Violence against Women and Children - A Mission Response (Zech 8:20-23)

Zechariah chapter 8 is divided into 10 short oracles. The given text for this morning reflection, chapter 8:20-23, consists of the 9th and 10th of these oracles. They are concerned with the gentiles accompanying the Jews on their journey to Jerusalem.

These verses contain two important promises aimed at encouraging the Jews who were busy reconstructing the Temple. These oracles reveal that restoration is not limited to rebuilding the temple, but also includes as a major component the reinstitution of the covenant between God and his people. As we reflect on this passage we come across two important models for mission which are relevant to the present context of religious intolerance and violence against women.

First, we see an "Interdependence model" for mission. The passage forecasts a multinational pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh. This is often explained as part of Zechariah's inclusivist position, reflecting a supposed universalistic tendency towards conversion to Judaism in the postexilic period.

However, there is no mention of conversion from one religion to another, but what is evident in the text is that, one group eagerly seeking to share the religious privileges of the other without trespassing the other's rights. Even as the temple was being reconstructed, the prophet envisages the sacred space of the Jews being shared by the people of other faiths and traditions.

The phrases, "inhabitants of one city going to another," (vs. 21) and "the nations firmly holding the garments of the Jews" (vs. 23) imply a desire to share the privileges and to be united in fellowship with one another. The prophet's vision has an invisible, deep and absolute interdependence between the Jews and the Gentiles in striving to create God's new community.

Today, there is an unhealthy tension among different religious groups in India and the world. The world is slowly becoming a tinderbox of religious intolerance. Religion is being used as an instrument for destabilizing the unity, peace and progress of the nations. We witness such conflicts in Uttar Pradesh, Palestine, Iraq, Philippines, and other parts of the world. Most of these conflicts are traced to an origin where a dominant group refuses to share space with those of other faiths and traditions.

For Zechariah, the building of the temple was of supreme importance, but it was not an end in itself. The temple would fail to serve its purpose if it doesn't provide space for people of different communities and faiths to share their religious experiences.

God's new community is not to ‘an exclusive group' alone. It's a community in which human divisions and hatreds have been overcome, in which relations have been restored, in which people can understand one another and dwell together in peace. There is no place for any spiritual arrogance or religious triumphalism. In the words of Sugirtharajah, "the lesson is to be less arrogant of one's faith and learn, listen, and draw new lessons from one another's spiritual troves."

The signs of such a universal revival of religion are hardly visible anywhere. We can only hasten it by attending to the prerequisites - i.e. promoting peace, social justice, and human rights.

This leads us to the second model, i.e. the "Life influencing others model". The theological view of the nations coming to Jerusalem to worship the Lord refers back to the Abrahamic covenant which assured God's people that they will become the channel of blessing to others. The coming of the gentiles to Jerusalem is not on the basis of vague oral proclamation, but on the basis of clear evidence that "God is with them" (vs. 23).

As the Prophet had even earlier listed (7:8-11; 8:16-17), the people of God can only be a blessing to the world if they practice speaking truth, rendering true justice, showing kindness and mercy to the orphans, widows, and being in solidarity with the oppressed. Until and unless they succeed to practice these fundamentals, the world will fail to see that God is with them.

This passage is most significant for the churches in India as answer to our question: How does one communicate the good news in a context where the church itself is often seen as an oppressive institution, where Christianity is viewed globally as siding with the oppressors, where the church is diplomatically silent or satisfied with mere tokenism of support to issues such as violence against women and sexual abuse of children.

In such a context as this, it is imperative that we practice authentic justice, exhibit mutuality and compassion, and defend the socially vulnerable if we are to ever make an ethical and moral impact in this world. In the context of sexual violence against women and children, we need to articulate a theology of empowerment and action rather than a theology of passive endurance and tolerance. The church cannot stay silent when the major population of this world is in trouble.

It's time we stand in solidarity with the victims of sexual and gender-based violence - not only with those that gather media attention, but also with those on the margins. We must be equally disturbed when we come to know that homeless little children are snatched from the city's pavements day after day, raped and sexually abused in the dead of night.

In such a time as this, is our mission an empowering one? What is the good news that we have to share with this world? Let us move with a commitment to initiate and sustain communities in the margins and to make news to promote life. May the Triune God move us for this task of action.

J. Stanly Jones
DTh

Mothers of ‘Other’ Faiths: Encountering their Faith in a Pluralistic Context

Introduction

I had an opportunity to visit a NGO called ‘Society for Peoples’ Education and Economical Change’ (SPEECH) at Tamil Nadu, Virudhu Nagar district, in my first year BD during intensive field education. It works for the empowerment of Dalit women and the development of the community. I visited the ‘Arunthathiar’ people who are the so called ‘Dalits among Dalits’. The women of this community have really challenged me by their faith even in their vulnerable status in caste, gender and oppression by the dominant structures of the society. Their faith in God made me to locate the same in a pluralistic context. Women in those villages are basically struggling against caste, patriarchal domination and economic exploitation. These experiences include aspects of the divine, of oneself, of the relationship to society and to the world, in an interacting tension. Many times we fail to connect colonialism, women’s life and faith pluralism. This is my attempt to see the connectivity of these aspects which is essential to understand our context and to act on it.

