Post by Josh on Mar 23, 2008 12:41:47 GMT -8
Today I briefly mentioned a possible literary connection between an episode in Homer's Odyssey and the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in the gospel of Luke.
Here's the details:
In the Odyssey, Odysseus returns home after more than a decade of wandering. Everyone, including his family, think he is dead.
He returns in disguise to test the loyalty of his friends and family. The first person he meets in his old servant Eumaeus, who serves him bread and wine.
After Odysseus reveals his true identity to his son, Eumaeus also finally recognizes his true master by a scar on his thigh.
The parallels between this part of the Odyssey and the resurrection stories (Emmaus/ Eumaeus, bread & wine, a disguised and presumed dead hero who reveals himself through his scars) lead me to make some interesting conjectures (loosely held, of course, but interesting nonetheless IMO):
1) Growing up listening to the Odyessey told and retold many times, Greco-Romans would have felt a strong resonance with stories such as Jesus' appearance to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (very similar sounding to Eumaeus)-- as if they were hearing something very familar, but with one key difference- it was "myth become fact" in Jesus
2) Stories such as this would have helped pagans transition from paganism to Chrsitianity by taking the best out of what they had previously experienced in their culture and transferring it into the light of ultimate truth.
3) I see God's hand at work in interjecting prophetic hints into pagan stories like the Odyssey- hints that pointed to the real historical events he would bring about in the life of Christ.
Thoughts?
Here's the details:
In the Odyssey, Odysseus returns home after more than a decade of wandering. Everyone, including his family, think he is dead.
He returns in disguise to test the loyalty of his friends and family. The first person he meets in his old servant Eumaeus, who serves him bread and wine.
After Odysseus reveals his true identity to his son, Eumaeus also finally recognizes his true master by a scar on his thigh.
The parallels between this part of the Odyssey and the resurrection stories (Emmaus/ Eumaeus, bread & wine, a disguised and presumed dead hero who reveals himself through his scars) lead me to make some interesting conjectures (loosely held, of course, but interesting nonetheless IMO):
1) Growing up listening to the Odyessey told and retold many times, Greco-Romans would have felt a strong resonance with stories such as Jesus' appearance to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (very similar sounding to Eumaeus)-- as if they were hearing something very familar, but with one key difference- it was "myth become fact" in Jesus
2) Stories such as this would have helped pagans transition from paganism to Chrsitianity by taking the best out of what they had previously experienced in their culture and transferring it into the light of ultimate truth.
3) I see God's hand at work in interjecting prophetic hints into pagan stories like the Odyssey- hints that pointed to the real historical events he would bring about in the life of Christ.
Thoughts?