172 Essays in Anarchism and Religion: Volume 1
act as if there is no God, people who do not observe the [Jewish] Law
(or certain interpretations of the Law), people who were effectively
outside of God’s covenant with Israel, and people contrasted with
the ‘righteous’” (James G. Crossley, Reading the New Testament:
Contemporary Approaches [London: Routledge, 2010], p. 91).
- Matthew 9.21–22, Luke 10.13–14; Luke 10.25–37; Luke
17.11–19; Matthew 8.5–13, Luke 7.1–10 cf. John 4.1–42; though
see Matthew 15.21–28, Mark 7.24–30; Matthew 6.32, Luke 12.30;
Matthew 10.5; cf. Luke 9.52. - Mark 10.46, Luke 18.35.
- Mark 12.41–44, Luke 21.1–4.
- Most famously, “many who are first will be last, and the last
will be first” (Matthew 19.30; see also Matthew 20.16; Mark 10.31;
Luke 13.30; Mark 9.35; Thomas 4). - For example, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not
invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neigh-
bours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be re-
paid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled,
the lame, and the blind.” (Luke 14.12–13). - For example, “Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the pros-
titutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.” (Matthew
21.31). - Matthew 22.1–14, Luke 14:15–24, Thomas 64.
- Luke 14.21.
- Luke 16:19–31 – yet a rich person might normally be assumed,
like Abraham, to be blessed by God (Genesis 13:2; Proverbs 10:22). - See Matthew 25:31–46. For the interpretation of verse 45 see
W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary
on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew. Volume III. Commentary on
Matthew XIX-XXVIII (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1997), pp. 428–429.
It should be emphasised that in one sense the reversal here is a typical
one within first-century Judaism (see, for example 2 Esdras 2.20–23).
Concern for the “least”was a consistent feature of Jewish ethical think-
ing, from the earliest prophetic texts onwards (see, for example, Amos
2.6–8, 4.1–3, 5.10–13, 8.4–6; Malachi 3.5).