The Vineyard

" Jesus told His disciples this parable: 'The kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You go, too, into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.'  . . . And he went out again around noon and around three o'clock and did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, the landowner found others standing around and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?. . . You, too, go into my vineyard.'  When it was evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, . . . each of them also got the usual wage. . . They grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.'

He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or, am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous? Thus, the last shall be first and the first will be last.' " --[Matthew 20:1-16].


It is difficult to read this parable as a secular person and not get angry. How, we ask, can a landowner and a foreman run a business this way? If everyone were paid the same, regardless of their production and output, that is totally unfair!

Some have read this parable as a call to fair wages and fair treatment of workers. But to read this parable in this way is to totally miss the point.

This is NOT a story about our secular business world. In fact, this is a story about the opposite. This is a story about how God's Kingdom works.

In God's Kingdom, God is so very generous that, regardless of whether we show up in His vineyard early or late, He rewards us equally -- with a place in His abundant harvest.

I have grappled with this concept for many, if not most, of the years in my life.

I endured, as a tiny girl, bruises, hunger, verbal abuse, neglect and abandonment. I watched this happening to me, as if I were watching myself from afar. I have wondered, 'Is this really my life? What kind of parents did I get?'

I never did really blame my parents. These were the people who gave me life. . . .

Several years ago, my father died suddenly of a massive heart attack. After his shocking passing, more memories surfaced of the cruelty and the traumas of my childhood.

I began to actively worry about where my dad WAS? Could God have been generous enough to welcome my father into His Kingdom, even IF my father had come to God only at the very last moments of his life? At times, I have even prayed to God, 'God, if You are a merciful God, please judge generously.'

I remember, in the year or two after my dad's death, I went almost compulsively to Confession, to confess my father's sins. Finally, the priest let me in on a simple precept of Reconciliation and forgiveness. He said, 'You cannot confess your father's sins.'

NOW where did that leave me?! Sometimes, I delve into my earthly self. I say, 'Whatever dark place my father is in, after what he did ---- he deserves God's wrath.'

But then, I wonder, if I am wishing that bad place upon my dad, how much have I really forgiven him? God's generosity, then, is about far more that what each of us "gets".  It is also about what we give.  It is about granting others the freedom to create their own relationship with God, without interference from us.

I am beginning to see that, I cannot hold onto those feelings of hate and resentment and retribution.  Those feelings are a downward path to bitterness. And bitterness will never yield a fruitful harvest for me.

I can never know if my dad reconciled with God in his last moments. I have wondered about this, and my heart has ached over it. After literally years of worrying about this, I have finally had to say that this is too big for me figure out.

God is the vineyard owner, He can handle this. What another vineyard worker has done or not done, is not merely "not my business".  It is something I cannot fathom or judge myself. I will drown in hypotheses, and never prosper myself, if I continue along this path.

But the greatest moment of consolation came at my father's wake. As my mother and I knelt before the casket, I whispered to her, 'Ma. Do you believe that you will see dad again in the next life?' And she whispered, back,"Yes!" I was so happy, I choked back tears.

No matter how my mother had expressed her serious misgivings to me about God and Christ, all my life, I could tell that her heart had softened. Maybe she AND my dad would come to God's vineyard after all. Maybe I will see them again in the next life?

 Because, for God, it is never too late.

[Related Postings: "The Last Shall Be First", September 17, 2011; "Putting The Last First", August 25, 2013.]

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

"Jesus said to Nicodemus: 'No one has gone up to Heaven except the One who has come down from Heaven, the Son of Man. And . . . so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.'  For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." --[John 3: 13-17].


If anyone is seeking THE central belief of Christianity, this passage is probably it: "No one has gone up to Heaven except the One who has come down from Heaven, the Son of Man; . . . so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life."

 Christians believe that  Jesus blazed the path to Heaven for us, centuries ago, in order that we too might gain Eternal Life.

The Feast of the Exaltation of The Holy Cross celebrates the Holy Cross.

