relationships of Jesus

The gospel portrayal of the people whom he related with helps us learn about Jesus who not only endured them but loved them. There are other groups Jesus was drawn to, and we can gain insight from them in deepening our understanding of the mission and message of Jesus. One of the most intriguing gospel themes is Jesus’ love for the poor and the marginalized. Here again the ministry of the kingdom of God is key to the gospel’s emphasis – that in Jesus, we see the human face of God: gentle and sensitive to the needs of the people.

In order to understand the relationships of Jesus with the people of his time, it is important for us to return to key gospel passages and stories that illustrate the manner by which Jesus established meaningful relationships with them. In these stories, we will see that Jesus did not simply heal or converse with them; on a deeper level, he broke barriers of prejudice and judgment set against the poor, marginalized, and women of his time by establishing quality relationships with them.

Mark 2:15-17 (Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners).
Jesus "broke bread" with public sinners of his time. Let us recall an important point from their lesson on Jewish customs from the past quarter: the act of “breaking bread” symbolizes association with those whom you break bread with. In this case, the society resents Jesus’ friendship with segments of society whose status placed him in the circle of the “officially unclean.” But then again, Jesus says this rather sharp statement: it is not the “healthy” the physician should seek out but the “sick”, not the self-righteous but sinners.

Going back to Israel’s history as a nation, the Israelites during Jesus’ time expected an earthly kingdom just like that of David and Solomon that would lead them back to material prosperity and military victory. But then again, such kingdom also has a responsibility to defend the rights of the poor and the rich alike. Yet the successors of the three renowned kings of Israel (Saul, David, Solomon) failed to protect the defenseless of the land, i.e. the poor. Hence, there was similarly a growing expectation that when the Lord will establish his divine rule over Israel and the nations, the poor – understood as the widows, orphans, and strangers who cannot defend themselves – will have a particular attention in this kingdom.

But then again, who are the “poor” in the eyes of God? Does this mean that material poverty is a requirement to be saved?

Returning to our lesson on the social classes during the time of Jesus, one of the “forgotten” social groups of that time is the anawim (the poor of Yahweh). In the Old Testament, the term ani or anaw was often used to pertain to the “afflicted” – those who were often oppressed and lacked the power to defend themselves. Using a religious connotation, the term anawim were the “poor of Yahweh”, those without material resources or power who could only look only to God for their well-being and deliverance.

Thus in the time of Jesus, the “poor” included more than the economically disadvantaged, the subsistence farmers and day laborers, the unemployed and the underemployed. It also included public sinners, women, orphans, the illiterate, the mentally ill, those with disfiguring diseases and bodily injuries, and those whose religious practice did not measure up to the strict standards of the priestly class and the Pharisees.

The poor, as defined above, seemed to be a special object of Jesus’ ministry. His table fellowship with them indicated his solidarity with sinners, but such did not mean that Jesus only related with the sinners alone. In fact, he also moved freely with the prominent people of his time.

Luke 11:37-54 (Jesus dines with Pharisees), 19:2 (Zacchaeus as a chief tax collector), 7:1-10 (Roman centurion). He even used imagery of the rich and prominent in his parables, like landowners, pearl merchants, kings, and masters of households. We can then say that Jesus’ attention was directed to both the poor and the rich: he was indiscriminate in his relationships with people. His friendship and love extended to all people in the society, regardless of their social status.

Luke 16:19-31 (story of Lazarus and the rich man), 18:9-14 (prayer of tax collector and Pharisee), 21:1-4 (offering of the poor widow and the rich). Yet we must also take note that Jesus seems to portray a strong distinction between the disposition of receiving the message of the kingdom of God between the rich and the poor, between those who are objects of God’s forgiveness and those who blindly consider themselves as dispensed from God’s love.

Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom of God not only to the poor, but even to the rich. However, for Jesus, what matters is their response to the call of being part of the kingdom: the poor responded generously, but the rich could have responded more.

Hence, Jesus’ point is clear: social position, high or low, is no guarantee of salvation; only a genuine response to the gospel is. Hence, we can truly say that in Jesus, we see the human face of God: gentle and sensitive to the needs of the people.

