Curious Customs

Our world is incredibly diverse when one considers culture and the daily lives of its inhabitants. One can’t possibly travel from one country to another or even one city to another expecting to find the same habits and customs throughout. It seems as though all of us have difficulty understanding this concept at one point in our respective lives. We tend to expect everyone else to fall in to our ways of thinking and acting. We shun the actions of another before making even a slight attempt to reflect on the cultural background of the individual. It’s true that some of us are more aware of and educated in culture than others, but it is to feel uncomfortable when a fellow man exhibits a behavior foreign to us.
There are individuals in the world taking part in curious customs every day. For instance, a man in China has painted the ‘Mona Lisa’ every day for two years. Kenya, already labeling 15 to 30-year-olds as “youth” is considering pushing the maximum age for a “youth” to 50. After the World Cup, many devoted fans found their selves suffering various symptoms of withdrawal including getting physically sick. A couple weeks ago, Doug spoke of a law that allows Scotsmen to be shot if found in the English city of York. A couple is currently seeking to overturn this law.
The village of Nazareth was populated by Jews, Syrians, Greeks, and Romans. The common language of the Roman Empire was Greek but Jesus’ every day language was Aramaic. Houses were 1 to 2 room squares with dirt floors, flat roofs, and wooden doors. Women prepared food daily by baking bread, grinding grain, milking animals, and making cheese. Red meat was severed on special occasions while pork and crustaceans were forbidden. Clothing consisted of an undergarment, called a “tunic”, and an outer garment, called a “mantle”. Husbands were the spiritual and legal heads of their households while women were considered to be second class citizens. Christ came in this time to do what he continues to accomplish today, unite God’s people. We find this in Galatians 3:28 and throughout scripture.