I have always wondered, HOW in the world could we Christians celebrate the instrument of Jesus' death?

Donald Senior, author of "Jesus: A Gospel Portrait" tells us, "Crucifixion was the basest form of Roman criminal punishment, reserved for slaves and non-citizens, particularly for crimes of sedition. . . Jesus was executed as a political insurgent --- a truly ironic ending when we recall Jesus' refusal to take up violence against the enemy."

The Cross, as an instrument of Death, is as traumatic and violent as a guillotine. Certainly, we do not see anyone going around today, wearing a guillotine charm on a necklace chain. And yet, we wear the Cross as a universal symbol, representing Jesus' violent and bloody death.

 At the same time, the Cross symbolizes Jesus' Glorious Resurrection.  The Cross' mystery has its roots in this simultaneous contradiction of destruction and renewal.

One of the most precious objects that I have is a Cross fashioned out of a bullet casing. The bullet casing came from the genocide in Sierra Leone.  Artists from that country cleared fields of
spent- bullets, and from them, crafted powerful symbols of resurrection, out of the pain of so many deaths.

Sometimes, I meditate on this object, and I try to separate the pain from the resurrection. But I cannot separate them from each other.

This simultaneous pain and glory are what I encountered when a dear relative passed away last spring.

I watched this dear man, like a father to me, endure such extreme pain, and ebb away; but with so much Grace. I could not stand to witness his pain and struggle.

At the same time, when this dear man finally gave his last breath, I was deeply relieved. I felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted away. I felt light. I felt at peace.

After his death, my family and I went to his home, to help clear out some of his possessions. As we traveled, I wore my cross necklace, to protect me. The Cross had for a moment ceased to be a symbol of pain and death. The Cross had become a symbol of Christ's strength, a strength I needed so badly.

One night, we went for a meal in a local restaurant. I was feeling like a stranger in a strange place. My dear relative's death was weighing on me. How could I enjoy this meal?

The waitress came to our table and asked what we would like? I was so exhausted and bereft, I barely looked up at her.

Finally, I raised my eyes from the menu. I suddenly noticed the cross necklace that she wore. She noticed my cross necklace. Our eyes locked.

All at once, I was no longer alone. Not only was I with my husband and son, I had connected with a fellow Christian, in a world of Christian brothers and sisters.

This meal became a shared experience-- a mystical breaking of the bread, in the way that the Eucharist is a shared experience.

I still felt that searing pain of loss and grief, but it was filtered through a new Hope.

The Son of Man, in dying for us, has created a vast community, in the Family of Man.  As Jesus said in Mark 1: 3:31-34, when He looked at a large crowd gathered around Him, "Who are my mother and brothers? Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and  mother."

And, so, I could at last feel deep inside me, that my dear relative was not gone! There was Hope that he has risen up to Heaven, like Jesus did before us.

I have hope in The Cross that, beyond the pain of his death, I will see my dear relative again.

[Related Posting: "Holy Cross",  September 15, 2011.]

All You Need Is Love

" Brothers and sisters:  Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,' and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, Love is the fulfillment of the law." -- [Romans 13: 8-10].


Fulfillment:  (noun):   Completion or realization.


In The Old Testament, God gave Moses the Law. God summoned His Chosen One, Moses, to the pinnacle of Mount Sinai, and He gave Moses the Ten Commandments.

And God said, if you love me, you will keep my Commandments.

The Ten Commandments are familiar to almost every school child, both Christian and Jewish. In fact, the Ten Commandments are the very substance of our shared heritage.

At the time that Jesus came of age, the Law comprised both the Ten Commandments, and a host of other laws, regarded as handed down from God. There were laws on the harvest, keeping a clean home, the sacred religious commemorations, the food that one was to eat, how to treat a worker, or a widow or an orphan. [See Deuteronomy and Leviticus].

According to the website Judaism 101, "Judaism teaches that there are 613 commandments in the Torah"; (the first five books of the Old Testament is called the Torah).

SO--- 613 commandments? I truly admire my Jewish friends! But I, a lowly sinner, have a hard enough time with the Ten Commandments.

