Thursday, February 8, 2018

Live beyond convention

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to live beyond secular and religious conventional wisdom.

 The First Book of Kings records the displeasure of God with the decision of Solomon to reject monogamy and accept idolatry in his decision to live according to secular conventional wisdom.
* [11:1–13] The next major unit of the Solomon story corresponds to 3:1–15. Like the earlier passage it includes the narrator’s remarks about Solomon’s foreign wives and his building projects, and a divine word commenting on Solomon’s conduct. However, where 3:1–15 is generally positive toward Solomon, the present passage is unrelievedly negative. Chronicles has no parallel to this material.
In the Gospel from Mark, Jesus proclaims the faith of the pagan woman to be greater than those children of Israel who lived in religious conventional understanding.
* [7:27–28] The figure of a household in which children at table are fed first and then their leftover food is given to the dogs under the table is used effectively to acknowledge the prior claim of the Jews to the ministry of Jesus; however, Jesus accedes to the Gentile woman’s plea for the cure of her afflicted daughter because of her faith.
Jason Jackson reviews some scholarship on the reference by Jesus to “dogs” in His dialogue with the Syrophoenician woman seeking healing for her daughter.
“And he said to her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs” (Mark 7:27). Jesus used the diminutive form of the term “dogs” (i.e., the little dogs). D. Edmond Hiebert observed, “Jesus softened the force of the expression with His use of the diminutive, ‘little dogs’. . . Clearly His reference is to the little household pets, which, while not children in the house, yet had a place in the affairs of the household” (The Gospel of Mark: An Expositional Commentary, Greenville, S.C.: Bob Jones University Press, 1994, p. 210).
Friar Jude Winkler discusses the transition from the aspects of Solomon that gave praise to God to the behaviour that was in opposition to the will of God. Mystery surrounding the different relationship of David and Solomon with God and the meaning of Jesus choice of language in the dialogue with the pagan woman gives us some areas where we still explore for understanding.

 Don Schwager quotes John Chrysostom (347-407 AD) on the power of her faith and her humility.
"See her humility as well as her faith! For he had called the Jews 'children,' but she was not satisfied with this. She even called them 'masters,' so far was she from grieving at the praises of others. She said, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.' Behold the woman's wisdom! She did not venture so much as to say a word against anyone else. She was not stung to see others praised, nor was she indignant to be reproached. Behold her constancy. When he answered, 'It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs,' she said, 'Yes, Lord.' He called them 'children'” but she called them 'masters.' He used the name of a dog, but she described the action of the dog. Do you see this woman's humility? Then compare her humility with the proud language of the Jews: 'We are Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any man'(John 8:33). 'We are born of God' (John 8:41). But not so this woman. Rather, she calls herself a dog and them masters. So for this reason she became a child.
A Post by Franciscan Media shares Saint Josephine Bakhita’s Story who helps direct our attention to the lives of those still victims of modern forms of slavery.
Josephine’s body was mutilated by those who enslaved her, but they could not touch her spirit. Her Baptism set her on an eventual path toward asserting her civic freedom and then service to God’s people as a Canossian Sister.
She who worked under many “masters” was finally happy to address God as “master” and carry out everything that she believed to be God’s will for her.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that Jesus small community is being persecuted, and Jesus tells them to “rejoice and be glad”! He quotes Theologian Marcus Borg (1942-2015) and notes that persecution for the cause of justice is inevitable.
The gospel of Jesus—the good news of Jesus’ own message—is that there is a way of being that moves beyond both secular and religious conventional wisdom. The path of transformation of which Jesus spoke leads from a life of requirements and measuring up (whether to culture or to God) to a life of relationship with God. It leads from a life of anxiety to a life of peace and trust. It leads from the bondage of self-preoccupation to the freedom of self-forgetfulness. It leads from life centered in culture to life centered in God.
Living beyond secular and religious conventional wisdom is the Way demonstrated by Jesus. The peace of living in the Kingdom of God is the experience to which we are invited.

References



(n.d.). 1 Kings, chapter 11 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved February 8, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/1kings/11

n.d.). Mark, chapter 7 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved February 8, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/mark/7

(n.d.). The Syrophoenician Woman: A Woman of Great Faith : Christian Courier. Retrieved February 8, 2018, from https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1235-syrophoenician-woman-a-woman-of-great-faith-the

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 8, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(n.d.). Saint Josephine Bakhita – Franciscan Media. Retrieved February 8, 2018, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-josephine-bakhita/

(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 8, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/
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