Restored, Rescued, and Redeemed by Jesus: Seven Minor-Character Vignettes from the Fourfold Gospel

By Amir M. Dinkha

Minor characters, both male and female, heavily populate the fourfold Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They all come from different socioeconomic strata of society. Some are distinguished by name, while most remain anonymous. Some are taciturn, while others are loquacious. A few are wealthy, while the majority are poor. This book examines seven pericopae of different minor characters, who appear suddenly in different settings and circumstances, interact with Jesus briefly, and then vanish quickly, leaving behind historical memories preserved by the Gospel evangelists as windows into Jesus' identity and his multifaceted charismatic ministry of compassion and redemption within the context of first-century Judaism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Sep 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781666713626

Amir M. Dinkha

Amir M. Dinkha earned his bachelor of sacred theology from Babel College, Baghdad, Iraq. He also received his master of divinity and licentiate in sacred theology from Milltown Institute, Dublin, Ireland. His primary area of research interest is the canonical Gospels, particularly Mark. He is currently teaching theological and religious studies at St. Genevieve High School, Panorama City, Los Angeles.

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Restored, Rescued, and Redeemed by Jesus

Seven Minor-Character Vignettes from the Fourfold Gospel

Amir M. Dinkha

To the beloved memory of my father, Matty Dinkha, whose simple, but profound, faith instilled in me at an early age the curiosity to discover the Jesus of the fourfold Gospel.

To my mother, Maryam Ḥanna, whose presence, unconditional love, and fervent intercessions have continuously brought me immense solace and joy.

I dedicate this work to them as a token of my utmost love, affection, and gratitude.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Chapter 1: Who Touched My Garments?

Chapter 2: What Do You Desire I Should Do For You?

Chapter 3: Shall I Come Heal Him?

Chapter 4: Do You See This Woman?

Chapter 5: He Received Him Rejoicing

Chapter 6: Do You Desire To Become Healthy?

Chapter 7: Woman, Where Are They?

Bibliography

For my purposes a ‘minor’ character is one who lacks a continuing or recurrent presence in the story as narrated. For the most part, minor characters appear only once.

—Elizabeth Struthers Malbon

Preface

The historical figure Jesus, who lived sometime between 6 BCE and 33 CE¹ in the Roman-controlled region of Palestine,² wrote nothing at all about himself in his native spoken languages of Aramaic and Hebrew. Yet, at the close of the first century CE, four identical and divergent documents about his life, teaching, work, passion, death, and resurrection, written in Greek, were circulating in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean world. These documents, still extant, have been universally known for almost two millennia as the fourfold Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are, after all, the most important historical Christian source documents concerning Jesus.

The person of Jesus is the most prominent protagonist in the fourfold Gospel narratives. Since he is simply the focal point, everything, from beginning to end, revolves around him directly or obliquely. He is portrayed as the preeminent and unique expression, representation, and embodiment of God’s presence in human history. Next to Jesus, the disciples, the crowds, and the religiopolitical authorities and leaders are the major male character groups. They are constantly in view, whether taking the center stage or looming in the background of a particular event. They are woven into the fabric of the overall narrative plot and subplots of each Gospel. They are portrayed as either friendly or hostile to Jesus. In addition, there are many minor characters who populate the fourfold Gospel.³ They exist only as they pass in and out of a literary pericope.⁴ They do not play a continuing role within the overall literary flow and context of a Gospel drama, plot, and narrative.

Of the many minor characters in the fourfold Gospel, this book is an attempt to take a closer look at seven of them, who appear suddenly, interact with Jesus briefly, and then vanish quickly. Nevertheless, their presence constitutes an important component of the fourfold Gospel traditions, contribute to the development of the plot of each Gospel, and, inevitably, deepen one’s theological understanding of Jesus as God’s authoritative and definitive agent of mercy and salvation. These seven minor characters are the woman with the flow of blood (Mark 5:25–34); the blind beggar Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46–52); the gentile centurion at Capernaum (Matt 8:5–13); the sinful woman at the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36–50); Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector at Jericho (Luke 19:1–10); the lame man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1–18); and the adulterous woman (John 7:53—8:11).

