Luke 20:27-38
Yesterday I went to Mass as usual in the morning several hours after I had finished and published my daily blog entry. On Sundays I have the small added pleasure of hearing how the presider or preacher deals with the Gospel message versus what I may have written about. I am captivated by the message I missed or by how the preacher mirrored my own thoughts.
Yesterday I was captivated by the thought of the wife in the passage, the wife of the seven brothers. What of the woman? I suppose it is possible she killed all seven but really that's not the point of the story at all and highly unlikely. The message that I missed though, was what about her? Did she have no say in the matter? Was she just so much chattel that was married off to succeeding brothers, one after the other with no thought, just blind obedience to the law? This part of the passage is not mentioned because then the woman really did not have any say. Women at that time were merely possessions and held as property.
Should we take this at face value ( literal ) as a means to denigrate and keep women 'in their place'? What is a woman's place? It would seem normative to us now that women have all the equality and rights that every other person has. It could be argued that they should be held in higher esteem for all the work they do professionally and are in many cases still expected (and do ) run a home with a husband that is a slovenly couch potato, incapable of cooking, cleaning or boiling water. In point of fact I heard someone in the men's locker room last week who was complaining because he had to take out the garbage. The complaint to me was the real garbage and it probably should be thrown out. For the most part we have risen above such archaic thoughts and although women have made great strides towards equality and self determination, more needs to be done.
The undercurent though of the passage to me is even deeper than womens rights and how far we have come. It is deeper than the message that we should not take scripture in such literal terms and negate the movement of the Holy Spirit and the growth of humanity to be more enlightened. We need to be acutely aware of the hidden messages in scripture that can subtely draw us into behaviour that is not of God. Having been written by humans and while containing an inspired message, it is not perfect. We, as imperfect beings, are not capable of writing or even grasping the full message of God's love. We certainly cannot put it to paper in an edequate fashion. This is why the message of God is so broad - love. Efforts to pin "love" down are elusive. Love is so broad and the Spirit is constantly enlightening us. If this were not so women would still be chatel, slavery would still be acceptable and resepct for the gay commnity would be buried in mistranslations and misinformation.
So what of the woman? What of us all? Let there be love, growth and respect for all.
Yesterday I went to Mass as usual in the morning several hours after I had finished and published my daily blog entry. On Sundays I have the small added pleasure of hearing how the presider or preacher deals with the Gospel message versus what I may have written about. I am captivated by the message I missed or by how the preacher mirrored my own thoughts.
Yesterday I was captivated by the thought of the wife in the passage, the wife of the seven brothers. What of the woman? I suppose it is possible she killed all seven but really that's not the point of the story at all and highly unlikely. The message that I missed though, was what about her? Did she have no say in the matter? Was she just so much chattel that was married off to succeeding brothers, one after the other with no thought, just blind obedience to the law? This part of the passage is not mentioned because then the woman really did not have any say. Women at that time were merely possessions and held as property.
Should we take this at face value ( literal ) as a means to denigrate and keep women 'in their place'? What is a woman's place? It would seem normative to us now that women have all the equality and rights that every other person has. It could be argued that they should be held in higher esteem for all the work they do professionally and are in many cases still expected (and do ) run a home with a husband that is a slovenly couch potato, incapable of cooking, cleaning or boiling water. In point of fact I heard someone in the men's locker room last week who was complaining because he had to take out the garbage. The complaint to me was the real garbage and it probably should be thrown out. For the most part we have risen above such archaic thoughts and although women have made great strides towards equality and self determination, more needs to be done.
The undercurent though of the passage to me is even deeper than womens rights and how far we have come. It is deeper than the message that we should not take scripture in such literal terms and negate the movement of the Holy Spirit and the growth of humanity to be more enlightened. We need to be acutely aware of the hidden messages in scripture that can subtely draw us into behaviour that is not of God. Having been written by humans and while containing an inspired message, it is not perfect. We, as imperfect beings, are not capable of writing or even grasping the full message of God's love. We certainly cannot put it to paper in an edequate fashion. This is why the message of God is so broad - love. Efforts to pin "love" down are elusive. Love is so broad and the Spirit is constantly enlightening us. If this were not so women would still be chatel, slavery would still be acceptable and resepct for the gay commnity would be buried in mistranslations and misinformation.
So what of the woman? What of us all? Let there be love, growth and respect for all.
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him
and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless;
then the second
and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless.
Finally the woman also died.
In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her."
Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage;
but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.
And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive."
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