by Gary M Burge
“Then we wait,” Appius said. “Let us wait and see if this Yeshua bar Yosef appears.”
Jesus (Yeshua bar Yosef)
In first-century Jewish communities, a man would ordinarily have a given name that was then further defined by reference to his father or his village. Jesus was thus “Joseph’s son” (Lk 4:22), or he might be “Jesus of Nazareth” (Mk 10:47), or “Jesus the prophet of Nazareth” (Mt 21:11). “Jesus Christ” was a title of faith used later by believers, confessing that “Jesus is the Messiah” (Christ is a Greek form of the Hebrew word for “messiah”).
However, the actual name “Jesus” was never used. This is an English form that derives from the Greek (Iesous) and Latin (Iesus). Semitic languages like Aramaic and Hebrew did not use the “j” sound. His name in Aramaic was Yeshua (Hebrew Yehoshua), which stems from the Old Testament name Joshua (Hebrew meaning, “Yahweh saves”). In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint) the Hebrew Yehoshua is always translated into Greek as Iesous.
Aramaic speakers generally knew Jesus as “Yeshua bar Yosef” (Jesus son of Joseph).
When Levi returned two days later, Tullus’s condition had worsened. His death was imminent. But Levi’s report to Mariam was encouraging. Joanna knew exactly where Yeshua was, and she had sent a slave to get word to him immediately. The village should expect him very soon.
Mariam found Tobias and decided she needed to prepare the elders for what was to come. She did not want them to be surprised. She found them at the site of the synagogue.
“I have sent a messenger to Yeshua of Nazareth. And he has promised to come to help Tullus,” Mariam said. “He is a great healer and will know what to do.” Tobias was equally worried. He too was committed to Tullus and his newly found faith. He would either welcome the healer or, if all failed, begin to plan how he might plan a Jewish funeral for Tullus, which he knew Appius might not receive well.
“When will he arrive?”
“The promise is for tomorrow. And we must pray that Tullus will survive until then.”
“But we have a problem. We cannot ask Yeshua to enter this Gentile household. He is a holy man, and that would make him unclean. You would not ask this of me, nor can we ask this of him.”
“But I would ask this of you, Tobias. These rules are like a mountain hanging by a thread. Tullus cannot be moved. It would kill him. And the healer must go to him. Let Yeshua decide whether he wants to enter the Roman house.”
“Perhaps it is God’s will that Tullus’s life is ended,” Tobias brooded. “Perhaps we should wait and see what happens. God alone assigns our days.”
“Perhaps. But you do not know God’s will. No one knows that. Therefore we do all we can to save him.” Then Mariam considered a different approach. “But you are forgetting about Appius in this, Tobias. You want him to be good to us, as he has already. So he has asked me to request something of you. Will you be the one who asks the Nazarene to tend to his servant? That is all he asks, and it is very little. You lead our community. You alone can do this.”
“I will make this request. But you must think of a way to bring Tullus to him. I will not ask Yeshua to enter the centurion’s villa.”
At about noon the next day it was the children playing in the street who saw him first. Tobias had assigned them that morning to watch the road from the west, the road that led from Gennesaret. When they spotted him coming, they ran to Tobias’s home and alerted him. Tobias’s wife was already preparing a splendid afternoon meal with her servants. The other elders were ready as well. There would be a meal soon after Yeshua arrived.
More than a dozen boys under the age of ten were racing through the village directly for Tobias’s gate. As soon as they had told Tobias the news, the boys raced back again to the edge of the village. They knew Yeshua bar Yosef from his previous visits. He always stopped for them, and sometimes he played with them. They sensed he liked them. And he knew their names.
Yeshua was traveling with his growing band of followers. They looked no different than every other peasant in these hills: tired, hungry and lean from hard travel and labor. But it was clear that Yeshua was leading them.
As he entered Capernaum, the boys immediately swarmed him. Up the street he could see Tobias and the elders ready to greet him formally. But still, he stopped, knelt down and talked with the children. Many of their parents belonged to his followers.
