The Posture of Jesus: Sitting and Standing as Social Performance in Matthew and Luke

Abstract This article examines sitting and standing as forms of embodied social performance in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Drawing on Jan Bremmer’s observations on posture and hierarchy in Greco-Roman culture, it argues that bodily posture functions as an important mode of communication, especially when newcomers make their first public appearance. Taking Jesus’s first public appearances as a point of departure, the study shows how Matthew consistently presents Jesus as a seated teacher, whose posture conveys authority grounded in humility and moral integrity, most clearly in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7). Luke, by contrast, depicts Jesus—as well as Peter and Paul—primarily as standing speakers, aligning them with Greco-Roman oratorial norms, while carefully balancing standing and sitting to negotiate authority and modesty, especially in the Nazareth scene (Luke 4:16–30). The article thus highlights posture as a key component of gospel rhetoric and Christological characterization.