Lectionary: Easter 5A
Text: John 14:1-14
Introduction
I recently
watched lectures on ancient religions of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean, which
included the period of Rome from the formation of the Republic to when
Christianity became her state religion. There were many times during the lectures
when I could see connections between what was being said and the texts in our
Bible. Today, I want us to take a brief excursion back in time to ancient Rome.
I think it may offer some insights into today’s gospel reading (John 14:1-14)
and aid us in improving our understanding of the text. There are so many
details that are interesting, but we will keep to broad topics that are most
relevant to us for today’s text. I also add a caveat: the Roman context is
helpful in understanding how the text was probably heard, but we should not
assume it is something to be reverted to and emulated.
Time Travel: Ancient Roman Household
First, let us travel to explore a Roman house. We will look at one that belongs to a prominent and wealthy citizen.
The
structure is rectangular, with walls around three sides and the front being
more open. There is an entry in the center of the front section and several
open stalls flanking the center. These stalls are used for commerce and retail
business as they face the public street. The three remaining sides are solid
and, in our example, have a height of two floors.
There is an
image at the entrance, the Lar Familiaris, or the guardian deity of the
household. From the entry a narrow hallway led to the atrium, where an opening
was found in the roof and a pool was located immediately below to collect
rainwater. The atrium was a semi-public area where guests could be entertained,
and official household business was conducted.
Farther back
was another courtyard with the roof open. The kitchen and the dining areas are
found off this area.
All around
the perimeter are found other rooms, on both the ground floor and the upper
floor. These are bedrooms for the household members. The household consists of
the paterfamilias, the head of the household, his wife, adult sons and
their wives, daughters who had not yet married, servants, and slaves. The paterfamilias
was father to them all.
Gods and Paterfamilias
The house
was inhabited by numerous household deities. The house was, effectively, a
domestic temple. All aspects of life were connected to one god or another. One
of the primary duties of the paterfamilias was to ensure that proper
ritual and offerings were observed so that the gods would be cared for and not
get angry. Even though the paterfamilias was the head of the household, he
was at the mercy of the ancestral gods and spirits. Just as it was important to
maintain honor and avoid shame among living persons, it was perhaps even more
important to maintain good relationships with the dead. Bringing honor to the paterfamilias
and the house was something that all members of the household, from sons to
slaves, accepted and carried out.
It was
believed that every person had an indwelling and animating spirit within them. This
was an aspect of a deity that was carried by each person. Men had a genius
(from which we get the word, genius). Women had a juno. The genius
of the paterfamilias was particularly important, and it was a duty of
the entire household to offer worship to this genius. In their
mythologies, even gods could have a genius – a spirit of a deity within
a god.
Roman Marriage
The
household gods and the domestic religious observances were passed down from the
father to the eldest, legitimate son. The purpose of marriage in ancient Rome was
solely to produce legitimate heirs. Arranging for and ensuring that the marriage
of his sons was conducted properly was one of the primary duties of the father.
Daughters were thought of essentially as temporary occupants of a house who
would be sent off to their permanent homes through marriage.
The fathers
of each household came together to arrange the marriage and negotiate terms. A
wedding date was set. The wedding itself took place at the bride’s father’s
home. After completing the prescribed religious rituals, and offering was made
to Jupiter, usually a cake. A portion of this cake was consumed by the bride
and groom, followed by a dinner with all of the guests. After dinner the bride
was escorted to the new husband’s house, accompanied by anyone who wanted to
join in the torchlight procession. The groom carried the bride over the threshold
because it was considered a bad omen if the bride tripped and fell in her first
entry to the house. Another feast was held at the new household. For as long as
the father was alive, however, the married son was still under the authority of
the father, as long as he was paterfamilias. The primary role of a wife
was to produce legitimate children, preferably sons. She also managed domestic
duties and cared for her children.
This concludes
our very brief excursion back in time. As we return to our present time, we
should keep in mind that this was the “air” of those living in the ancient
Roman empire. These religious, social, and domestic structures, traditions, and
norms were the frameworks in which they understood and interpreted their life
and reality. This was the context in which the gospel of John was written, and
in which the audience heard the words.
Back to the Present
Many Mansions?
My childhood
Bible translation was the King James Version. The first part of John 14:2 in
that version reads, “In My Father’s house are many mansions.” As a child, I
recall being taught how people who are saved and go to heaven will have grand
mansions with huge properties on which each sit. Looking at it now, it seems to
be an image that is influenced more by individualism, independence, and
American values.
Rather, the
image we ought to see is the Roman house and household. The NIV translates the
text as, “My Father’s house has many rooms.” And that fits much better into the
Roman world and its social and domestic structures. God is the paterfamilias,
and he has room for all of his household.
Marriage Metaphor
When Jesus
says, “When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be
with me so that where I am you will be too,” his saying can be interpreted as a
marriage metaphor. The wedding has already taken place, here on earth. One
could view the Last Supper as a kind of wedding meal. But that is just the
first step of the marriage process. The bride must get to the groom’s house.