When Jesus came to preach His ministry, He said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you. . . . not an iota, not a dot will pass from the Law until all is accomplished."--- [Matthew 5: 17-20.]

In other words, Jesus is not getting rid of all these Laws. But He is summing them up, bringing them all to fruition,  in one word -- Love.

I remember how, in April 2013, I tried to sum up all the things that are NOT Love-- in alphabetical order. [Related Posting; "The ABC's of Love, April 27, 2013].

Writing this List took forever! I was literally reading the dictionary from A to Z. I was afraid that I would miss a word. I had to keep back-tracking in the dictionary. I got confused whether one word was too similar to another. For example, by listing "Envy" and "Jealousy", was I repeating myself? What if I had an Abridged dictionary? -- not all the words will be there.

Besides, what was I going to do, carry this big list around with me all the time? Try to memorize it? I was so afraid that I would just charge ahead and do something without checking my list, that I was beginning to be afraid of making a move.

What a relief to learn that Jesus still believes in all these Laws, until the end of time. BUT, He gave us a shorthand to comprise all the rules. That shorthand is Love.

Which explains why, when I sent my young son off to pre-school for the first time, I told him, "Maybe you will not always remember the right thing to do. But all you have to remember is to do the Loving thing. If it is not Love, don't do it!"

You need only four letters to know how to live right and live well;  L- O- V- E.

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

"Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.  Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, 'God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to You!'  Jesus turned  and said to Peter, ' Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."  Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?' " --- [Matthew 16: 21-27].

There is an inevitability about Jesus' death that is personal and painful and chilling.

How much is the world immutably altered with the death of Jesus?

A pastor at our church once gave an Easter homily in which he said that, as a small boy, he used to fantasize about Jesus using His miraculous powers to walk down from the cross, and thereby, defy death.

Coincidentally to this Gospel this week, I am reading "Jesus: A Gospel Portrait", by Donald Senior, C.P.  In this book, Senior says about Jesus' inevitable Crucifixion---  "Jesus could not change His message without destroying Himself. Yet, if He did not change, His opponents were determined to destroy Him."

How much more starkly could Jesus' options be stated?

I think about the times in my life as a child, when I faced such stark choices. I was a child filled with Faith in God, and in Jesus' loving ways. Yet, I grew up in a family so wholly secular, that their ways seemed cruel and harsh.

I was isolated. Any loving relatives lived far away. Or, even if I told them the truth, they would be highly skeptical of my claims, given my family's position in the community.

If I told a teacher, there could very well be recriminations and worse treatment, at home.

Or, if my claims of abuse were proved, I could be taken away from my family.

This was the cross that I had to bear as a child.

What were my choices then? Would I become just like my family, and therefore, deny God? Would I become as brutal as they were, in my assessments of others :  calling persons of other ethnicities crude names; adopting my family's hate; mocking Christians for being weak and hypocritical for needing God?

I could not change to their ways. I desperately needed Love. I could not become Hate.

And, I was a mere child. Did I dare to challenge them directly? No. I was not that powerful.

Along the way, to protect the Love in my heart, I gradually hid my True Self. I shut down.  It was not safe to show my True Self. Yet, it was unthinkable to change.

My True Self became like a tiny, vestigial fragment, frozen in amber.

In many ways, I lost my life. That is, my True Self shrank almost to Nothingness.

But I would have rather enshrined a tiny piece of my Truth, than inherit my family's entire World.
 I would rather have minimized myself to the insignificance of an atom, than to become a full-blown human being of their rage and cruelty.

 This is what it means to say, "What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" I would have had to kill my loving Soul, in order to inherit their World. A horrible bargain. I refused to do it.

As an adult, I suppose that I had other choices than to "take up my cross" and follow after Jesus.

I could have tried to numb the pain. Plenty of people do this, by abusing drugs or alcohol, or both. In this, I would have destroyed myself, perhaps to the point of Death.

I could have denied that this was my life. That would probably have led to some form of alternate reality, such as insanity.

I could have decided to end my life. Plenty of people commit suicide, because the pain is excruciating, and they desperately want to stop the pain.  I fought so hard as a child to have a life and have it abundantly. I cannot do this, that is not what I have fought so hard for.

You notice that in the Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples that, "He must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly, and be killed and on the third day, be raised." Then, when Peter objects to this prophesy, Jesus tells Peter, "You are an obstacle to me."

You see, denying the Cross is the secular response. We say, 'Nuh uh! Make it go away."

The sacred response is our Resurrection Faith. We say, like Jesus, 'Yes, I am going to carry my Cross of Pain, because I am going to my Resurrection!'  In this way, we trust God to raise us up again.

I often question what to do with the Pain? The answer for me has been to use the Pain, to define my message, in order to help others. And so, I write in this space, not to complain about my life, but to praise God for His Grace in my life.

The only way to handle one's Pain in life is to walk through it, seeking your Resurrection at the other side. We become the Pain and by doing so, we surpass it.  We conquer it!


[Related Postings : " Who Killed Jesus?",  May 7, 2014.]

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Labor = Gifts

Monday, September 1, 2014 is Labor Day.


Labor Day is a day to kick back from our work, get a day off and pig out at family barbecues. Right?

Labor Day is a day to support those laborers who unionized, and fought for fair employment wages and conditions. Right?

Labor Day is the last official day of the summer season. Time to sweep out the camper or cottage, close it down for the winter, and head home for work, or school.  Right?

All of the above ARE right. But all of these totally miss the point, if you are a person of Faith.

Yes, God made the world, and on the seventh day, He rested. So we should, too.

Yes, everyone should have the human right to a clean, safe work environment, and wages that do not reduce one to the horrible status of slavery.

Yes, God made the seasons. And Fall is upon us; and so, go on to the next season, we must.

But what do Americans - and believers in God -- really believe about our Labors?

Disney executive Bob Iger delivered a commencement speech in May, in which he stated flatly that, in this lean economy, the best advice he could give for success was to follow your Talents. NOT to follow your Dreams. And you know what?! He was roundly criticized for this!

It is considered un-American to coach young people NOT to follow their Dreams. . . .

Yet, I happen to agree with Mr. Iger!  When I was a tiny girl, my Dream was to be a ballerina. Many decades later, I am fairly short, I am not stick- thin and I have bad knees.  As you can imagine, I did not become a ballerina.

One's Dreams can be gloriously fantastic. But they can fall far short of reality.

On the other hand, I was writing poems by the time I was 8. Once, when I read one of my poems aloud in my class at school, every single student stood up and clapped. They gave me a standing ovation. Today, I write this blog.

Mozart was one of the most famous composers in the world. When Mozart was 5, he was already composing symphonies.

Frank Lloyd Wright was a famed American architect. His favorite toy as a child was a set of blocks.

Then, there is my vacuum salesman and technician. He told me that when he was a young boy, he used to take apart his mother's and grandmother's vacuum cleaners, to see if he could fix them. Today, he is still doing that, in his grown-up career !

Our talents are our Gifts. Our Gifts come from God. Our Gifts are our in-born affinities and abilities.

The task of parents and teachers is to help young people find their true Talents. Then, our Gifts can become our Labor.

If we think that we can literally become anything we want to, then we are forgetting our God-given talents.  If we think that we can mold a young person into something that WE want them to be doing, then we are playing God.

Even if we cannot make a living wage following our Talents and Gifts, then still ---no human being can make us into anything  else. We do what we Love. We do what we are gifted with. If you love to sing, you may only sing in the Choir, but you are still serving God with your Gifts.

We ARE our Gifts.

Love your God. Love your Gifts. Love your Labor.

[Related Posting: " Labor Day",September 6, 2011; "My Labor Day, Myself August 28, 2013; " My Labor of Love", August 30, 2012;  "Burying My Talents.", November 13, 2011].

