March 25 - The Woman caught in adultry

John 8 tells the story of a woman who was caught "in the very act" of adultry and was brought to Jesus, not as a human being seeking the wisdom of a teacher but as a test.  We know nothing about her.  No name. No age.  No background.  We don't know if she was married or was caught with a married man.  We don't even know for sure she was caught in the act - we only have the word of a mob who was trying to trick Jesus into condemning himself in the eyes of either Jewish or Roman law. This poor woman may have been doing something very wrong - but the saddest part of the story is how little anyone seems to care about her - or even recognize her as a person.

Jesus changed this.  He did not downplay what she had done - but recognized that her accusers were also far from perfect. In many ways he put them on the same level as she - or put her on the same level as her accusers.

As a sidebar, I find it somewhat amazing that, even back then, the preoccupation of those wanting to cleanse the church was with sexual sins.  What is it about sexuality that draws our focus from trying to live our own upright lives?  Why are the men of this story as well as many Christians today so caught up in who is sleeping with whom they don't see the evil hatred and deception and violence of which they need to repent?

I think there is a carry over from last week.  Herodias was so caught up in feeling threatened by the words, and therefore the very existence, of John the Baptist she could not let go and enjoy her life.  Many "righteous" people are so caught up in feeling threatened by the successes or happiness of  the "sinful" they can't enjoy the blessings of being in right relationship with God - and soon their relationship with God suffers. Why are we so jealous of those living in sin and not paying a consequence that we can see?  If we focussed on the joy and blessing of living the life we are meant to live, others would be jealous of us! They would want the inner peace and the joy that only comes from having that solid centre.  But when we focus on the "fun" we are missing, we cannot see or experience the fullness of joy promised to us.

Looking back at the woman we also need to notice that Jesus took the time to actually look at her.  He talked to her.  He didn't drag her, preach at her, send her away.  He took a few seconds and treated her like a person worthy of conversation, worthy of eye contact.  We will never know what the result of that day was for that woman.  Maybe she became a follower of Jesus.  Maybe she returned to a loving husband and was forgiven.  Maybe she was shunned by her husband, her father, her society and had no place to turn.  This is not what was important to this story.  We don't need to know whether she suffered for her sins (more than she did that afternoon).  That is not our problem.  What we need to know is that, even though she was humiliated and seen as a lowlife worthy of death, Jesus saw her as someone who had the option of changing - of sinning no more.  Jesus sees each of us that way.  He knows how far from perfect each of us is - yet he claims each of us as someone with whom he wants a relationship.

Not long ago a group of teens from Steubenville stripped, raped, and totally dehumanized an unconscious young girl.  Not only did they physically assault her, they took pictures, posted them for the world to see and taunted her with them.  And this was seen as ok by many of the townsfolk because they were "boys" and they were football heros and everyone knows football stars have to sew their wild oats. This is an example of the extremes that an attitude of superiority can bring.  If I don't see you as a valuable brother or sister in Christ and in humanity - you become an object for me to do with as I please.  Many cultures have treated slaves that way.  Many cultures treat "lower" class people that way.  Many people treat women that way.  We need to really work at seeing Christ in all of the people we meet.  Sometimes it is harder to see than others - but everyone is loved by Christ.  We don't deserve that divine treatment any more than anyone else - but since we have been blessed we should pass it on. God created us all to be in relationship, to be part of God's family.

So the challenge of the story of this unnamed woman is at least twofold.  One - we need to look at our own failings before we judge too harshly - or better yet we can love the sinner (including ourselves) and leave judgement to God.  Two - we need to look for the humanity and the God-likeness in each person and give them some basic respect - and maybe even share some of God's love for them - even if we can't approve of what they have done/are doing.  We need to let them have their names, their places in their story and in ours and to let them know they are valuable to Christ. We are not so different - from those we see as "better" not those we see as "worse".  We are all fallible members of God's amazing and diverse family.  Let us love our siblings.

March 18 - Herodias

Now here is a woman we do not hear a lot about.  By today's standards she seemed to have had a pretty warped life - married first to one uncle (father's half brother) and then to his half brother - by extension also her uncle, who divorced his wife so he could marry her.  The whole divorce thing is a bit confusing as the Herods' father, Herod the great, had 5 wives - at least some of them seem to have been at the same time so I'm not sure why he would have had to divorce the foreign princess to marry his niece/sister-in-law.  In any case it was not seen as proper for Antipas to take his brother's wife while his brother was alive and John the Baptist did not hesitate to tell him that.  Herodias was not impressed and was quite vindictive about it, holding a grudge until such a time as she could arrange for John the Baptist's death.

It all seems very convoluted and complex.  What is there to learn from this?  Don't marry your uncle and if you do don't divorce him to marry another uncle?  I don't think this is the message.  Herodias seems to have been a somewhat unhappy woman.  If she had felt secure and happy in her second marriage the presence of John the Baptist may not have bothered her so much.  But maybe it would if she felt guilty about leaving her first husband.  Or maybe she was somewhat shunned by the rest of the family because of her actions.  Or maybe she was afraid her husband would get rid of her as he had his first wife.  Or maybe she had been abused in her first marriage and was afraid she would be forced back to that husband.  In any case there was something about John the Baptist's presence that nagged at Herodias and she was having a hard time tolerating it.

