Hellenism v. Medieval Prospective

Hellenism means Greek Culture (no it is not a swear word!)

I do not believe in irony. So it is nor ironic that today (9/15) at chapel the Gospel lesson was from Mark 9:30-37 [there are links of the right side of the screen for different Bibles so you can look it up]. This story is similar to the verse from Mark 10:15 that I used to name my blog. Understanding the culture of Jesus' time is important in fully understanding what Mark truly means when he was writing these verses.

Firstly, you must realize that the culture of Jesus' time is VERY different than the American culture. In my New Testament class we are discussing the Greco-Roman culture and how it affected the way the scriptures were written. This is a prime example!!!

When we approach these verses we bring with us the idea that children are wonderful beings. We all wish we could be children again at some point in our lives. This idea was not present in the cultural mindset until the Middle Ages. (Hence Hellenism v. Medieval Perspective).

In the Hellenistic culture, the social status was very different. If you notice the triangle on the right, above the big black line was the portion of the Roman empire that were citizens. At the top is the Emperor. Below him, would be the senate (all males). The rest were adult male citizens (it was rare for women to be considered citizens although it did happen sometimes). Below that line were male non-citizens, slaves, then women and then children. Children were the lowest of low in the Hellenistic culture. They were disgusting, they cried all of the time, needed lots of attention, and also could not reciprocate the help given to them.

Therefore, in Mark 9:30-37, when Jesus asks his disciples to serve a child he was going against the norm. In that time, people who served only served those who could return the favor. (Notice the change in perspective when reading the title of my blog in the Hellenistic mindset).

Jesus says in these verses that to become first you must come last, to be like a child. This does not mean to act childish. He asks them to disregard their status in the society and to serve all people, regardless of their ability to return the favor.

Servitude is the life we seminarians have all chosen when going into our ministry. We need to forget our status in life in order to become like children. That is what Jesus asks all of his disciples to do.