Tuesday, May 09, 2006
PLACE SETTINGS
V36. Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him. And He entered the Pharisee's house, and reclined at the table.
Jesus is getting quite a lot of attention by both the common folk and the religious folks. The religious were the keepers and teachers of those things relating to God. The common people were indebted to the religious to their sharing and teaching them theology – theos – God and ology – the study of. There are problems in society with this man named Jesus because He was doing things that could not be explained naturally and His teaching about God didn’t square with that of the religious.
For the most part the religious had written Jesus off as a shyster and heretic, but now one of the Pharisees was not quite convinced as who he would side. To put an end to the confusion the Pharisee was requesting for Jesus (Him) to dine with him so that he might put an end to his confusion.
Jesus was comfortable in the presence of all social strata and without hesitation accepted Simon’s invitation to dine with him. Eating together was an intimate affair in that it was done low to the ground in a reclining position. One would rest his left elbow on the table, head in hand, and eat with his right hand. Guests would line up reclined around the table head to breast with one’s feet toward the wall. The wall would attract the locals who might be passing by welcome to stop in and listen to the conversation that was taking place at the dinner. Jewish life was quite open and public.
Jesus is getting quite a lot of attention by both the common folk and the religious folks. The religious were the keepers and teachers of those things relating to God. The common people were indebted to the religious to their sharing and teaching them theology – theos – God and ology – the study of. There are problems in society with this man named Jesus because He was doing things that could not be explained naturally and His teaching about God didn’t square with that of the religious.
For the most part the religious had written Jesus off as a shyster and heretic, but now one of the Pharisees was not quite convinced as who he would side. To put an end to the confusion the Pharisee was requesting for Jesus (Him) to dine with him so that he might put an end to his confusion.
Jesus was comfortable in the presence of all social strata and without hesitation accepted Simon’s invitation to dine with him. Eating together was an intimate affair in that it was done low to the ground in a reclining position. One would rest his left elbow on the table, head in hand, and eat with his right hand. Guests would line up reclined around the table head to breast with one’s feet toward the wall. The wall would attract the locals who might be passing by welcome to stop in and listen to the conversation that was taking place at the dinner. Jewish life was quite open and public.
# posted by Castusfumus : 4:39 PM