In a few minutes he reached Tobias, who offered his first words. He was arrayed in his finest robe, as were the other elders of the community who stood nearby. Tobias greeted Yeshua generously with two kisses on behalf of the village and told him that preparations were made for him to share a meal with him and the elders at his own villa.
“But we would ask one favor of you. We are now a Roman garrison town. We have soldiers camped nearby and a centurion who oversees everything. He is a good man. He loves our people, and he has built our synagogue. But he has a servant who is dear to him that is very ill, near to death in fact. He needs your help.” Tobias knew he had to make this request. The entire village knew Tullus’s condition and Appius’s commitment to him. And they knew why Yeshua was there.
Tobias led him in the general direction of Appius’s villa, hoping against hope that Mariam had come up with some plan, some way to make this happen. He did not tell Yeshua that he was going to a Gentile household, only that they were going to the servant’s bedside.
But before they arrived, Gaius met them on the road. Behind him, not far away, standing before his gate, Appius was in plain view. He was watching Gaius, waiting to see the results of a message he had sent. Appius understood his place: he was not only a Gentile but a Roman, the occupier and enemy. He was the very opposite of this Jewish holy man. He did not believe in this man’s kingdom and doubted whether this Nazarene believed in Rome’s kingdom. They were men standing on opposite sides of a major disagreement.
Gaius announced, glancing back at the villa, that he had a message from Appius. He spoke directly to Yeshua. “Lord, do not trouble yourself. I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you.”
Appius accepted the barriers that would keep this man from entering a Gentile household. If it seemed impossible for Tobias, it certainly was impossible for the healer Yeshua.
Gaius continued Appius’s message: “Say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
Tobias was astounded. Even Appius was maintaining the boundary. Even he was keeping the healer away from Tullus. Now, if Tobias enforced the boundary, Mariam and others could hardly blame him.
When Yeshua heard these things, he too was amazed. Turning to Tobias and the crowd that had gathered, he said, “I tell you. Not even in Israel have I found faith like this.”
Tobias was stunned at the affront to the Jewish people. The grumbling on the street among the elders was audible, and Yeshua ignored it. He then looked beyond Gaius and spoke in a voice now aimed at Appius. “Let it be done for you as you have believed.”
Appius did not know what he believed. He held more hope than belief. He knew that Mariam believed, and he was willing to act on the faith of someone he trusted. Appius stood motionless on the step before his villa’s gate. He simply looked at this man and wondered whether he could be serious. Appius had seen the great healing centers of Asclepius and the intricate healing ceremonies of his priests. His belief—or what little he had—slowly began to evaporate. A Jewish peasant in a remote little fishing village would not be able to do what Asclepius sometimes could not do.
Appius turned and walked back into the villa, unsure of what to do next. He was filled with questions and apprehension. He had hoped against hope. But skepticism continued to haunt his thoughts.
Just then Appius heard a cry from an inner room. Mariam and Livia were inside with Tullus. The midwife stepped int
o the courtyard and called out. Appius came at a run, fearing the worst. That Tullus had died, that hope would again be ruined, that life would always rob one of the joys one treasured. Appius had seen a lot of this. He desired to see no more. His doubts about the Nazarene were being realized. It was, after all, a foolish quest for hope.
Figure 10.1. Reproduction of a Roman villa’s garden at the Getty Villa near Los Angeles
When he arrived, Mariam pulled him into the room. Tullus was sitting on the edge of his bed, weak but vital. Livia was laughing and crying, overcome with tears, and fervently hugging Tullus. Appius wondered whether she might hurt the boy. But Tullus looked up, and for the first time since the attack, he gazed directly at Appius, recognized him and tried to speak. Appius couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Mariam stood nearby, smiling, her arms folded. “Someone needs to get this boy something to eat.”
For minutes Appius was in a daze. He found it impossible to take in everything that had transpired in this week. His rage at Axium was matched now by his joy at seeing Tullus sitting, standing, even walking in his room. When Appius walked into the courtyard, however, he was unprepared for what came next.
Yeshua the healer was standing alone within his open gate. Appius did not know whether he should approach or stay away. It didn’t matter. Yeshua was walking toward him.
Yeshua entered the courtyard filled with statues of Apollo and ignored them. But he stopped when he came to the sculpture of the deer and the dogs. He looked at it for what seemed like minutes, in silence. Then he reached up and brushed the face of the deer with his hand. His eyes said everything. He then looked at Appius with a prolonged gaze. And at that moment—he could never explain why—Appius resolved to remove the sculpture and destroy it.
Figure 10.2. Close-up of the deer and dogs sculpture
“Walk with me.”
Appius knew it was an order and that it was one he wished to obey. They entered the new garden next to the courtyard, now just coming to life with the flourishing greenery of its new plants and herbs. A summer clematis had climbed one of the statues of Apollo and was already beginning to display its deep purple flowers. There were bright red flowers that always grew wild in the Galilee hillsides. The sun was shining, and a young pomegranate tree was offering its first red blossoms.
Figure 10.3. A flowering clematis
Yeshua sat on the rim of the new garden fountain, cupped some of its water and took a drink. He looked at Appius patiently.
“You are a good man, Appius. But you are also broken. It remains to be seen which is broken more, your body or your heart. Please tell me.”
These words were like another arrow fired from an unexpected quarter. They were a piercing echo of words spoken by a tribune in Raphana long ago.
“My body was broken. . . .”
“At Dura. I know this. I can heal all of you, if you wish.”
Appius felt fear rising within. He rarely felt afraid. But this man unnerved him. And hope . . . it made him anxious, because it could so easily be stripped away.
“Step nearer, friend of my people.” Yeshua stood, then placed his right hand on Appius’s left shoulder, closed his eyes and spoke words, Hebrew words that he never explained. In an instant—he could never describe how he knew this—Appius knew that he had been healed as a radiant warmth shot through his body. Appius cautiously raised his left arm beyond the reach he had known for some time. It had been restored. There was no pain. Strength had returned. And Appius’s eyes welled with tears.
“This is a gift to you, Appius of Attalia, not from Apollo but from the God of Israel. He is a living God, a God of power and of healing. Apollo is an imagined god, or perhaps he is as you once imagined yourself. You must learn these things. And you must unlearn many other things you believe to be true.”
Appius noticed that Mariam, Tullus and Livia had joined them in the garden. They were approaching hesitantly, cautiously. . . . They knew that Yeshua was talking with Appius, and they could see the centurion wiping tears from his eyes, something Livia had never seen in her many years with him in Gallica. She began to go to him, but Mariam held her arm. Something was happening in this garden, and it was between Yeshua and Appius. It must not be interrupted. Livia would find her moment later.
Minutes passed before Yeshua looked at Mariam, smiled at her and said, “This has been a good day, Mariam. Today we have created two new men. I think we ought to have a banquet right here in Appius’s villa.”
Mariam liked this. She nodded and went to find Gaius.
The Centurion of Capernaum
Figure 10.4. A proud centurion
The story of the centurion of Capernaum is recorded in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. Scholars assume that these stories have been abbreviated and so they do not supply us with all of their details. In some cases, important things are left out. Matthew (who tends to prefer shorter accounts) has the centurion ask for the healing himself. Luke (who underscores the differences between Jew and Gentile) supplies further information. Luke says the centurion first sent Jewish elders to intercept Jesus and inquire about healing the centurion’s slave. But before they arrived the centurion then sent someone else, who asked for the healing from a distance, thus protecting Jesus from the impurity of stepping into a Gentile home.
Either way, the slave (who is the focus of the story) is at the point of death when Jesus heals him. Matthew adds that he is paralyzed and in terrible pain. The Gospels do not say what exactly is wrong with the servant, but they agree that he was healed from a distance with Jesus’ word. The story of the centurion and his servant ends with a dramatic healing, but we are given no further explanations or any continuing narrative. But surely there was more to the story.