A cursory reading of the seven pericopae comprising this book suffices to show that the seven minor characters share certain traits, such as:

1.Individuality. Each one of the seven minor characters stands alone as a realistic and unique individual who does not belong to a wider or larger distinct character group within the world of a Gospel narrative. In other words, each one of them interacts with Jesus individually.

2.Anonymity. The reader may find it puzzling that, of the seven minor characters, five surprisingly lack a proper name, and their personal identity remains obscure in the narrative. How should one assess this tendency to anonymity? It seems fair to say that only those minor characters who were known to, or became members of, the early Christian community are distinguished by name, such as Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus.

3.Scarcity. Little is known about each of the seven minor characters, and some of the details seem to be lacking. How long was Bartimaeus blind? Did Zacchaeus continue working as a chief tax collector after his conversion? In addition to anonymity, was the woman with the flow of blood single, married, divorced, or widowed? The scarcity of narrative information may apparently be due to the brevity and momentary appearance of these minor characters on stage.

4.Personality. Some minor characters are tight-lipped or laconic, such as the woman with the flow of blood, the sinful woman, Zacchaeus, and the adulteress, while Bartimaeus, the gentile centurion, and the lame man are chatty or loquacious.

Most significantly, these seven pericopae are brief, well-rounded, and complete units, preserved by the Gospel evangelists as an indelible and important constituent of the Jesus traditions. Each one of them may be viewed as a little gospel⁵ because it offers a glimpse into Jesus’ identity and his multifaceted charismatic ministry. The reader will definitely notice that it is Jesus who has the last word in all of these pericopae. As God’s authoritative and definitive agent of mercy and salvation, Jesus is depicted in these seven pericopae as a healer, debater, teacher, forgiver, storyteller, prophet, interpreter, and reconciler. Take, for example, Luke 7:36–50. Jesus is portrayed, above all, as a quintessential prophet who extends forgiveness to the sinful woman and, consequently, restores her to communion with God.

The overarching theme of this book is about restoration, rescue, and redemption, both physically and spiritually. The seven minor characters encounter Jesus in a variety of settings and circumstances. As a result of their personal encounter with him, their lives, as well as the lives of their loved ones, are dramatically changed. Jesus compassionately sets them free from their physical suffering, sinful condition, and the fear of social ostracism. This is, of course, particularly true and obvious in the case of Zacchaeus, whose encounter with Jesus leads to the conversion of his whole family. Indeed, the same notion of perspicuity can be extended to the gentile centurion who asks Jesus for the healing of his ailing servant.

The main objective of this book is to offer interpretive insights on each of the seven pericopae. The author does not claim to give an exhaustive coverage of each pericope. Each chapter begins with an English translation of the Greek text of a pericope, taken from the NRSV of the Bible. The reader is encouraged to spend a good amount of time slowly and thoughtfully reading each Gospel pericope to uncover and discover its genuine subtlety, beauty, and originality. Where the Greek text is cited, the source is the GNT (UBS). The Greek text is also transliterated and translated into English to further enable the reader to understand some nuances that may be missed in the English translation of a pericope. Unless otherwise stated, all Gospel translations from the Greek are the author’s own. Then, each chapter is further divided into three interrelated parts. The first part—scholarly context—briefly explores an overview of scholarly interpretations of each pericope. The second part—literary genre and structure—identifies a form-critical category into which a pericope can broadly fall. It also offers a proposed structure, which traces the flow and progression of the plot within each pericope. The third part—narrative analysis—examines each pericope according to its own merits, and views it within the larger Gospel narrative by means of succinctly analyzing how certain elements (i.e., setting, characters, point of view, theme development, conflict, and resolution) interact with each other to form a coherent story, which the omniscient narrator, covertly or overtly, then uses to invite the reader to take sides or to identify with certain values and meanings expressed in each pericope.

