Posts Tagged: women as disciples

“Only One Thing Needed”

On August 28, 2022 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Luke 10:38   Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (English Standard Version)

We have all had the experience: We are working hard something nice for someone we like or want to impress. However, someone else is not pulling their weight, or at least we feel as if that person is not pulling his/her weight. Probably, our sympathies are more with Martha in the kitchen than with Mary in the living room.

But there may have been even more going on than Martha simply feeling overworked and understaffed. Sisters often love one another, but that doesn’t mean that they always get along with one another. It is also possible (though the story does not make this clear) that Martha was upset because Mary was “sitting at Jesus’ feet”, which is the position of a disciple of a religious teacher. In Jesus’ day, such positions were for men. In fact, there is a saying from about this time that states, “He who teaches a woman Torah (Law) is like one who casts pearls before swine.” Apparently, Jesus was not impressed with this saying.

But no matter what the real nature of Martha’s anger with her sister—and with Jesus—he says to Martha that only one thing is necessary. Jesus may be suggesting that Martha’s meal preparation is too complex and that she could have served him a soup or a casserole and just thrown everything in one pot. On the other hand, Jesus more likely is saying that Mary has chosen the good approach to him which is to listen attentively.

Sometimes, we want to serve God, but we make a serious blunder. Our desire may start out good, but then we become more focused on the service than on the God we serve. Perhaps God would like for us to just sit down quietly and listen. Maybe, service without discipled listening becomes self-serving and a source of conflict.

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“Sisters of Jesus”

On June 30, 2020 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.

But he replied to the man who told him, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’

And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers!

For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’” (Matthew 12:46-50, English Standard Version)

“Jesus cares about relationships. In this Gospel passage he indicates that his family has room for all who do the will of God. Listening to God and acting on what we hear makes us not just friends of Jesus, but family. Not all members of a family see eye to eye on everything, but they all share a common bond. In Jesus’ family, the common bond is God. When our focus is on doing the will of God, we know that we are walking in the right direction.” (https://www.loyolapress.com/retreats/doing-gods-will-start-retreat/)

In many ways, this is an interesting passage from the Gospel of Matthew. But I noticed something the other day that I had never noticed before. The passage does not mention “sisters” at all until Jesus’ last statement. “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (vs. 50) And, of course, vs. 49 says that, as Jesus was saying this, he stretched out his hands “to his disciples.”

Now, this might not be worthy of comment except for one thing: In ancient Judah, women were not disciples. And yet, Jesus explicitly included women as being his disciples. In fact, one rabbinic saying says, “He who teaches Torah to a woman is like one who casts pearls before swine.”

This may well explain why Martha was so upset that Mary had left her to do all the cooking and cleaning (Luke 10:38-42). It may not just have been about Martha feeling as if she was doing all the work. Mary was “sitting at the feet of Jesus” for crying out loud! That is what disciples do! Who did Mary think she was?!

It is also worth noting that in the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:1-42), when the disciples (the male disciples) come back to Jesus after going away to procure some food, they were amazed that Jesus was talking with a woman (vs. 27). Men, especially holy men who were rabbis, were generally not supposed to talk with women.

We live in a day and in a country that prides itself on its openness to everyone. At least, that used to be the case. I am not so sure that we were ever all that good at inclusiveness. I am virtually certain that we are not good at it now. Apparently, about two-thousand years ago, Jesus did include women. In this way, as in many others, Jesus was way ahead of his time. Indeed, Jesus is timeless, as well as always timely.

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