". . . and the priest shall apply the entire law to her." A husband becomes jealous---possibly for no good reason---and according to this law the wife has to prove his jealousy is unfounded. The man has no responsibility or obligation or actions to take---even if his jealousy is unfounded. This imbalance in human covenanted partnership is not what God had planned in Genesis: "It is not good that the human should be alone; I will make him a helper as a partner." The Hebrew words used here for helper and partner are not words of subservience. It seems mankind's systems of living, including patriarchy, are what skew God's design for humanity to live together. Jesus also proclaims that these systems for covenanted relationships are unbalanced. In Matthew 19, Jesus says it is our hardness of heart that has thrown God's plans out of whack. Jesus puts the emphasis on the husband's obligations here, perhaps in hopes to put some balance back into the partnership God had in mind.
In Mark 15, the people scoff at Jesus: "you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days...." "He saved others; he cannot save himself." One can hear the jeering and the laughing. When we demand that we are in control, then we, by our actions and words, are also scoffing at the saving and healing power of Jesus. We deny his lordship each time we fail to trust our identity and future to Him. Part of the Lenten journey is to hear these stories and discern where we are in them. Too often we look at them from the outside, saddened by what others did to Jesus. Where is our part in this?
No comments:
Post a Comment