Jesus and Gender Roles
- davidwperk
- Oct 25, 2024
- 5 min read
Devotional Reflection, Friday, October 25, 2024
Proper 24, the week of the twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection in today’s Gospel reading:
41But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 989)
AM Psalm 31; PM Psalm 35
Ecclus. 11:2-20; Rev. 9:13-21; Luke 10:38-42
Today we celebrate the Feast of Dorcas (Tabitha), coworker with the Apostles.
David’s Reflections
Reflecting on this passage again took me back to the Genesis 1 story of creation. “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’” (Gen. 1:27-28).
God created both male and female in God’s image and said to them, not him, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion. In creation and service, male and female stand as equals with the same charge. Some roles are linked to gender, like fathering and mothering. But, in Genesis 1 our standing before God and our charges from God do not differ according to gender.
That mythic vision of equality gets undermined in the patriarchal cultures reflected in the biblical texts. In Jesus’ culture, women did not participate with men in the discussion and study of Scripture and tradition. Yet, as Luke 10 tells us, Jesus refused to deny Mary the opportunity to hear his teaching and participate in the discussion merely because of her gender. Even though the biblical documents come to us from a world in which patriarchy was the cultural norm, texts like this one consistently bespeak another perspective, one in which women lead, teach, and prophesy.
Carol Lee Flinders says about Jesus and women, “The Gospels themselves . . . have made it indisputably clear that Jesus himself loved women and took them seriously as spiritual aspirants. . . . * Today’s Gospel reading certainly squares with that.. Jesus deals tenderly with both women and treats them both with full dignity. He refuses to deny Mary participation with the men in discussion; and, he invites Martha to lighten her hostess load and perhaps join in with them.
The Genesis 1 template comes to fruition in this episode. Paul’s words in Galatians 3 come to mind, “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave or free, male and female, but we are all one in Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 3:27-28) In Christ, God has begun a new creation, one that heals the fractured, broken pattern of male-female relationships such as patriarchy.
My challenge as a southern male has to do with aligning my inner emotional space consistently with this understanding of new creation. How honest am I at rooting out the vestiges of patriarchy embedded in my conditioned responses, my lurking ways of valuing male vs. female competency, and my subtle means of exploiting my culturally vested posture as a male.
The challenges for a woman feel even more daunting, and I can sympathize based on what women voice to me and on what I read and observe. Christ in me reaches out to honor Christ in others, male and female. How I treat them equates with how I treat the Christ who lives in them.
* Carol Lee Flinders, At the Root of This Longing: Reconciling a Spiritual Hunger and a Feminist Thirst (New York: HarperCollins, 1998), p. 130.
Collect of the Day: Proper 24, the twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 235)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Dorcas (Tabitha), coworker with the Apostles.
Collect of the Feast of Dorcas (Tabitha)
Most Holy God, who did raise from the dead your servant Tabitha to display your power and confirm that your Son is Lord; Grant unto us your grace, that, aided by her prayers and example, we may be given a new life in you, to do works pleasing in your sight; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Fridays
Lord Jesus Christ, by your death you took away the sting of death: Grant to us your servants so to follow in faith where you have led the way, that we may at length fall asleep peacefully in you and wake up in your likeness; for your tender mercies' sake. Amen. (BCP, 123)
For Peace
Almighty God, kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquility your dominion may increase until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 258)
In the Evening
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen. (BCP, 833)
A Collect for Mission
O God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your holy Church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 257)
Daily Office Gospel, Luke 10:38-42
38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ 41But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’
Daily Offices in the Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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