Text Luke 20: 27-36: Holding Gender in Balance
There is one gateway of India in Mumbai which all of us know and historically there is one place in India which is often called the gateway to India, that place is Punjab. It is called the gateway to India particularly because of the number of outside invasions from it. The disturbed history of Punjab has had its effect on life of its inhabitants and continues to influence in the present. For today I want to bring in front of you and reflect on one aspect of life that has evolved out of its history. The thought which considers the birth of a girl child as a bad investment, leading to horrid practices like female infanticide and feticide. The contrast to the image of the wealthiest state in India, Punjab is also to be No.1 in the practice of female infanticide and feticide.
Firstly, The World in which Jesus ministered was a male dominated world
Firstly, The World in which Jesus ministered was a male dominated world
The world into which Jesus came was not just Jewish; it was Greeko-Roman- Oriental which was male oriented. The text for us today represents this culture; it presents an account of Sadducees embarking upon Jesus on the question of resurrection, Dialogue here is concerned with marriage, death and offspring.
It was a culture where house was a decisive point of reference for a women’s life. Women found fulfillment in the company of children and other women. The girls were restricted to only home education. The custom of giving commodities in marriage was set down in writing before marriage. The societies were restrictive; variations did exist from place to place or city to city. Women were confined at some places and at some they were free. Small trading activities in cities offered women the opportunity to live more extrovert life. As for men the public sphere was reserved for him and in the private sphere as he was the lord of house. This is attested by The controversy regarding marriage, which was based on the practice of levirate marriage which is found in (Deut 25:5) which reads, when brothers reside together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger, her husbands brother will go into her, taking her in marriage, and performing a duty of a husbands brother to her. Therefore, the public and private sphere of women’s activity did no coincide; even in their house they could not play an active role.
A woman was a provision to ensure posterity for a man who died without having children. A woman without man was without status, without social security, and without identity. This is reflected explicitly in the Sadducees exposition of the problem in verse 28. The order of the house was a structure of subordination exercising control and creating silence.
Secondly In that World Jesus was sensitive
A woman was a provision to ensure posterity for a man who died without having children. A woman without man was without status, without social security, and without identity. This is reflected explicitly in the Sadducees exposition of the problem in verse 28. The order of the house was a structure of subordination exercising control and creating silence.
Secondly In that World Jesus was sensitive
The question put up by the Sadducees was a well thought off. The Sadducees try to trap Jesus and expose the belief in resurrection as absurd, because they themselves did not believe that there was resurrection.
The questioned was aimed at destroying Christ influence with the multitude and placing him and his supporters in an unpleasant position. Because For a Rabbi to be seen speaking to women in public was an end to his reputation. The strict Rabbis forbade a Rabbi to greet women in public; he will not speak to his own daughter, wife or sister in public. They women are incapable of receiving any real teaching and said “better that the words of the law should be burnt than to deliver it to women”.
Jesus was sensitive to the social and religious handicaps with which women had to struggle. By Rabbinic standards Jesus could hardly do anything more shattering unconventional talk about women as he did in this passage. The question on resurrection here was based on the materialistic view of resurrection. Jesus removes this erroneous bias and shows that the question is futile; the skepticism of Sadducees about resurrection is corrected by Jesus. This correction was carried out in a specific way in which Jesus crashed many barriers.
Thirdly In that world Jesus was affirmative.
Here was Jesus breaking down barriers, his cultural rules and Here he broke it in a very specific way.
He broke culture by speaking on behalf of her, Jesus’ answer rejected the claim that the example of Levirate marriage represented a relevant objection to the faith in future resurrection in which marriage was instituted for mans procreation and to ensure his after life through his children.
Jesus broke culture by bringing her to the level of men, A different nature of resurrected life is emphasized in which Immortality is considered more essential than sexuality in heavenly life, the need of marriage ceases when resurrection is promised implying that a woman no longer belongs to any man. As a result Jesus’ reply broke the tradition where women was considered as mere objects or instrument
Jesus broke culture by affirming her worth in society, Instead of Sadducees making Jesus absurd, Jesus revealed to the people their ignorance and blundering. Jesus reply to Sadducees suggested that participation in future life is no more dependent of procreation as a result patriarchal intentions in marriage can be abandoned. The reply of Jesus positively promoted liberation of women where it gave them the possibility of power and an opportunity to move outside gender determined roles given by society.