            Kamala Bhasin says, the “Other half of God’s creation”, in which the wholeness of humankind has to be celebrated, is totally ignored, neglected and made vulnerable – that is, women. And they are labeled as the ‘other’ not only based on gender but also caste, ethnic, religion and so on. In my opinion the theologies from the vulnerable communities have more richness and a deep cutting edge since they involve experience. Vulnerable women’s experience can be used as a model for divine-human relationships when it reaches for a new style of relationship neither a ranked model that weakens the potential of the ‘other’ nor an ‘equality’ defined by dominant groups but rather a mutuality that allows us to affirm different ways of being. From the read texts, let us grapple with how the mothers of the ‘other’ faiths are articulating their faith in God and in Christ.

1. The Wilderness Theology of Hagar (Gen 16:10-14)

Hagar was an Egyptian slave girl or maid of Sarah. The maids are given as part of their dowry in ancient days, are treated as the property of the owners and were exploited in all possible manners. Sarah would have brought Hagar from Egypt as her maid or slave girl. Hagar is a Semitic name and in Arabic ‘hegira’ means ‘flight’ or ‘driving out’, which shows the narrator’s intention to expose her action rather than giving her a name. The text is narrated from the vantage point of the dominant, patriarchal societal pattern. But our task is to liberate the Word of God and to view it from the vulnerable ‘other’ vantage point. Anthony G. Reddie says, “Societal and global ills such as racism, exclusivism, sexism, classism, world poverty and economic exploitation must be addressed through a liberation reading of the Bible”. Liberation reading is discerning the explicit patriarchal bias and the andro-centrism in the worldview of the biblical author.

In Genesis 16:10-14, Hagar encounters an angel like many of the Israelite men and women. She is an Egyptian but not out of the reach of God’s revelation. The entire 16^th chapter is one narrative and chapter 21:8-21 also speaks about Hagar and her son Ismael. In 16:10 Hagar is receiving the promise regarding her future generations. In v.11 “The Lord has given heed to your affliction” is as when God intervened in the sufferings of the Israelites to liberate them. In v.13 she is naming God the One who spoke to her; based on her life experience; she is making a faith statement here, “You are El-Roi”. This is a common Semitic name meaning, “El (God) has heard the parents” or “May El (God) hear the boy and help him”. Some other English translations say it as “You the God who sees”.

The naming of God was done according to the understanding of Hagar, but the narrator is explaining from the view point of the Israelites, equating the EL with YAHWEH. The dominant theology, faith in God and exclusive claims are seriously challenged by Hagar’s faith and theology. Liberation reading places Hagar as an example to learn how to live with human dignity, self-esteem, transformative experiences, convictions, individuality and capability even in the midst of constant struggles of life in the wilderness. She aspired for freedom and one day it was achieved by her and owned by her future generations. The individual autonomy and a capacity for free will shows that women should be viewed as “ends” not as mere “means”. She gave life and hope for her son and future generations through her faith articulation in a lonely, dry life, which proves she is a mother of faith. In chapter 21:14-21 we see her life and how she finally got a wife for Ismael from the land of Egypt, which shows her identity as an Egyptian. But she lived her faith in a God of all and practiced her theology in wilderness. Hagar gives a theology born out of her life experience. In Sally McFague’s words, Hagar sees God as lover or companion, friend and liberator, which can be a model for all vulnerable ‘other’ women and communities.

2. The Widening Christology of the Syro-Phoenician woman (Mk 7:24-30)

The Gospel of Mark sounds many postcolonial concerns as it was molded under the socio-political milieu of Roman colonialism. Kwok Pui-lan promotes a new way of doing theology by placing the Bible in the larger context of the religious plurality of Asia. The geo-political setting of the text and the marginalized position of the women are the two key factors in the context of the passage. We can place this pericope in the larger section of Mark 7:1-23 where the discussion is about ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’ which can easily be connected with our Indian religious thought pattern, the so called low caste and gender ‘impurity’ notions. In a Greco-Roman social context the very appearance of the Syro-Phoenician woman before Jesus is a shameful act. She was a woman and she had a daughter with ‘unclean spirit’ and she was a non-Jew. All these and her geo-political status project her as vulnerable ‘other’ from Jesus. But she crossed the boundary of religion and gender to approach Jesus, a Jewish man, for her daughter’s healing. And also Jesus crossed the geographical boundary from Jewish to non-Jewish territory. In Greek ‘de’ denotes the topographical shift in the narrative.

Her encounter with Jesus is widening her Christological idea, which she had when she heard about Jesus. She crossed her religious boundary and reached Jesus not for herself but for her daughter and future generations. Historical, cultural experience of discrimination and oppression, socio-political, cultural construct of gender identities are challenged by her Christology. She saw Jesus as the Christ, the representative of liberated humanity and the liberating Word of God: kenosis of patriarchy and disregard of hierarchical privileges – the liberator speaks on behalf of the lowly. Domesticating the gospel to one’s exclusive view point and to protect the Christ, who is familiar and safe, from the Christ, who upsets us, is challenged here. Her Christology comes out of painful human interactions and gives life and freedom. The ones who consider themselves as privileged people in social or religious terms are many times struggling to comprehend the Christ who offends them, but the “poor”- the economically poor and socially outcast, the sick, the oppressed, the rejected respond joyfully to the good news of God’s reign.

