Jesus' eating transgressions and social impropriety in the gospel of Mark: a social scientific approach

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Spring, 2000 by Dietmar Neufeld

   Let those that live as remote as the bounds of the land which the Hebrews
   shall possess, come to that city where the temple shall be, and this three
   times in a year, that they may give thanks to God for his former benefits
   ... and, let them, by this means, maintain a friendly correspondence with
   one another by such meeting and feasting together, for it is a good thing
   for those that are of the same stock and under the same institutions of
   laws, not to be unacquainted with each other; which acquaintance will be
   maintained by thus conversing together, and by seeing and talking with one
   another, and so renewing the memorials of this union; for if they do not
   thus converse together continually they will appear like mere strangers to
   one another.

Feasting makes available the opportunity for conversation and seeing one another, both of which, according to Josephus, are vital components for social cohesion. Feasting has the positive transforming power of improving conviviality, renewing and reinforcing loyalty to "the institutions of laws," and involving people in matrices of reciprocity and mutuality. Feasting and conversation mitigate the alienating forces of time and distance among strangers of the same stock.

These festive meals have both a ceremony and a ritual component. In the words of Neyrey, "ceremony refers to rites that confirm roles and statuses and ritual refers to rites of status transformation, such as baptism, marriage, consecration [foot washing], in which individuals change status and role" (Neyrey 1995: 188; McVann: 333-60). Moreover, meals as ceremony are highly predictable, occur regularly, are determined, called for, and presided over by officials (Neyrey 1991: 362). Ceremony celebrates the way things are by confirming the values and structures in the institutions of society (kinship, politics, religion, temple, economics, etc.). Thus ceremonial feasts serve to validate and reinforce mutual solidarity and oneness.

Ritual celebrates status transformation. Important transitions in a person's life on such occasions as birth, circumcision, birthday, wedding, death, rite of inclusion, etc., are often commemorated by a festive meal. This meal marks some person's or group's transition or transformation that gives honor to the individual or group undergoing a fundamental social change. For example, the ritual element of a practiced hospitality may signify the transformation of an enemy into an equal and of an alien into a guest--status renewal (Pilch & Malina: 77). Those excluded from certain features of social life because of illness or scandalous behavior, such as sinners, toll collectors, or prostitutes, may be brought back into the main stream of social life by being invited to a meal that signals their status reversal--from ill to well, sinners to forgiven, impure to pure, outsider to insider, etc. The ritual component of a practiced, inclusive commensality may signify the redefinition of what and who count as honorable in the kingdom of God. Marginalized people may take on new and better roles that signal their status elevation--"how honorable are those poor in spirit, for they ..." (Hanson: 81-111; Neyrey 1998: 164-212).