And here the
metaphors get a bit mixed, at least in my opinion. On one hand, Jesus will
return to take his people back to his house. But on the other hand, the
language is that of a journey that must be undertaken by the bride. When Jesus says,
“You know the way to the place I’m going,” he is not talking about map
directions, literal or metaphorical. The word we read as “way” is a term used
in classical Greek literature to talk about an odyssey or a journey, frequently
at the beginning and the end of a quest.
“I am the Way”
It is in
response to Thomas’ lack of understanding and question that Jesus says, “I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
This statement has often been used in some parts of Christianity to support an
exclusivist view of salvation; that is, one must literally believe in and
accept Jesus and become a Christian in order to be saved.
The PC(USA) takes
a more inclusivist stance:
Jesus Christ is the only Savior and Lord, and all people
everywhere are called to place their faith, hope, and love in him. No one is
saved by virtue of inherent goodness or admirable living, for “by grace you
have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift
of God” [Ephesians 2:8]. No one is saved apart from God’s gracious redemption
in Jesus Christ. Yet we do not presume to limit the sovereign freedom of “God
our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of
the truth” [1 Timothy 2:4]. Thus, we neither restrict the grace of God to those
who profess explicit faith in Christ nor assume that all people are saved
regardless of faith. Grace, love, and communion belong to God, and are not ours
to determine.[1]
When Jesus
speaks about himself as the way, he is referring to his recorded life, death,
and resurrection. The way is not about getting to a destination. It is about
following in the patterns of relating and responding to the world that Jesus forged
ahead of us. Later in this Farewell Discourse, Jesus reveals that the Holy
Spirit will be sent. With that, the paradox of Jesus going away, yet still leading
his people to the Father, is resolved. As long as one is following the way of
Jesus and the promptings of the Holy Spirit, they will find their way to the
Father and his house.
Indwelling of God
The next several
sentences in John are of Jesus describing how he and the Father are one.
7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as
well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be
enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I
have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the
Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t
you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The
words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the
Father, living in me, who is doing his work. (John 14:7-10 NIV)
Earlier in
our time travel back, we learned that the idea that deities could dwell in
people and deities could dwell within other gods was a commonly understood
concept. Even though the gospel writer avoids direct references to pagan
terminology and concepts, the metaphor is one that would have been readily
understandable.
How can we
know that the Father is just like Jesus? Because the Father is in Jesus. The
Father is directing all of Jesus’ words and works. Where Christianity diverges
from Roman understanding of gods is the mutual indwelling of the Father in
Jesus and Jesus in the Father, simultaneously.
Returning to
the marriage metaphor, perhaps many brides would have been apprehensive about
entering a new household, under a new paterfamilias. Even though
marriages were most often arranged, there was some opportunity for dating or
getting to know one another. Perhaps the bride, even though she may have been
as young as early to mid-teens, may have come to trust her future husband. But
what about his father? What is he like? Even though there are often character
resemblances between fathers and sons, they are not identical and could turn
out to be quite different.
Jesus tells
his anxious disciples that he and his Father are truly identical in character.
The vital, animating spirit is mutually indwelling. Immediately beyond the
reading for today, Jesus describes how the disciples will have the Holy Spirit
dwelling in them, and because of that Jesus will be a part of them. And more
astonishingly, the disciples will be in Jesus.
House is a Temple is a Person
What I see
in this first part of the discourse is Jesus describing a new household to
which his followers will enter. But this house is not something physical or
even future. The house is Jesus himself. Just as the ancient Roman household
was each, individually a temple, so is Jesus. We can go back to John 2:19 and
see where very early in the gospel, Jesus speaks of himself as the temple.
It is this
context of household and a temple, where loyalty to the paterfamilias is
assumed, that we need to place the final sentences from today’s reading:
12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do
the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than
these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will
do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the
Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and
I will do it. (John 14:12-14 NIV)
These words are being spoken to those in the family. Whatever work and business each member of the family is undertaking, the goal is the same: to bring honor and glory to the head of the household. For Christians, our paterfamilias is God. Jesus’ name is not some kind of formula or magical spell. Jesus’ name is our devotion to God and the way of life that Jesus demonstrated, while leading to death to the ways of this world, ultimately leads to resurrection and life.
References
·
The Fall of the
Pagans and the Origins of Medieval Christianity (Wondrium, The Great Courses),
Professor Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University
·
Pompeii: Daily
Life in an Ancient Roman City (Wondrium, The Great Courses), Professor Steven
L. Tuck, Miami University
·
The Other Side of
History: Daily Life in the Ancient World (Wondrium, The Great Courses),
Professor Robert Garland, Colgate University
·
The Pagan World:
Ancient Religions before Christianity (Wondrium, The Great Courses), Professor
Hans-Friedrich Mueller Union College in Schenectady, New York
·
Roman
Marriage and Weddings | UNRV
(https://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-marriage.php)
·
Roman domestic architecture (domus) (article)
| Khan Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/roman/x7e914f5b:beginner-guides-to-roman-architecture/a/roman-domestic-architecture-domus)
·
The Roman Domus (House): Architecture and
Reconstruction (realmofhistory.com)
(https://www.realmofhistory.com/2020/04/08/3d-animations-layout-roman-domus-house/)
No comments:
Post a Comment