Thus says the LORD, who opens a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters, who leads out chariots and horsemen, a powerful army, till they lie prostrate together, never to rise, snuffed out and quenched like a wick.
The Gospel of Saint John often finds in small incidents cosmic significance. We can imagine a loudmouthed tough, happening on this scene, recounting it. The hilarious story could only grow in the telling. They lie prostrate together. They were snuffed out and quenched like a wick!
Jesus's victories do not initially appear like the final, cinematic victories one might expect of good over evil. As the evangelists tell the stories there seems be shock and awe among his challengers, but they are not like American nuclear devices over Nagasaki and Hiroshima, nor even like the signal achievement of the RAF against Germany's humiliated Luftwaffe. (Please dear God, may the Ukrainians enjoy a similar victory.)
Nonetheless, the faithful recognize Jesus's championing the defenseless woman as a convincing sign of his final conquest over history itself. His word that morning was just as effective as the word at the dawn of creation, "Let there be light." And so it was!
Everything will finally be resolved, atoned, and reconciled; and peace will become the world's way of doing things,
in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
The woman represents more than an unfortunate woman in an ancient city; she is the Church, ever sinful, always in dire straits, continually maligned, needing endless mercy. We recognize her from the prophecies of Hosea, Isaiah, and Ezekiel as the spouse of the LORD, beloved, sinful, repentant, devout, and grateful.
It is unfortunate that uninspired readings of the scriptures have often blamed women as the more sinful of the human race. Because the Hebrew prophets describe Judaism as an unfaithful woman, some men suppose that men would be faultless except for the women in their lives. That misreading credits men with a strength of character they do not have.
The same misreading fails to see the fidelity of the Jewish people from Abraham to this day. It metastases into a growth like Pharisaism, and appears in our time as the bootstrapper or the self-made person. Wealthy financiers, successful athletes, and daily churchgoers with a reputation for piety might easily forget everything comes from God. President Obama tried to point that out -- and was roundly heckled for it -- when he said, "You didn't build that!"
The helpless, fallen woman in today's gospel is you and me. We can hide from this truth behind our secure walls, under our sheltering tents, and above our safety nets but the illusions can be torn away in that same blink of an eye. A single misstep can disable one for life. Or, as one sailor told me about aircraft carriers, "Men were killed who did everything right!"
The season of Lent prepares us to enter Holy Week attentive to what our Champion will do for us. We have seen him stand confident before a gang of street thugs. We have seen him mocking their bravado as "he bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger." We have heard his merciful word to us, "Neither do I condemn you.” And now, fully aware of our helplessness, we watch him save us.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.