07_Biblica_2_AM_B_Kilgallen_Layout 1 30/01/13 13:17 Pagina 591 591 WAS JESUS RIGHT TO EAT WITH SINNERS AND TAX COLLECTORS? A hallmark of Pharisaic determination to reach perfection was the ten- dency to control sinfulness by a kind of exaggeration. For instance, it was “wiser” to wash one’s forearm to the elbow so as to make sure that one’s hand is truly clean, as the Law insists on cleanliness of hands. A further nuance of this kind of thinking is the demand that one avoid sinners, es- pecially in matters which suggest a sharing of ideas. This avoidance was often expressed, for brevity’s sake, as “not fraternizing or associating with sinners, not going into their houses, and not eating with them” 4. Such ac- tivities gave hint, it seems, that one approves the immoral life of sinners; one should not risk giving that approval. Business relationships were un- derstandable, but familiarity in the usual activities that expressed unity ― such was wrong. What also seems to lie behind this way of thinking about the possible influence of evil men upon good is nothing less than the large history of Israel; it seemed that every time a Jew would associate with “the impure”, the Jew came away with a lessening of his devotion to Yahweh. Such associations should not be encouraged or even tolerated. Not only should one not suggest an indifference to the lives of sinners, but one should avoid them lest one fall into their sinfulness. Finally, how best to influence a change of behavior in sinners, if not to avoid them and so make them ever conscious of their sinfulness? I. Jesus and Levi’s guests (chap. 5) Thus, when we consider the life of Jesus, it is not strange to find him criticized with the question, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (5,30) 5. Jesus caused this question when he partook of a betrayed our laws, no, not out of fear of death itself; I do not mean such an easy death as happens in battles, but that which comes with bodily torments, and seems to be the severest kind of death of all others. Now, I think those who have con- quered us have put us to such deaths, not out of their hatred to us when they had subdued us, but rather out of their desire of seeing a surprising sight, which is this, whether there are such men in the world who believe that no evil is to them so great as to be compelled to do or to speak anything contrary to their own laws. Nor ought men to wonder at us, if we are more courageous in dying for our laws than all other men are”. For a more accurate understanding of Josephus’ remarks, cf. S. MASON, Flavius Josephus on the Pharisees. A composition-critical study (Leiden 21991) and Josephus and the New Testament (Peabody, MA 22003). Cf. Lev 10,10: “You must distinguish between the holy and the common, 4 between the unclean and the clean”; from this resulted “the Pharisaic idea of salvation by segregation”, W. MANSON, The Gospel of Luke (MNTC; London 1948), 55; J. FITZMYER, The Gospel of Luke I-IX (AB 28, New York 1981) 589. It is equally strange, and indeed ironic, that the Pharisees and others like 5 them, did not seem to realize that they, too, were objects of Jesus’ call to re- © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati