Did Jesus discriminate against women? This is the question an article in the Catholic Peace Weekly wants the readers to examine. Looking at the lists of names in the New Testament it is easy to draw this conclusion. However if we look at the whole of the gospel and in depth, Jesus respected women and valued them highly.
Women had an important place in the life and work of Jesus. Like everybody else, he was born from a woman. Mary's role was important and among the saints holds the place of honor.
Women were his disciples. Mary Magdalen is an example of this group. They traveled together with him and helped him financially. She was one of the few who was with him at the crucifixion.
In the gospels, he was very open and warm even with those who were considered sinners by society. The church helped to change the attitude towards women in many parts of the world.
Women have passed down the faith over the years.This was seen from the time of the early church. St. Timothy is a good example of this having received his faith from his grandmother and mother.
In the Mass, we have the names of many women. Many are the women who have been declared saints, women who have devoted themselves to work in hospitals and schools. He gives us the example of Maria Gaetana Agnesi a woman who was the first to have the position of a university professor of mathematics and a woman who devoted a great deal of her time to helping the sick and poor. And we have the great number of religious sisters who have devoted themselves to the marginalized in society.
However, the question does come up often: why did he limit the Apostles to males only? Often we hear that it was the custom of the times and the culture in which he lived. Jesus, however, did not follow the customs of the times in his actions. Was it not Mary Magdalen who was the first one to receive the message of the resurrection and the first to bring it to the disciples when society considered the woman's witnessing less than that of the male. She was considered the Apostle to the apostles.
From the time of Jesus, the descendants of the apostles have been men. From the scriptures, we can see clearly that both the male and female were considered both equally important, but also not the same. The male connotes fatherhood and the woman motherhood, and he calls each to follow with their own charisma.
In God's eyes, they are both equal, but different. They are to mutually complement each other in the mission he has given to the church.
Most likely the reality we see in the church is what makes the clerical state attractive to certain segments of the community: one in which authority and power are possessed by the clergy. This could change which would make a difference in the way the male presence in the church is seen.
Confucius in his Analects gives us his understanding of growth with these words: "At 15 I set my heart on learning, at 30 I know where I stood, at 40 I have no more doubts, at 50 I knew the will of Heaven, at 60 my ears were attuned, and at 70 I followed my heart’s desire without crossing the line.”
Confucius in his own life without any Christian teaching knew that something happened to him by living the virtuous life. He was moved to live in harmony with nature and as Christians understand, an answer to grace.
A university professor in the Catholic Peace Weekly writes about Jesus' method of teaching. A representative example he gives us is the woman caught in adultery brought to him by the lawyers and pharisees.
He is presented with the law in which such a person was to be stoned but Jesus did not directly answer but told them that those without sin can start the stoning. In this short story we have the philosophy, the psychology, and the social aspects of education which is to understand. Jesus didn't want to teach but wanted them to grasp the truth. This is the role of an educator.
When we teach, people forget, when we grasp something, understand what is being said, we don't forget. In English the word educate means to draw out from inside to the outside. God has already placed in us the capacity we are to bring it out in our lives. Socrates considered this as working as a midwife to bring the new birth out to the light.
We all have this duty as educators to help bring out what God has given each of us. Mary Magdalena when she recognized her teacher called out Rabboni. Her teacher she could never forget.
In Titus 2: 11-12, "You see God's grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race and taught us what we have to do..."
In Korean the word for church and education both have the same Chinese character in its first syllable which is the mission of the church but with the methods of Jesus.
To buy we need to sell. Economics studies the way we provide ourselves to live, the means and consequently what and how we need to sell to buy. So begins an article in a diocesan bulletin by a seminary professor. When we examine what we buy and sell, products that in the past weren't even imagined as products of commerce are now traded.
Water is today a common product for commerce and can be bought at any convenience store. A bottle of water costs 900 won, the same size bottle of gas would cost 700 won. Strange that in a country without any resources of oil, a bottle of gasoline is cheaper than a bottle of water. Our senses tell us that the world of economics has its own system and rationality and the bias we have picked up accepts it as being indifferent to the problems of morality and ordinary common sense.
In the social gospel of the Church, this kind of thinking is confronted face on and we are asked to examine our place and role in the economic activities in which we participate.
Frederic Beigbeder a French writer is quoted as saying that our society when it comes to economics has thrown aside common sense and morality and with humor shows the distortions.
"The poor to buy a pair of expensive sneakers will sell drugs and the rich will sell expensive sneakers to buy drugs from the poor." This French writer makes clear that we are nurturing a monster in economics that has no connection with what is important. Consequently the more developed we become in financial matters the more hard-hearted life becomes for many. This is the reason the social gospel recommends that we look carefully at what we buy and sell.
