Orientation

The Roman Emperor was the chief patron of the empire. Under the emperor were perhaps tens, or even hundreds, of thousands of interlocking pyramids of patron-broker-client relationships. At minimum, hundreds of clients throughout the empire were personally obligated to the emperor because of favors he granted them as their patron. In turn, these clients of the emperor functioned as patrons to other clients below them. Here, a bust of Tiberius Caesar, who ruled from 14 to 37 A.D.

In the 1st century there was a huge disparity of power and wealth between the the Roman emperor and ordinary peasants such as those in Palestine. Lesser although still profound disparities of power existed between Palestinian rulers such as the Herodians and those same peasants. These extreme disparities helped to create and perpetuate the system of patronage. Patronage was a sophisticated web of interlocking obligations that distributed benefits throughout the empire, while at the same time preserving social disparities.

People played three different roles in the system of patronage: patron, client, and broker. No matter which role one played at a given moment in time, one kept a certain amount of formal distance from people in the other two roles while simultaneously being highly personable.

A patron is a person of greater power who uses that power to grant special favors to someone of lesser power. In the story of Jesus and the centurion, Jesus functions as a patron who grants a favor (healing the slave) to the centurion. When James and John ask for right- and left-hand seats, they function as clients who want a favor from their patron, Jesus. Jesus grants the favor in the first story but refuses in the second. Jesus essentially informs James and John that he is only a broker (see below), while God is the real patron.

A client is a person of lesser power who receives favors from a patron. These favors can be almost anything. In the city of Rome, for example, the emperors regularly provided two main favors for the general populace: free food in the form of wheat shipped in from Egypt, and free entertainment such as gladiator contests and chariot races. In the four gospels, ordinary people are clients who receive favors such as free food and free health care from Jesus.

In return for these favors, clients are obligated to give their patron(s) honor, praise, and dozens of small services. When they talk with other people, clients are obligated to speak highly about their patron so that other people will think well of him or her. And if the patron asks the client to do something for her or him, the client is obligated to do it without question or complaint.

A broker is a person who functions as an intermediary between a patron and a client. For example, a broker might approach a patron to ask for a special favor for the client. 

Even though Jesus plays the role of a patron in these two specific texts, in an overall theological sense he is actually a broker for God, who is the true patron of humanity. The followers of Jesus are obviously clients.

Patrons often competed with each other for clients, sometimes fiercely. The gospels infer that by the end of Jesus' ministry some Jewish leaders have become jealous of the power and influence Jesus is beginning to have with the general populace. From the perspective of patronage, these powerful Jewish patrons perceive Jesus as a rival patron who is stealing their clients. They plot to eliminate Jesus in order to preserve their own networks of clients, and therefore also their own honor, prestige, and power.

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