Here we have an incident narrated by both Matthew (Mt., 8:5-13) and Luke (Lk., 7:1-10) about the faith of a Centurion intimately connected with his rational way of understanding the structures of this world and its ways of working.While Matthew presents the Centurion directly before Jesus for requesting the healing of his servant, Luke makes it more dramatic by the action of the Centurion in sending some Jewish elders to Jesus for requesting to heal his servant who was nearing his death. Later we see that the reason for this action of the Centurion was his self-assessment that he was unworthy to present himself directly before Jesus, a proof of his complete faith in him. The Jewish elders deputed by the Centurion did an admirable job of their mandate by persuading Jesus to help him who was a friend of their Nation and who built a Synagogue for them due to which he deserved this favor. Without a word in reply, Jesus went with them and when he was not far from the house the Centurion sent his friends to Jesus to request him not to enter his house for which he was not worthy and there was no need for the same to heal his servant. The logic of the Centurion was derived from his position of authority with soldiers under him ever ready to do his bidding and from his experience of life he was convinced that it was enough for Jesus to command and his servant would be healed. The underlying rationale of his logic was that as he had authority over his servants, Jesus could command everyone and everything , including seas and waves, sickness and death as he is Lord of all! Usually it was the people who used to admire Jesus for what he used to say and do, but in this case it was Jesus who admired the Centurion seeing his faith that he could not see even in Israel. This faith of the Centurion was supported by his experiences in the world, although it did not originate from his experiences as genuine faith is always a gift of God that is totally gratuitous. It is an example of how Faith and Reason can not only co-exist, but also support each other without any loss of their proper characteristics.
We shall continue with our discussion of the compatibility of Faith and Reason, by looking at another beautiful example reported by Matthew (Mt., 15:21-28) and Mark (Mk., 7: 24-30) how faith works wonders without abdicating reason It happened in the territory of Tyre where a woman whose young daughter was possessed by an evil spirit approached Jesus for driving out the spirit off her daughter. Mark specifies the nationality of the woman as a Phoenician of Syria, a Gentile; whereas Matthew only mentions that she was a Canaanite. Both the Evangelists wanted to forewarn the readers about the context of Jesus' negative reaction to the woman's request culminating in her unshakable faith in the supremacy of Jesus in dealing with powers beyond the rationality of this world. Mark wrote his Gospel from Rome for the Gentile Christians who were outside of Palestine and therefore had to explain the nationality of the woman the way he did. Matthew, on the other hand, wrote for the Christians who were originally Jews from Palestine who would have immediately realized the connotation of the term 'Canaanite'.
There are differing opinions about the historicity of the reaction of Jesus to the woman in need as some think that a compassionate Jesus would never use such offensive words as 'dogs' for human beings. Therefore some scholars would explain the whole incident as a ploy by the Evangelists to teach the Jews about the universality of the message of Jesus by this kind of harsh reaction from the part of Jesus against the narrow mentality of the Jews. By conceding to the request of the woman, Jesus showed that he did not discriminate between human beings for whatever reason and that was the lesson he wanted to teach the Jews, according to this view. The main difficulty with this view is that although it could be true with regard to the Gospel of Matthew written for the Jewish Christians, it does not explain the incident in the Gospel of Mark, written before Matthew's Gospel, for the Gentile Christians for whom actually it was derogatory. Our view is that it was originally coming from Jesus himself, but it was not meant as an insult to the woman from the fact that she did not take it as one. She understood the full import of the simile used by Jesus and knew how to handle that kind of use of language without being least bothered about the words used that could be construed as an insult by someone less astute in the use of words in language. That is why it helped her to come out with a piece of logic irresistible even to Jesus who immediately granted her wish then and there. An insult understood as such would have incapacitated her quick thinking and the situation would have taken an entirely different color. If it was not from Jesus himself, there was no reason for Mark to invent something unfavorable to the Gentiles who could be alienated by such discriminatory remarks against them. It means that not only those who heard Jesus but also the Gentile Christians to whom Mark addressed the Gospel took it well as it was only a forceful use of language supplanting unnecessary and lengthy explanations that might also miss the point. That Faith and Reason can co-exist and support each other even in ordinary people is clearly manifested by the unassailable logic of this woman whose faith in Jesus, like that of the Centurion, was couched in incontrovertible facts of life.
We shall continue with our discussion of the compatibility of Faith and Reason, by looking at another beautiful example reported by Matthew (Mt., 15:21-28) and Mark (Mk., 7: 24-30) how faith works wonders without abdicating reason It happened in the territory of Tyre where a woman whose young daughter was possessed by an evil spirit approached Jesus for driving out the spirit off her daughter. Mark specifies the nationality of the woman as a Phoenician of Syria, a Gentile; whereas Matthew only mentions that she was a Canaanite. Both the Evangelists wanted to forewarn the readers about the context of Jesus' negative reaction to the woman's request culminating in her unshakable faith in the supremacy of Jesus in dealing with powers beyond the rationality of this world. Mark wrote his Gospel from Rome for the Gentile Christians who were outside of Palestine and therefore had to explain the nationality of the woman the way he did. Matthew, on the other hand, wrote for the Christians who were originally Jews from Palestine who would have immediately realized the connotation of the term 'Canaanite'.
There are differing opinions about the historicity of the reaction of Jesus to the woman in need as some think that a compassionate Jesus would never use such offensive words as 'dogs' for human beings. Therefore some scholars would explain the whole incident as a ploy by the Evangelists to teach the Jews about the universality of the message of Jesus by this kind of harsh reaction from the part of Jesus against the narrow mentality of the Jews. By conceding to the request of the woman, Jesus showed that he did not discriminate between human beings for whatever reason and that was the lesson he wanted to teach the Jews, according to this view. The main difficulty with this view is that although it could be true with regard to the Gospel of Matthew written for the Jewish Christians, it does not explain the incident in the Gospel of Mark, written before Matthew's Gospel, for the Gentile Christians for whom actually it was derogatory. Our view is that it was originally coming from Jesus himself, but it was not meant as an insult to the woman from the fact that she did not take it as one. She understood the full import of the simile used by Jesus and knew how to handle that kind of use of language without being least bothered about the words used that could be construed as an insult by someone less astute in the use of words in language. That is why it helped her to come out with a piece of logic irresistible even to Jesus who immediately granted her wish then and there. An insult understood as such would have incapacitated her quick thinking and the situation would have taken an entirely different color. If it was not from Jesus himself, there was no reason for Mark to invent something unfavorable to the Gentiles who could be alienated by such discriminatory remarks against them. It means that not only those who heard Jesus but also the Gentile Christians to whom Mark addressed the Gospel took it well as it was only a forceful use of language supplanting unnecessary and lengthy explanations that might also miss the point. That Faith and Reason can co-exist and support each other even in ordinary people is clearly manifested by the unassailable logic of this woman whose faith in Jesus, like that of the Centurion, was couched in incontrovertible facts of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment