Jesus and the Paralytics

Anthony Giambrone

doi:10.31743/biban.9681

Abstract

This study explores the Greco-Roman memorialization of healings through material culture as a point of comparison for the Gospels’ miracle traditions. Special attention is given to the ex-votos left at healing shrines and especially the Iamata inscriptions connected with the Asclepius cult. This corpus of evidence brings into focus a series of dynamics that help illuminate the stories of Jesus’ two healings of a paralytic (John 5:1-15; Mark 2:1-10). The comparisons help clarify both the common memorializing supports that informed and sustained the memory of Jesus transmitted in the Gospels, as well as the distinctive relationship of the Christian cult to certain specific places where memories of Jesus where preserved.

Highlights

The recent turn to memory in historical Jesus research is a major and healthy paradigm shift
This study explores the Greco-Roman memorialization of healings through material culture as a point of comparison for the Gospels’ miracle traditions
Special attention is given to the ex-votos left at healing shrines and especially the Iamata inscriptions connected with the Asclepius cult

Summary

The Ex-voto Habit

Ex-votos might range from entire temples to the simplest, most homely objects. The Templum Lares Permarini in the southern Campus Martius in Rome, for instance, was built to fulfill a vow made by Lucius Emilius Regillus during a naval battle in 190 BCE.[3]. Anthony Giambrone · Jesus and the Paralytics.Memorializing Miracles recovered.[6] So common was the offering of these devotional memorials that votive items were mass produced and the ritual Latin formula was abbreviated VSLM: votum solvit libens merito, “freely discharges the vow, as deserved.”. The habit of such thank offerings was, naturally, by no means confined to the Greco-Roman context. In first century Gerasa, Demetrius, son Apollonius, a priest of the imperial cult, dedicated a statue at the temple; while a certain Artemidora offered a small limestone altar, likely to her patron, Artemis, one of the city’s two main divinities.[9]

Healing Shrines

Iamata – Remembering Healings

Healing Sites in the Gospels

Jesus and the Paralytic in John 5

Jesus and the Paralytic in Mark 2

Conclusion