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Un-Masked

"Jesus asked His disciples, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?'  They replied, ' Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' He said to them, ' But who do you say that I am?'  Simon Peter said in reply, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' Jesus said to him in reply, 'Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.' -- [Matthew 16: 13-20].

Make no mistake, when Jesus asks His disciples who He is,  Jesus Himself knows exactly who He is! But Jesus is testing His disciples, to see if they have a clear idea of who their Master is?

When Peter declares, 'You are the Christ', then Jesus names Peter as well, saying, 'You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.'

Unquestionably, when we come to know the Christ, then He knows US as well, from the inside, from the heart! He knows our place in this world. He knows our place in the Kingdom.

But how many of us truly know who we are, behind all those layers of masks and defenses? And how many of us truly know Jesus?

Rock lyricist and singer Jack White has a new CD out these days. One song, "Alone in My Home", speaks to the  considerable blockades that we erect to keep ourselves untouchable. His refrain is, "I'm becoming a ghost; Becoming a ghost so nobody can know me."

This was my own way of operating, in my cruel and harsh childhood home. As I was not fed, I hoarded candy in my room, just in case, and I pretended not to care that I was hungry. Gradually, I stopped eating much at all.

My mother told me that the reason why I was verbally abused and physically struck was because I got angry, and cried. So I stopped feeling anything.

Over the years, I shut down completely. My strategy was, ' No one touches me and I touch no one.'

Tragically, something in our soul dies when we become a ghost. . . .

All this time, I suppose that God has tried to reach me-- many times. But I don't think that I was aware of His signs, because I was too preoccupied, keeping myself carefully hidden away.

Well into adulthood, my world came crashing down around me, from all the unexamined traumas and wounds. I ran in a panic to the pastor of our church. I told him that God was gone! I was so shut-down, I could not even feel God any longer.

The pastor told me to start talking to God, daily. To my astonishment, God replied immediately!

There was a price to this conversation with God. Every time I entered the quiet place where I spoke to God and I sat down, the tears began to flow. All of the pain and the fears, that I had held in for my whole life, came spilling out.

I was becoming Un-Masked.

I ran back to the pastor to tell him how afraid I was. He said, 'Sooner or later, you are going to have to come out into the open.' That statement left me totally terrified.

To this day, every time I enter my church, every time I receive the Eucharist , I am Un-Masked and I get tears in my eyes. I thought this meant that there was something wrong with me. I thought these tears meant that I was mortally wounded, so deformed that I could never heal.

Instead, I think this is how it is supposed to be. The tears are the visible sign of my layers of armor falling away. With God, I no longer have to pretend to be inhumanly strong. God can hold me up.

And so I ask you-- WHO are you, behind your shielding masks?

We can put up all the defenses that we want. We can define ourselves by our profession. By our ethnicity. By our country of citizenship. By whether we are parents, or widowed or single, or married. By our age. By our socio-economic status. By our bank account or the kind of home we live in. By our gender. By our education level. By what kind of car that we drive.

Do you see that these are all wholly secular things!? They matter immensely to the world.

But, I am starting to see that in the end, all of these things do NOT matter. Jesus does not want our cholesterol level, our skin color, our credit score, our designer shoes, our highlighted hair, our professional titles, our roster of Facebook friends, our ritzy address, or anything else that passes for worldly status.

Jesus wants us to recognize HIM.

And He wants to recognize US.  He wants our Heart. Our Soul. He wants us stripped bare, Un-Masked. The way we will appear when we end our lives, stripped of clothes, possessions, an address, a job, etc.

Except--- Jesus does not want to wait until we approach the Kingdom of Heaven. He does not have that kind of time. WE do not have that kind of time.

He wants us NOW.


(c) Spiritual Devotional 2014. All Rights Reserved.

[Related Postings, "Who Are You?', August 22, 2011].

Women In Faith

"At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, 'Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.'  But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. Jesus' disciples came and asked Him, 'Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.'  He said in reply, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'  But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, 'Lord, help me.'  He said in reply, 'It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.'  She said, 'Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.'  Then, Jesus said to her in reply, 'O woman, great is your Faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.'  And the woman's daughter was healed from that hour.' " --[Matthew 15: 21-28].