With the increase of wealth, we see also the increase of deprivation in the lives of many.The social gospel asks us to reflect on what we buy and sell. A moral element is involved and we need to see it. We are at the center of commerce.
The Pope in a message to the prime minister of England in 2013 stressed the ethics of truth. "This includes, first and foremost, respect for the truth of man, who is not simply an additional economic factor, or a disposable good, but is equipped with nature and dignity that cannot be reduced to simple economic calculus. Therefore concern for the fundamental material and spiritual welfare of every human person is the starting-point for every political and economic solution and the ultimate measure of its effectiveness and its ethical validity."
Many authorities speak with complicated theories and many fancy words. What is important is that the economy is for the welfare and justice of all. The economy that is not for all people is stealing from the poor. Should we not be conscious of this when finances are used for vanity and exorbitant luxuries?
Just as a tree turns to light, all life forms have a unique orientation: life has a direction. However, this direction is not achieved by its own power. If directivity is the ultimate inclination it must have already been present. Nothing exists by itself. To maintain its own existence the help of another is needed. To be dependent on another being means to have a sense of existence and direction given by another being. Different beings relate with the conditions of existence that each requires. If this relationship is balanced without distortion peacefulness can be expected. This is the first paragraph of the View from the Ark by a professor at the Catholic University.
Human life like any other has a unique orientation. However, human life requires a lot of external help in comparison to other beings. The frailty of a child requires the cooperation and closer bond with the community. This shows the special quality of human life. The weakness of children and elderly shows this more clearly. Here we have the law of mutuality at work, a win/win situation.
The law of life is not simply giving and receiving. The law of co-existence begins with discovering the meaning of relationships. As we see a different depth of life a new relationship develops and a deeper meaning. At the natural level we think about each other's survival but at the social level, we think about the value of life. Furthermore, we enter the religious and moral dimension and we begin understanding what perfection in life means.
It's like the seed of a tree when planted and reaches maturity it gives peace to those who are looking for shade. Peace is the fruit of life and we are meant to extend this peace to one another in a win/win situation. Each in their own way without confusion. Peace is not silence and the absence of work but the ultimate harmony. It accepts differences and a fuller harmony. True peace is dynamic.
Peace does not come to those who simply wait. God comes to us in his infinite love and in the seeds he has planted in us of resurrection that overcame the sufferings of the cross.This is the promise of future peace. Those who experience this joy in life have a great gift.
Loss of the value of life is epidemic in society. We hear the tragic news of terrorism, war, the loss of innocent lives and the destruction of our Eco-system because of human greed. Loss of life due to injustice is the loss of peace. Seeds of life can not sprout in the dry earth. Without the correct understanding of the situation we have no hope. The world needs to be a place of harmony and mutual growth. Another being is a mirror that helps me know myself. We need to give glory to love, peace and the Lord who lives within us.
Depression is a common malady. An article in the Catholic Times treats the need for humor in our world today. 1 out of 4 persons in life is faced, for some time, with a type of mental problem because of the harshness and overly competitive society in which we live. We have lost the ability to laugh.
In Korea, the people's traditional culture can't be explained without understanding the place of satire and jokes. Satire shows the irrationality of much of what we see in life and opens it up to mockery. An example would be the Bongsan Mask Dance in which the degenerate life of the aristocrats was exposed. The audience relaxes and gets the strength to endure reality. Laughter rather than the criticism gives a feeling of compassion to the objects of the laughter.
A director of a counseling center says: laughter helps us bring positive emotions out of the negative and these positive emotions make us happy.
Since 2001 the Ministry of Health and Welfare in its survey of the mental health of the country excepting the related diseases from nicotine and alcohol, depression was predominant.
In service work, we hear about the 'smile depression' on the outside a kindly smile but on the inside depression. A problem with those who are always dealing with the public.
A priest who works in counseling mentions that people in modern society, especially in Korea, are faced with political anxiety, recession, job hunting, job insecurity, polarization etc. which requires living in constant tension and stress. The development of the healing industry reveals this reality.
The clinical effects of laughter are well known with professional verification. A professor at Stanford University defines laughter as mental jogging. It clears the circulatory system, stimulates the digestion, lowers blood pressure, relieves muscle tension and stress, increases endocrine secretions.
In the Bible, there is no mention that Jesus smiled or laughed but Jesus who lived with all our human attributes would have laughed like everybody else. Jesus did give us the Beatitudes.
The French writer Didier Decoin went through the Bible verses for a book and showed where Jesus would have laughed: Jesu le Dieu qui riait. It is the laughter of Jesus restored by the imagination of a writer but it explains the validity of the context. A priest wrote a theology of laughter and argued for a need to recognize God's sense of humor and include it as an attribute of God.
