John 4:46-54<\/a><\/p>\nCompare Mark 2:1; 7:30<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The harmony that I\u2019m using as the basis of this exercise \u2014 Kurt Aland, ed., Synopsis of the Four Gospels: Greek-Gnglish Edition of the Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum<\/em> (14th ed.) \u2014 plainly believes that the incident recounted in John 4 is the same as that described in Matthew 8 and Luke 7. \u00a0It may be, but I\u2019m not so sure.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
In any event, I\u2019ve always found the centurion\u2019s protest (\u201cLord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof\u201d) quite moving. \u00a0Especially given the fact that his neighbors plainly held him in high esteem: \u201cHe is worthy to have you do this for him,\u201d they said to Jesus, \u201cfor he loves our nation, and he built us our synagogue\u201d (Luke 7:4-5).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
It seems obvious, incidentally, that this centurion was one of the \u201cGod-fearers,\u201d Gentiles who admired and accepted the Jewish message of ethical monotheism but who were unwilling to accept the entire ceremonial law that went with Judaism. \u00a0And who could really blame such people? \u00a0For most men<\/em>, at least, the requirement of circumcision would have been an obvious deal-breaker. \u00a0But it was far more than that. \u00a0The constraints imposed by Jewish law were numerous and burdensome, and the requirements of ritual purity and of avoidance of many social interactions with Gentiles, while perhaps slightly irksome for a Jew, would have been catastrophic for a non-Jew, posing enormous risk to many of his friendships and even to his ties with his family.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s thus unsurprising that, when Christianity really began to pick up speed, it did so as something of a \u201cgood-parts version\u201d of Judaism, minus the ceremonial law (including circumcision) and without the difficult purity rules. \u00a0The \u201cGod-fearers,\u201d the Gentile sympathizers, were an obviously rich field wherein the early missionaries (such as Paul) could work, and those missionaries did so very effectively.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Matthew 8:5-13 Luke 7:1-10 John 4:46-54 Compare Mark 2:1; 7:30 \u00a0 The harmony that I\u2019m using as the basis of this exercise \u2014 Kurt Aland, ed., Synopsis of the Four Gospels: Greek-Gnglish Edition of the Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum (14th ed.) \u2014 plainly believes that the incident recounted in John 4 is the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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