I was the baby in my family, and the only daughter. Even those few decades ago, when I was a tiny child, girls were to be seen and not heard. If my brother received any special dispensation --- a new car as a teen, a more expensive set of clothes --- I was to meekly acquiesce.

As the males in my family became more and more dominant, receiving the lions' share of all that the family had, my place became smaller and smaller. I shrank back physically. I began to slump, to droop. I spoke rarely. I gave no evidence of emotion. I helped out with the gardening and the cooking. I became invisible.

During all those years of being ground down to Nothingness, I still had my Faith. But what to do with that Faith? Wouldn't it get me noticed? In trouble?  And so I kept my Faith as a small flame, a tiny ember, deep within.

That was my life in the 20th Century. Imagine what life must have been like for women at the time of Jesus, then? What a dramatic encounter here, out in public, between Jesus, a Jewish male, and a non-Jewish woman. At that time, as well as mine, women were to be seen, but barely. Women's place was largely in the home.

Even more dramatic was that the woman was a Canaanite. She did not belong to the House of Israel.  In fact, the Canaanites were the peoples who fought the Israelites, for control of the promised Land.

The prophesy about Jesus' place as Redeemer of Israel, came when David had been anointed as King. The prophet Nathan told David that God had come to him in a vision and foretold: " The Lord will make you a house. . . I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. . . and I will establish his throne forever." -- 2 Samuel 7:4-17.]

Thus, Jesus was foretold as the One who came from the House of David, to save Israel and Israel alone.

The Canaanite woman confronts Jesus about this. She insists that Jesus help her.

But Jesus essentially says, "It is not right to take the food of the [Chosen Ones] and give it to the dogs [the enemies].

Only when the Canaanite woman insists in challenging Jesus further, does He relent.

I see in this Reading that, Yes, women are allowed our Faith. But we must insist! We must speak our Faith!

Many in the Church today still believe in women who are to be seen and not heard. They take great precedent from the Bible that the disciples were ONLY men.

Yes, BUT . . .

Donald Senior, C.P, in his book, "Jesus: A Gospel Portrait" states that the inferior status of women in the Bible resulted from the social mores of the times. He says, "The [women's] "inferiority" extended to religious matters. A woman was not permitted full access to the temple". --- No one would dispute today, that women can have full access to church or temple.

I would argue that the social mores of Jesus' time were never meant to be a firm commandment of God's message. In fact, Donald Senior says in his book: "[Women] are to be numbered with the disciples because the Gospels unanimously insist that the most faithful followers Jesus had were women." Senior goes on to say, "Jesus obviously did not feel compelled to follow the prevailing strictures demanding public avoidance of women."

In fact, I can see women with prominent roles throughout the Bible:

Never forget that the first recorded Hymn in history was sung by Miriam in the Old Testament! [Song of Miriam, Exodus 15: 1-18].

Never forget the valiant bravery of Deborah in leading men into battle in the Old Testament in Judges 4.

Never forget that for Jesus to be born, He needed a Mother in Mary.

Never forget that it was Mary who stood silently at the Crucifixion. It was the disciples who fled the scene. Or who publicly renounced Jesus. Or, who hid in a room "for fear of the Jews" -- [John 20:19].

Donald Senior points out that "the disciples are far short of ideal".  

 Women are not perfect, either.  But we are not the after-thoughts in the Church. We are not merely the invisible hands, pouring the coffee and juice at receptions, ironing the altar linens, stuffing envelopes for mass mailings, decorating the sanctuary for holidays, organizing the Christmas pageant.

We are all this -- and more! Clearly, in Scripture, we are at the heart of the Church, just as Mary was. Just as Miriam and Ruth and Deborah and Rachel and Martha and Anne were.

Jesus knew this! He was not afraid to encounter us in the public square. He was not afraid to challenge us to speak up for our Faith. And, for that boldness in Faith, we were richly rewarded!


(c) Spiritual Devotional 2014. All Rights Reserved.