The article concludes with the words of a priest who has worked in counseling for many years. "The Catholic Church has tended to focus on suffering and death in the whole of our religious life, including the liturgy. We must make the believers feel the joy of the gospel."
True laughter is only possible for those who hope. Laughter is another name for hope and for Christians always associated with the glory and joy of the resurrection. The 'Joy of the Gospel' when this is shown in our lives and we express this by our joy and laughter we are helping to overcome the frustrations and despair we see all around us.
A priest working in counseling writes in a pastoral bulletin about a newly wed couple waiting for their first child and asking what is necessary to have a child with a good family background. They wanted to know what they had to do to raise the child to hear this compliment in the future.
In psychological therapy language, the good relationship between parent and child is the sign of a good family background: the results of the proper upbringing of a child. He compares the two words used for raising in Korean, one used for children, the other in the raising of animals. One is to nurture and the other to train.
Nurturing a child is to appreciate the growing period of a child and not to confine growth to a mold of one's own making but to the needs of the child. Putting it simply, to give the child liberty to grow creatively and freely. The other would be to raise the child according to a standard with coercion and without accepting criticism.
Both with children and animals when you take away freedom they become cruel. They in turn in dealing with others want to do the same. They want to force their ideas on others and when this is not possible they get angry and have problems controlling their anger. We see this is in psychopaths and dictators.They force their ideas on others and will not take criticism.
We have this situation not infrequently also within religion. We have those speaking in the name of God and giving their personal violent teaching in the name of God.They do not consider the diversity of believers and act as dictators. We have the dismantling of existing groups. There is not a nurturing but a standardizing which destroys the spirit of the community.
They have a weak sense of humor. They have a stiffness about them. We have this example in some of our leaders, they become an object of ridicule. In the church, we have those who speak the Gospel message but it feels like we are eating rice not well prepared.
Those who are not nurtured correctly will not be creative. They have been raised in an uninformed and forced manner. They are not able to forsake their way of thinking and accept a wiser opinion. They lack freedom that does not allow them to grow.
Jesus was a free spirit. He criticized the Pharisees for keeping the people locked up and force fed with their ideas. Those who grow up with freedom have a joy and openness that comes from a home in which they have been well nurtured.
This year is the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's break with the Catholic Church. Undersecretary of the Korea's Bishops' Conference writes in View from the Ark of the Korean Times on taking another look at Martin Luther.
The way the Catholics and Protestants look upon the Reformation are obviously different. Catholics see the Reformation as dividing the Church. There is no way one can justify breaking the unity of the Church that Christ established. (Johannes Cochaleus, 1479-1552) strongly opposed Luther. "He was an apostate monk, destroyed Christendom, threw off morality a depraved individual, a heretic" this was his view of Luther and what is embedded in the minds of many Catholic even to this day.
On the other hand, the Protestants see the Reformation as rediscovering the Gospel, gaining an unshakeable faith and freedom, they were freed from the corrupt Catholicism of the middle ages and returned to a Gospel teaching Church. Very naturally they see Martin Luther as a witness to the Gospel.
The 500 years of conflict are not going to be easily overcome. However, the Second Vatican Council did open the gates with the notions of reform, renewal, dialogue and cooperation being stressed we are beginning to relate with the Protestants.
"Moreover, some and even very many of the significant elements and endowments which together go to build up and give life to the Church itself, can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church: the written word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, and visible elements too. All of these, which come from Christ and lead back to Christ, belong by right to the one Church of Christ" (Decree on Eucumentism #3).
In 1999 the Lutheran Federation and the Vatican came to a consensus that the teaching on justification no longer needs to separate the two communions. In 2013 a joint statement was released From Conflict to Communion. This year 16 Korean theologians have got together to translate the document and to publish it, expressing a desire to work for unity.
The writer mentions that after finishing his studies in Germany in 2003, in his office as a seminary professor, he has continually encouraged ecumenism within the Church. In his experience, most of the pastoral workers within Catholicism and lay people are prejudiced and misunderstand ecumenism. Among the Protestants, we hear the voices saying that the Protestant Church in Korean is more corrupt than the Catholic Church in the time of Luther.
The main stream of Protestantism in Korea has no desire to dialogue with Catholicism. They have not been brought up with the teaching of a universal Christianity and the need for unity among Christians, for the writer a great tragedy.
He concludes the article with the hope that we can get over our emotional feelings, forget the scars and work towards unity. During this anniversary year of the Reformation, we don't want to change the history of what happened but to change the way we talk about the history.