The story of Jesus as it has come to us is inspiring in our quest for gender equality. He was on the side of women, where they were sign of weakness. Jesus spent time on question regarding women which viewed women almost on the level with possessions; Jesus showed favor, love and respect for women, he gave them moral activity. Jesus Christ raised women above the condition of mere slaves. He certainly broke his tradition and tried to reform it for the benefit of all.
Our Present responsibility
As we look at the passage there is a need to highlight the plight of the women, weather the women is silent or she is silenced? How can we make the women speak? The passage suggests that the women was indeed silenced, silenced by the patriarchal setup of the family. She is portrayed as a victim who is passed on from one husband to another with no chance to express her will. Let us reverse the situation here, what if the woman rejects all her husbands? Will she be resurrected? This was primarily the concern of Jesus, the way in which he replied was like providing voice to the women.
Let us see the problem to which I referred in the beginning. Census of 2001 reveal that female ratio in Punjab is 794/1000 men. The choice to have a baby or not are imposed on women, and it happens in a society where women are socialized to subordinate their interest to those of men. The availability of sex detection tests creates a situation where women are forced to undergo the test either by external pressure from family or by internalized social values. Sex determination tests are seen as providing a ‘reproductive choice’ - a choice to decide to have a boy or a girl. Deep-rooted prejudice and discrimination against girl child, which has been there down the centuries, are found to begin in the womb itself. The girl child in the womb faces the peril of pre-birth elimination i.e. female feticide. If the female foetus is lucky enough to survive till her birth then she faces the peril of elimination in infancy by female infanticide. The laws for sex determination tests have not been successful. The presence of paintings on the walls of hospitals against female feticide, attests of its active presence in the society.
On comparing the culture of Jesus’ time and now show that women at public sphere played a significant role, similarly in my ecclesial setup women are highly respected at ministerial level. But still the private sphere of women is identical; they live a life of subordination right from the birth. The husbands in the story represent structures of subordination through history. Due to the disturbed history of Punjab subordinating are represented through preference of a son by family, daughters as unable to provide social security to parents, daughters as economic burden, Escalating demands of dowry, having sons entailing high social status.
He broke culture by speaking on behalf of her, Jesus’ answer rejected the claim that the example of Levirate marriage represented a relevant objection to the faith in future resurrection in which marriage was instituted for mans procreation and to ensure his after life through his children.
Jesus broke culture by bringing her to the level of men, A different nature of resurrected life is emphasized in which Immortality is considered more essential than sexuality in heavenly life, the need of marriage ceases when resurrection is promised implying that a woman no longer belongs to any man. As a result Jesus’ reply broke the tradition where women was considered as mere objects or instrument
Jesus broke culture by affirming her worth in society, Instead of Sadducees making Jesus absurd, Jesus revealed to the people their ignorance and blundering. Jesus reply to Sadducees suggested that participation in future life is no more dependent of procreation as a result patriarchal intentions in marriage can be abandoned. The reply of Jesus positively promoted liberation of women where it gave them the possibility of power and an opportunity to move outside gender determined roles given by society.
The story of Jesus as it has come to us is inspiring in our quest for gender equality. He was on the side of women, where they were sign of weakness. Jesus spent time on question regarding women which viewed women almost on the level with possessions; Jesus showed favor, love and respect for women, he gave them moral activity. Jesus Christ raised women above the condition of mere slaves. He certainly broke his tradition and tried to reform it for the benefit of all.
Our Present responsibility
As we look at the passage there is a need to highlight the plight of the women, weather the women is silent or she is silenced? How can we make the women speak? The passage suggests that the women was indeed silenced, silenced by the patriarchal setup of the family. She is portrayed as a victim who is passed on from one husband to another with no chance to express her will. Let us reverse the situation here, what if the woman rejects all her husbands? Will she be resurrected? This was primarily the concern of Jesus, the way in which he replied was like providing voice to the women.