I have found that this has happened to me.  When I was unsure of our house purchase I became overly critical of that of one of my friends - mostly because, at the time, I felt they got the better deal.  When I question my hesitation to act and see another who did not hesitate succeeding - I feel a resentment that has nothing to do with the other person but may be focussed there. Or if I see someone getting away with something I got punished for, it irks me.  It is sometimes the "what if"s that get to us. We let resentments and frustrations fester, disturbing our rest and spoiling the joy we could experience, instead of letting go and letting others, justly or unjustly, go happily along their way.

So what can we learn from Herodias? To let go of our grudges so we don't ruin/hurt ourselves and those around us. I'm not sure her daughter would have dealt well with having to dance for her step-father/great uncle nor with having to be faced with the freshly cut head of the prophet. In the Matthew passage it seems Herod was haunted by guilt for having had John beheaded. Herodias let her hate get to her and it affected her family and probably her life. Let us learn to move on.

The lectionary passages for this Sunday (17th) speak about letting go of the past and looking forward to the new that God has planned for us.  This is really hard, but, if we are successful, can be so rewarding.  So as we look forward to spring (even as more snow falls) and all of its new beginnings let us look forward to living in the present, in the gift from God that is today.  Let us enjoy the beauty of the pristine whiteness while we look forward to the green that will , we hope, soon follow.

March 11 - Gomer

Gomer was the wife of Hosea, an Old Testament prophet. She was your typical, promiscuous, unfaithful bad girl. He was the faithful husband, forgiving her over and over again and even taking her back after she had turned completely away from the family. From their relationship Hosea draws an allegory of God's relationship with the Jewish people, who also had strayed with other gods/religions. As Hosea stayed true to Gomer, even to the point of buying her back when she fell to the slavery, so, too, has God stayed true, even to the point of buying us (extending the covenant past the Jewish people) back through the life and death of Jesus.

Much is made, by some commentators, about the horrible threats mentioned in Chapeter two- for all I know standard punshment for adultrous women.  Some dwell on the question of how historically true is the story of Hosea and Gomer. Some focus on the words describing Hosea's intended wife - was she a prostitute? just a little loose?  Maybe just from parents who were 'loose'?  Some focus on the perceived abuse Gomer suffered.

I don't know if our defensiveness around this story is because we don't want to seem too bad, or whether we caught up in Women's rights and so are offended by the politically incorrect words used to describe Gomer, but we seem all too ready to be distracted from the point of the story. Just as salvation is not really about us, in some ways - we can do nothing about it on our own - so too is this story not really about Gomer or how bad or misused she was.  This is all about God and how, even though we keep doing things to make ourselves unworthy of a relationship with our creator, God keeps forgiving us, giving us opportunities to come back into relationship, and wanting to be with us.  Even though we deserver punishment, we get loving acceptance.

This is the story of Gomer, a woman who, like all the rest of us in the human race, make a lot of poor choices and bad mistakes.  She was loved, taken in and given status as the wife of a prophet, squandered it and, instead of dying as was the law, was redeemed to her husband and family and status.  Let us take from this, not the horrors of patriarchal law, but the wonder of God's faithfulness and never ending patience with our poor choices.  God is good and has given us so much, let us respond with greatful faithfulness.

March 4 - Job's Wife

Well I kinda got behind in blogging my thoughts - I guess life interferes some times.

I was a bit surprised to see Job's wife listed as a "bad girl" of the Bible.  Not that  I had thought much about her, but mostly I saw her as a neutral personality.  She is mentioned only in that she encourages her husband to "Curse God and die."  It seems that, for some, this has relegated her to the status of a cold, faithless, even evil person. 

I do not see her that way. 

First of all, she has lost everything too.  She has lost the children she bore, she has lost the status that comes with wealth and possessions, and now she is slowly losing her husband. The stress and grief she bore must have felt unbearable.  It is not surprising she would feel little hope of things returning to their former normality. It is not surprising she would want to give in.

Secondly, she was watching helplessly as her husband endured pain and humiliation, sitting in the ashes, waiting for healing to come. Have you ever watched a loved one suffer?  Her cry may have been one of compassion, one of grief and despair. There was nothing she could do - no words or actions that could make this better - death may have seemed the only hope of reprieve. How can wanting some peace for your husband be bad?  If she was speaking from the dark corners of depression, can we not understand how she may have felt that too much was being asked of her and, especially Job?

We do not hear of anyone comforting her.  We do not hear whether Job's rebuke was gentle or angy but it seems dismissive.  We do not know if anyone took any notice of her.  Barbara J. Essex draws out of this questions of how women can be heard.  How can we make a difference and not just be shrugged off.  While these are important questions I don't seem them central to this story.  I feel more cenral is the warning to see the other person as a whole person.  I was told of a person teaching referees about interacting with players/coaches who used the phrase - you don't know who's dog died.  There is often baggage behind comments that may seem offensive - it may be that their dog just died and they are grieving and are taking it out on the next person to cause a minor frustration.  It may be they are at the limits of their tolerance and they just blow up when they feel one more thing is being asked.  It may be that you remind them of an old nemesis. We don't know.  So we need to work at being patient and getting to the real problem. If there is anything we can do to help, we need to find what it is. If there is not, or if they won't let you get to the real problem, we need to let go and not let the aggressiveness of their action/reaction change us for the worse.  First we need NOT to judge. 

I think that is more of what I take from this story of a woman who has been demonized for saying what was, arguably, the wrong thing to say while under incredible stress.  Let us try to be more understanding of those around us.