Each chapter stands alone on its own merit. It can be almost read independently of others. It is, however, recommended that every chapter is read in connection with what precedes or follows it. For example, the first two chapters in this book, covering pericopae from Mark’s Gospel, deserve to be read together to better understand the evangelist’s portrait of Jesus. The only exception is chapter 3, dealing with a pericope from Matthew’s Gospel. As the reader moves from one chapter to another, he or she will notice a certain amount of unavoidable repetition, for which the author apologizes. It is, however, the author’s desire that as you continue reading each chapter of this book, you gradually come to realize the greatness of the Jesus of the fourfold Gospel, whose ultimate mission is to bring and give life in abundance (John 10:10).

1

. The abbreviations BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) are used throughout this book instead of BC (Before Christ) and AD (Latin: anno Domini, in the year of the Lord).

2

. The region of Palestine was known during the course of history by many different names, such as Canaan, Israel, and Judea. Today, it is geopolitically divided between the country of Israel, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

3

. Think of some minor characters such as the leper (Mark

1

:

40

), the poor widow (Mark

12

:

42

), Simon of Cyrene (Mark

15

:

21

), Joseph of Arimathea (Mark

15

:

43

), Caiaphas (Matt

26

:

57

), Pilate’s wife (Matt

27

:

19

), Zechariah (Luke

1

:

5

), Elizabeth (Luke

1

:

5

), Simon (Luke

2

:

25

), Anna (Luke

2

:

36

), Mary Magdalene (Luke

8

:

2

), Cleopas (Luke

24

:

18

), and the Samaritan woman (John

4

:

7

).

4

. The English word pericope (plural: pericopae) comes from the Greek words περί (peri, around) and κοπή (kopé, cutting). Thus, a περικοπή (perikopé, pericope, cutting around), as a term used by scholars, is mostly a self-contained piece, cut out of a Gospel context and, consequently, can stand on its own as an individual literary unit.

5

. Strauss, Four Portraits,

59

.

Acknowledgments

There are many people I would wholeheartedly like to acknowledge for being such a tremendous help in making this book come to fruition.

This book has evolved over a long period of time from materials presented and taught, albeit in a simplified form, to my students at St. Genevieve High School in Panorama City, Los Angeles. As always, I am thankful to all of my students, whose class discussions have made invaluable contributions to my thinking about each chapter of this book.

I would like to thank Ms. Mary Ann Navarro, a library assistant at St. John’s Seminary Libraries in Camarillo, California, for assisting me with finding books and allowing me to make photocopies of a multitude of topics.

I am indebted to Mrs. Linda Jackson, a colleague, friend, and English department chair at St. Genevieve High School, for kindly proofreading the first draft of each chapter and making numerous suggestions on the improvement of my style of writing.

I am grateful to Fr. Ciarán O’Callaghan, CSsR, for reading the first three chapters of the manuscript and offering valuable constructive feedback, particularly for my translations of New Testament Greek.

I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Matthew Wimer, Editorial Production Manager at Wipf and Stock, for patiently and astutely guiding me through the editing and publishing process.

Above all, I owe my deepest debt of gratitude to Ms. Cecilia Olaguez for her unwavering support and encouragement, particularly during the course of writing this book, as well as for her painstaking attention to the accuracy and consistency of the footnotes and bibliography.

Should you find mistakes, errors, and oversights in this book, please be assured that they are obviously mine alone.

Abbreviations

Periodicals, Reference Works, and Serials

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

New Testament

New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

Dead Sea Scrolls

Greco-Roman Writings

Mishnah and Talmud Writings

Christian Writings

Restored, Rescued, and Redeemed by Jesus

Seven Minor-Character Vignettes from the Fourfold Gospel

Copyright © 2021 Amir M. Dinkha. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Resource Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-1360-2

hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-1361-9

ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-1362-6

08/24/21

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©