Let us see the problem to which I referred in the beginning. Census of 2001 reveal that female ratio in Punjab is 794/1000 men. The choice to have a baby or not are imposed on women, and it happens in a society where women are socialized to subordinate their interest to those of men. The availability of sex detection tests creates a situation where women are forced to undergo the test either by external pressure from family or by internalized social values. Sex determination tests are seen as providing a ‘reproductive choice’ - a choice to decide to have a boy or a girl. Deep-rooted prejudice and discrimination against girl child, which has been there down the centuries, are found to begin in the womb itself. The girl child in the womb faces the peril of pre-birth elimination i.e. female feticide. If the female foetus is lucky enough to survive till her birth then she faces the peril of elimination in infancy by female infanticide. The laws for sex determination tests have not been successful. The presence of paintings on the walls of hospitals against female feticide, attests of its active presence in the society.
On comparing the culture of Jesus’ time and now show that women at public sphere played a significant role, similarly in my ecclesial setup women are highly respected at ministerial level. But still the private sphere of women is identical; they live a life of subordination right from the birth. The husbands in the story represent structures of subordination through history. Due to the disturbed history of Punjab subordinating are represented through preference of a son by family, daughters as unable to provide social security to parents, daughters as economic burden, Escalating demands of dowry, having sons entailing high social status.
Present Responsibilty
Our present responsibility is to denounce these subordinating structures. Expression in verse 35 makes clear that both ‘that age’ and the ‘resurrection from the dead’ belong to the future. This is not a simple form of realized eschatology, Luke here brings out eschatological teaching in such a way that the attention is transferred from future to the present and how decisively it is important to live aright in anticipation of the eschaton. The time and the hour of resurrection, weather it is early or late is of less importance, but the point is to be prepared through the right conduct of life. Resurrection is not resuscitated human life but transformed, transfigured existence. The expression of eschatology in the present is the praxis of those who will be counted to attain it one day. This represents a way of keeping expectations alive, warm and credible in the present life.
The resurrection of here and now as implied by Luke hold a great importance for us, for a lot of us we are comfortable in being a part of a culture that that promotes gender discrimination, we remain the same, as it has been our comfort zones. There is a need for us to live a resurrected life, a life which is resurrected from the discriminating structures of society. We have as our role model in Jesus who dared to be himself. We must take this freedom into our lives and relationships. We honor all women by showing them the same love and respect that Jesus showed to women.
What does it mean for us to have balanced gender voices in our midst? What is the difference? This is the beauty of Jesus’ reply to the Sadducees; we are free, free to be different, free to exist in tension. We are free to be liberators in times of gender oppression. We are part of a divine partnership. Our relationships are an expression of divinity. We should celebrate this divine balance of different human energies that makes us who we are. We are free to explore gender balance, both within ourselves and as a group. In doing this we will all be part of a movement that includes but transcends feminism. It will be a movement for gender liberation.
May the Good lord help us in our ministries and grant us courage in setting up right standard of relationships among gender.
The resurrection of here and now as implied by Luke hold a great importance for us, for a lot of us we are comfortable in being a part of a culture that that promotes gender discrimination, we remain the same, as it has been our comfort zones. There is a need for us to live a resurrected life, a life which is resurrected from the discriminating structures of society. We have as our role model in Jesus who dared to be himself. We must take this freedom into our lives and relationships. We honor all women by showing them the same love and respect that Jesus showed to women.
What does it mean for us to have balanced gender voices in our midst? What is the difference? This is the beauty of Jesus’ reply to the Sadducees; we are free, free to be different, free to exist in tension. We are free to be liberators in times of gender oppression. We are part of a divine partnership. Our relationships are an expression of divinity. We should celebrate this divine balance of different human energies that makes us who we are. We are free to explore gender balance, both within ourselves and as a group. In doing this we will all be part of a movement that includes but transcends feminism. It will be a movement for gender liberation.
May the Good lord help us in our ministries and grant us courage in setting up right standard of relationships among gender.