Of course the final meeting of Appius and Jesus is fictional. It borrows motifs from other Gospel stories and from themes in the Old Testament. It is likely, however, that Jesus would have further contact with the centurion, who lived in this small town that Jesus called home. It would make sense that Jesus knew his name, the name of his servant and members of his familia.
Maps of Galilee and Syria
Map of Galilee in New Testament times
Map of Syria
Notes
Chapter 1: From Emesa to Raphana
1The text of Plautus’ self-written epitaph is found in Aulus Gellius’ collection of sayings “Attic Nights.” In 1:24 Gellius records three epitaphs including this one from Plautus. See the Latin and English texts in the Perseus Project (http://perseus.uchicago.edu, accessed September 2014).
2Ovid’s description of Daphne is found in the Latin poet’s Metamorphoses 1.500. See the Perseus Project (http://perseus.uchicago.edu, accessed September 2014).
Chapter 7: Capernaum
1This translation is from R. P. Martin, New Testament Foundations (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), 1:110-11.
Image Credits and Permissions
Figure 1.1. Kim Walton. Altes Museum, Berlin
Figure 1.2. Kim Walton. Altes Museum, Berlin
Figure 1.3. Kim Walton. Palatine Museum, Rome
Figure 1.4. © Ritmeyer Archaeological Design
Figure 2.1. © barbulat / Fotolia.com
Figure 2.2. Ted Chi / Wikimedia Commons
Figure 2.3. De Agostini Picture Library / G. Dagli Orti / Bridgeman Images
Figure 2.4. © Bbbar / Dreamstime.com - Site Of Palmyra Photo
Figure 3.1. William L. Krewson / BiblePlaces.com
Figure 3.2. Baker Photo Archive. The British Museum
Figure 3.3. Baker Photo Archive. The British Museum
Figure 3.4. Baker Photo Archive. The British Museum
Figure 3.5. Baker Photo Archive
Figure 3.6. Kim Walton. The Louvre
Figure 4.1. Baker Photo Archive
Figure 4.2. Kim Walton
Figure 4.3. Kim Walton. The British Museum
Figure 4.4. Kim Walton
Figure 4.5. © Ca2hill / Dreamstime.com - Stone Bed in Pompeii Photo
/>
Figure 5.1. Baker Photo Archive. The Eretz Israel Museum
Figure 5.2. Marie-Lan Nguyen. The Louvre / Wikimedia Commons
Figure 5.3. Kim Walton. The Altes Museum, Berlin
Figure 5.4. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Italy / Bridgeman Images
Figure 5.5. Baker Photo Archive
Figure 6.1. Baker Photo Archive
Figure 6.2. Baker Photo Archive
Figure 6.3. Baker Photo Archive
Figure 6.4. Baker Photo Archive
Figure 7.1. De Agostini Picture Library / C. Bevilacqua / Bridgeman Images
Figure 7.2. Kim Walton. Yigal Allon Museum, Kibbutz Ginosar, Israel
Figure 7.3. Herculaneum, Campania, Italy / Giraudon / Bridgeman Images
Figure 7.4. Baker Photo Archive. The British Museum
Figure 8.1. Werner Forman Archive / Bridgeman Images
Figure 8.2. © The Trustees of the British Museum / Art Resource, NY
Figure 8.3. De Agostini Picture Library / R. Pedicini / Bridgeman Images
Figure 8.4. Baker Photo Archive. The Masada Museum
Figure 9.1. Private Collection / Photo © Zev Radovan / Bridgeman Images
Figure 9.2. Kim Walton
Figure 9.3. Kim Walton
Figure 9.4. Kim Walton
Figure 10.1. © Poi80 / Dreamstime.com - Garden in Gettyvilla Photo
Figure 10.2. Herculaneum, Campania, Italy / Giraudon / Bridgeman Images
Figure 10.3. © Turpentinevinegar / Dreamstime.com - Clematis Photo
Figure 10.4. IKAI. Universalmuseum Joanneum, Styria, Austria / Wikimedia Commons
Praise for A Week in the Life of a Roman Centurion