Thursday, October 19, 2006
Violence Against Women
It might be something of a cop-out to post a link to someone else's blog as my own blog, but I was so struck with the insight of this particular posting that I needed to pass it on to as many people as possible.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
What's in a name?
Why did I choose the name "At the Well" for my blog? Well, it's not a particularly deep story, to begin with. The simple fact is that the original name I was going to choose, "At His Feet," was already taken. I had intended to use that name to reference Luke 10:38-42, the story of Mary and Martha. In this story, Martha invites Jesus into her home where she lives with her sister. While Martha is making (dinner?) preparations, Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to him teach. Martha gets a little annoyed at Mary's seeming indolence and calls out to Jesus, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" (Luke 10:40, TNIV). Jesus replies, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed -- or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:41, TNIV). It will not be taken away from her.
Although this Scripture has often been taken as juxtaposing the active life of service against the contemplative life of meditation, I prefer to take the interpretation that many scholars have been suggesting in recent years, that this story of Mary and Martha is a way for the Lord to communicate the new place for women in the Kingdom -- at His feet. That is, women have been accepted as disciples, students, of the Lord, and it will not be taken away from them. So, as a theological student, these are words of great hope for me.
Okay, but that wasn't the name that I was able to choose for my blog. So, I looked for another story of a woman coming in contact with Jesus. This story I found in John 4:1-42, and it is the story of the Samaritan woman. In this story, Jesus is travelling through Samaria (a pretty big deal, since Jews didn't really have anything to do with the Samaritans most of the time), when he stops at Jacob's well. A woman comes along, and Jesus asks for a drink. Now, there's a lot of stuff I could tell you about the situation here, about how the woman was not nice and how we know that not only from what Jesus says to her but also because she's coming to get water in the middle of the day instead of first thing in the morning with all the nice ladies. But I'll save that detail for another day. For me, the key verse is this: "Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, 'What do you want?' or 'Why are you talking with her?' " (John 4:27 TNIV) I guess the disciples were catching on by now...sort of.
But I think it's important to note that the disciples were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman. I think a lot of Jesus' disciples today are surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman! It is in this context that I am entering into theological studies...a woman, maybe not with the sordid past that the Samaritan woman had, but a woman nonetheless.
I'll pick apart this passage some more from time to time on here, when I can't think of anything else to post (like that's going to happen...I am at Regent College, after all).
The other amazing thing about the name of this blog is this: I chose this name quite a long time ago. It was before I had applied to Regent, while I was still in the midst of my third and final audio correspondence course with them. But when I finally got to Regent, I made a very wonderful discovery. In the Regent bookstore is a little coffeeshop. The name of this coffeeshop is...The Well.
How perfect is that?
Let this Scripture close my blog for today:
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14 TNIV)
Although this Scripture has often been taken as juxtaposing the active life of service against the contemplative life of meditation, I prefer to take the interpretation that many scholars have been suggesting in recent years, that this story of Mary and Martha is a way for the Lord to communicate the new place for women in the Kingdom -- at His feet. That is, women have been accepted as disciples, students, of the Lord, and it will not be taken away from them. So, as a theological student, these are words of great hope for me.
Okay, but that wasn't the name that I was able to choose for my blog. So, I looked for another story of a woman coming in contact with Jesus. This story I found in John 4:1-42, and it is the story of the Samaritan woman. In this story, Jesus is travelling through Samaria (a pretty big deal, since Jews didn't really have anything to do with the Samaritans most of the time), when he stops at Jacob's well. A woman comes along, and Jesus asks for a drink. Now, there's a lot of stuff I could tell you about the situation here, about how the woman was not nice and how we know that not only from what Jesus says to her but also because she's coming to get water in the middle of the day instead of first thing in the morning with all the nice ladies. But I'll save that detail for another day. For me, the key verse is this: "Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, 'What do you want?' or 'Why are you talking with her?' " (John 4:27 TNIV) I guess the disciples were catching on by now...sort of.
But I think it's important to note that the disciples were surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman. I think a lot of Jesus' disciples today are surprised to find Jesus talking with a woman! It is in this context that I am entering into theological studies...a woman, maybe not with the sordid past that the Samaritan woman had, but a woman nonetheless.
I'll pick apart this passage some more from time to time on here, when I can't think of anything else to post (like that's going to happen...I am at Regent College, after all).
The other amazing thing about the name of this blog is this: I chose this name quite a long time ago. It was before I had applied to Regent, while I was still in the midst of my third and final audio correspondence course with them. But when I finally got to Regent, I made a very wonderful discovery. In the Regent bookstore is a little coffeeshop. The name of this coffeeshop is...The Well.
How perfect is that?
Let this Scripture close my blog for today:
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14 TNIV)
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