COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014

Saint Louis University Revision No. 01

School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 1 of 2

CHURCH TEACHING
The Church always believed that Jesus’ idea of what he was born to do is
expressed in the programmatic speech. The different acts enumerated there all refer to
one reality: holistic salvation that includes everything that makes life meaningful.
Alternatively, theologians refer to this as total human well-being. The Filipino theologian
Jose de Mesa calls it “ginhawa ng katawan at kalooban,” encompassing the material
and the non-material aspect of being human. Ginhawa is the experience of being freed
from something that oppresses or enslaves. In Christian theology, God, through Jesus, is
the source of this ginhawa.

Theologians mention several themes to characterize Jesus’ ministry. Three of them

are very important in understanding Jesus’ mission and, therefore, the mission of the
Church (De Mesa, 1991).

1. Liberating

As mentioned above in the section of the Inspired Word, liberation as a theme of

Jesus’ ministry is suggested by the programmatic speech. Jesus’ ministry is focused on
freeing people from all forms of bondage. This theme is present in Jesus’ teachings
(parables, sayings, remarks) and in his practice (healings, table fellowship, and manner
of dealing with people and situations).

The parables of Jesus challenged the oppressive situation of his time and invited
people to an alternative lifestyle that could result in more human and humane society.
Jesus used them to free people from the idolatry of the self towards genuine service of
the neighbor. Jesus told stories that called people to die to self, family, and clan as the
center of one’s concern. He invited people to the true center of human existence, which
is God. Echoing his Scripture, he said: “You shall love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and
mind.” This de-centering from the self and re-centering of the self to the Divine is the
source of true liberation that leads to genuine concern for others.

In the Gospels, we see in the ministry of Jesus God’s liberating action for his people
through healing. Healing forms a significant part of the ministry of Jesus. Jesus healed
because he had compassion for suffering people burdened by their illness. The healing
of Jesus was not the only liberation from physical suffering. It was freeing people from the
work of evil spirits. Ancient people saw illness as a work of the evil spirit, and thus when
Jesus healed, he was also effectively freeing people from the enslavement caused by
these evil beings.

2. Hope-bearing

Jesus’ ministry, because it was liberating, was necessarily hope-bearing. His

comforting words, healings, and inclusive practices rekindled hope among people who
have become desperate for their conditions. The healing of the woman with the
hemorrhage is particularly illustrative. The woman had been suffering for twelve years
 COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 2 of 2

and had gone to all physicians and spent all her money without getting healed. She was
about to give up, but when Jesus passed by her place, she knew she would be healed
this time. And she was healed. All the healings done by Jesus gave the recipients new
hope and new life.

The beatitudes (Luke 6:20-23), the blessings that Jesus announced, have the
theme of hope. Jesus pronounced blessings on the poor, the hungry, those who mourn,
and those who are hated and insulted. All these refer to marginalized people who may
have resigned their fate to their present condition.

3. Inclusive

The whole ministry of Jesus was a protest against the exclusive system of his society.
One crucial element of the ministry of Jesus was his table fellowships which were
boundary-shattering and therefore liberated people from the limits imposed by class
distinctions. For Jesus’ fellow Jews, eating was not just a biological or social activity at
that time. It went deeper and indicated boundaries, meaning sinners could not sit at the
table with the righteous as they belonged to different classes. Eating reflected or
determined social, economic, and religious class. But we read in the Gospels that Jesus
had been eating with sinners and outcasts and was criticized for such actions.

Jesus’ table practice is described by John Dominic Crossan, a biblical scholar, and
historian, as “open commensality” and “radical egalitarianism.” Open commensality
means that everybody is welcome to sit around the table. Radical egalitarianism refers
to equality that is rooted deep in our humanity. We may seem different or unequal, but
we are equal because we are all human beings. Such is the symbolic significance of
Jesus’ practice of sitting at a table even with the sinners and outcasts of society.

In the following article, New Testament professor Elfriede Janz de Verón

concretizes to a certain extent some of the implications for the Church of Jesus’ mission
of liberation.