We can conclude her Christology is Relational Christology, Christ as incarnate Logos: his experience is to be affirmed and the concept of incarnation has to be broadened. Heyward calls this Christic experience in terms of a passionate, liberating, Christian humanism. This woman moved the foundations of Christology to the praxis of relational particularity and co-operation in the process of justice making. She relates her experience with Christ’s experience of vulnerable ‘other’. The widening Christology of this mother of faith can be applicable to the rural, Dalit, Tribal and Adivasi women of our country. She struggled to give hope and life with dignity to her daughter and future generations. She put a check to the triumphalist, exclusive Christology of the colonizers and oppressors which used to subjugate the colonized and the powerless. The vulnerable woman, who stood as mother of faith in this text, spoke and she continues to speak.

Conclusion

            As followers of Jesus Christ, what is our responsible reaction in locating the faith of the vulnerable ‘other’ in a pluralistic society? We need to be open and sensitive to the theologies and Christologies, so that we can provide space for those who are on the underside of history. We can ask them orally, write those faith statements and have informal dialogues to know and learn their aspirations for justice and equality. The challenge before us is from three arenas of our public witness, as David Tracy says, “They are church, society and academia”. In the Indian context, we cannot deny the reality of pluralism by saying this is not our concern. Exclusivism and suppressing the voices of faith of the weak and marginalized is to be challenged. Our desire should be to learn from and live with the vulnerable ‘other’. Let the God of Hagar and the Syro-Phoenician woman help us in this endeavour. Amen 

P. Archana

B.D. IV

Bearing witness to the risen Lord in difficult times

Lets Pray.  Gracious God, we thank you for the gift of your holy word. May it be a lantern to our feet, a light upon our paths, and a strength to our lives. Take us and use us to love and serve all people in the power of the holy spirit and in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord..... Amen

            Friends, today’s reflection on the given passage demands us to consider the following questions. In our context are women and children safe? As a theological community what is our response towards the untoward incidents that are taking place every day? Is there a hope and confidence for our women and children? What are the fear factors we come across that place us in hopeless contexts?  

           

            In the light of these questions the following issues from the text are important. Firstly, the assurance that is given by our Lord saying “you will be my witnesses unto the ends of the earth.” The promise of the presence of Jesus in our day to day life. Those two men with white robes put forth the challenges of Jesus’ ascension. The given text opens the window to understand the continuing works of Jesus.

            A time as this, children are sexually abused and brutally killed; women, beyond their age are under great threat. Frequently, we observe that  women are being raped and find no solutions at all. Ecological issues such as global warming, scarcity of water, which have resulted in drinking water mafia and corruption and partiality in every sphere, is taking a big toll.

            Fear is the biggest threat to the people who want to live a peaceful life. We are living in the time of uncertainty and hopelessness. Even in the Church and through the Church spiritual values are depleting.       

            Looking at the given text for the reflection.  The fear factor might be the same but the context differs.

            Verse 8, in the given text, reveals that instead of the political power which had once been the object of the disciples ambitions, a greater power is waiting for the disciples. When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, Jesus answered them that they would be vested with heavenly power, that power by which their mighty works would be accomplished and their preaching would be made effective. As Jesus had been appointed at his baptism with the Holy Spirit and power, so his followers were now to be similarly, anointed and enabled to carry on his work. This work would be a work of witness bearing - a theme which is prominent in the Apostolic preaching throughout Acts.

            In the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah had called the people of Israel to be God's witnesses in the world. (Isa. 43:10; 44:8).  The task Israel had not fulfilled was taken on by Jesus, the perfect servant of the Lord, and shared by him with his disciples. The close relation between God's call to Israel, "You are my witnesses" and the risen Lord's commission to his Apostles, "You will be my witnesses', can be appreciated the more we consider the implications of Paul's quotation.

            The passage sets out clearly what the church is to be doing until Jesus returns. Through a command-promise, Jesus tells his disciples of the resources, content and scope of their primary task. The essential resource is God the Holy Spirit, who will come on them at Pentecost

            Jesus says to be his witnesses. The apostles, as eyewitnesses of the saving events, were witnesses in a unique sense.  But all those who will believe and appropriate the truth of their testimony also qualify as witnesses. 

                So, as a theological community, in our theological journey,  are we not challenged to address the threatening  issues of the context?

            Yes. As a called community we are expected to be the witnesses of our Lord Jesus. As the disciples were challenged in their context we are also compelled to be witnesses in the present disturbed situation.       

                        May the risen Lord continue to strengthen us to be his witnesses...     Amen

Victor Prabhakar, MTh I

Preached on Monday June 16, 2014 in the Ziegenbalg chapel.