Jesus and Women
To complete our study of Jesus’ relationship with the people of his time, we turn now to a final group who were both close to him and at the same time marginalized in the society: the women. Let us take note that Jesus’ followers were not predominantly male: he also had followers who were women (and it seems that his most faithful followers were women). In order to understand the importance of such relationship, we must return to the situation and perception of women in Palestinian Judaism.

Luke 10:38-42 (Martha and Mary).
Why did Martha tell Jesus to ask Mary to “help her” instead of “listening to him speak”? In this pericope, we shall understand that women in Palestine have specific roles in society. Unfortunately, with the patriarchal mindset in their midst, such roles have become avenues for discrimination and oppression.

The role of women in Jewish society was generally restricted to domestic circles. According to Jewish history, women “are best suited to the indoor life which never stays away from the house” and “should not meddle with matters outside her household concerns”, due to the general perception that “woman is inferior to man, for the authority has been given by God to the man.”

Such inferiority is also extended to religious matters. Women were not permitted full access to the temple and were only limited to the outer courtyard. Like the slaves, they do not have to recite the Shema prayer that every male Jew is expected to pray each morning and evening.

Most of all, women were viewed as objects of lust, thus they must be safeguarded away from the public eye. Even when a woman had to appear on the streets, she was to unveil her face because Jewish custom dictates: “Do not speak much with a woman on the street.”

But in the case of Jesus, it seems that such discrimination to women does not mean anything to Jesus. Most of the people whom Jesus healed were women (to name a few: Simon’s mother-in-law, woman with hemorrhage, daughter of Jairus, the Samaritan woman, the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman, etc.). Jesus too had a special friendship with Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38). More importantly, Jesus was also involved in the incident involving an adulterous woman who, under Jewish law, is punishable by stoning to death (John 8:1-11). Of course, who cannot forget the person of Mary Magdalene as one of his faithful followers?

How then shall we assess this relationship of Jesus with women? Let us keep in mind that they are not counted among the twelve, nor were they formally addressed as “disciples” in the gospels. But their fidelity makes a staggering contrast to their male counterparts.

Women had been supporting the entire mission of Jesus. At several points in the gospels, the evangelists, particularly but not exclusively Luke, make explicit reference to the women who followed Jesus in his ministry (see Luke 8:1-3).

During the passion, the women did not desert Jesus. Interestingly, the disciples of Jesus, who were all male, seemingly deserted him and fled at the moment of his arrest. The betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter highlighted the failure of the disciples. However, in all four gospels as we will see in our study of the Passion and Death of Jesus, that as the male disciples abandoned him, the women did not desert Jesus.

All the four gospels state that women were the first to discover the empty tomb. This testimony to the women’s faithful discipleship is carried over into the resurrection story. Again, all four gospels state that women were the first to discover the empty tomb and were given the responsibility of bringing the Easter news to the other disciples (see Luke 24:1-11, Matthew 28:1-8, Mark 16:1-11, John 20:1-18).

To sum up our discussion, we may learn the following points from the relationships of Jesus:

Jesus’ established relationships that broke barriers of discrimination and oppression. He desired to change the traditional views of Judaism regarding the outcasts, the marginalized, and the women in society by establishing quality relationships with them. He proposed a new way of looking at relationships: a relationship that knows no boundaries and limits and embraces the least, the last, and the lost of society.

The “good shepherd” smells like his sheep. As what we learned in the world of Jesus, shepherds are considered “nobodys” in the Jewish society because they are uneducated, paid laborers who simply act in behalf of the owner of the sheep fold. Sheep also have a special quality of recognizing their caretaker by identifying the smell that is similar to them. However, Jesus changes this perception by using the analogy of the good shepherd: someone who has concern for the sheepfold and is willing to lay down his life for the sheep. A true shepherd, in the mind of Jesus, “smells like the sheep” because he immerses and relates with them, and knows them by heart. A good shepherd is willing to seek the least, the last, and the lost of his sheepfold even if his life is its price.

Jesus’ example on friendship can be a good window in our relationship with Jesus. In the same manner that Jesus was able to embrace those whom the society despised and marginalized, we too are challenged to emulate his example in our lives. Today, it is observed that people seem to be all the more “discriminating” of each other, choosing to relate only with the famous, the prominent, and the useful. Yet let us constantly remember the example of Jesus: the good shepherd smells like his sheep. He knows them, he cares for them, and he is ready to lay down his life for them.