Thank you for this interpretation of this story from the Gospel. There are many things I love about my more progressive church home, but the tendency to contort Biblical stories in weird ways isn't always one. It's common in the circles I run in to present this story as Jesus being "racist" or "sexist" or something along those lines, and this woman shaming him and pulling him into line. And that reading has always left me wanting a little bit. I love how you have pointed out the playfulness present in the story; that feels much more true to the Jesus we know from the Gospels (and from earlier in Mark) than some unreconstructed Jesus who needs to be taught a lesson.
This was an encouraging and delightful read. This has given me a little more patience with something I frequently view as a pest, and hopefully with the people in my community as well. Thank you for writing this.
Thank you for this gently convicting & thoughtful post. I cannot think of a better way to cultivate Beatitude values than intentionally seeking this elevation of the marginalized through the intentional cultivation of an eternal perspective. I know how easy it is for me to give lip service to living a sacramental existence in a theoretical sense, but your accessible suggestions demystify the process and encourage a holistic understanding of the blessed unity between ecological & human worlds in God’s luminous creation. What a beautiful call to redemptive living!
I often think about the fact that Jesus regularly hung out with the people who no one else cared about. He was hardest on the most recognized, learned, and esteemed. Somehow this gives me comfort - but also calls me to notice those who are in need and outcast. Calls me to speak to them and let them know they’re necessary and loved.
Amen, Korie! Your comment made me think of Thérèse de Lisieux who chose to be a “little flower” rather than a showy rose. Our work is to learn, as she did, that God values the beauty of both and so should we.
I audibly gasped in my little study, Ragan, when you changed the focus of little known ecological niches to little known community/societal niches. That was a masterstroke. I have never thought of people operating in unique and necessary niches before - especially those precious image bearers we are so apt to dismiss (The Epistle of James is the necessary blunt corrective we so earnestly need in this regard).
That’s high praise, Hadden! I’m glad my encounter with the hoverfly in conversation with James opened up a new insight for you. A writer couldn’t hope for more!
Thank you for this interpretation of this story from the Gospel. There are many things I love about my more progressive church home, but the tendency to contort Biblical stories in weird ways isn't always one. It's common in the circles I run in to present this story as Jesus being "racist" or "sexist" or something along those lines, and this woman shaming him and pulling him into line. And that reading has always left me wanting a little bit. I love how you have pointed out the playfulness present in the story; that feels much more true to the Jesus we know from the Gospels (and from earlier in Mark) than some unreconstructed Jesus who needs to be taught a lesson.
This was an encouraging and delightful read. This has given me a little more patience with something I frequently view as a pest, and hopefully with the people in my community as well. Thank you for writing this.
Ragan,
Thank you for this gently convicting & thoughtful post. I cannot think of a better way to cultivate Beatitude values than intentionally seeking this elevation of the marginalized through the intentional cultivation of an eternal perspective. I know how easy it is for me to give lip service to living a sacramental existence in a theoretical sense, but your accessible suggestions demystify the process and encourage a holistic understanding of the blessed unity between ecological & human worlds in God’s luminous creation. What a beautiful call to redemptive living!
Thank you! "God's luminous creation"--I love that evocative phrase.
I often think about the fact that Jesus regularly hung out with the people who no one else cared about. He was hardest on the most recognized, learned, and esteemed. Somehow this gives me comfort - but also calls me to notice those who are in need and outcast. Calls me to speak to them and let them know they’re necessary and loved.
Amen, Korie! Your comment made me think of Thérèse de Lisieux who chose to be a “little flower” rather than a showy rose. Our work is to learn, as she did, that God values the beauty of both and so should we.
I audibly gasped in my little study, Ragan, when you changed the focus of little known ecological niches to little known community/societal niches. That was a masterstroke. I have never thought of people operating in unique and necessary niches before - especially those precious image bearers we are so apt to dismiss (The Epistle of James is the necessary blunt corrective we so earnestly need in this regard).
That’s high praise, Hadden! I’m glad my encounter with the hoverfly in conversation with James opened up a new insight for you. A writer couldn’t hope for more!