The different versions of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) often tell the same stories, but tell them in different ways. We have one of those examples in today’s gospel reading. In Mark’s version, the first gospel to be written down, the one we read today, James and John make the request personally for the closest two seats in Jesus’ new kingdom.
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” He replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?” They answered him, “grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.”
Mark 10:35-45
By the time Matthew wrote his gospel, several years after Jesus had ascended into heaven, the apostles had been elevated in respect in the Christian community – elevated so much that when Matthew tells the story, he could not bring himself to picture James and John being so brazenly ambitious. So, what does he do? He blames it on their mother! He says their mother is the one who made the request! Here are the exact change of words in the gospel of Matthew.
The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her
sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.
He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him,
“Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right
and the other at your left, in your kingdom.”
Matthew 20:20-21
In the Bible, blaming and demeaning women starts in the very first story – the first story of creation. We are told that Eve was only created as an afterthought and that was simply to be man’s “helper.” Far from being his “helper,” she is presented as the cause of his “downfall.” She is blamed for being seduced by the serpent into eating the forbidden fruit and then for dragging poor innocent Adam into the mess by giving him a bite of it which led to their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. (Of course, that whole story was composed from a male perspective!)
That story, transmitted from generation to generation among the Jewish people into the time of Jesus, led to a negative view of women as a dangerous source of temptation and sin. For centuries, because of the story, Jewish men were taught that it was wise to treat women with great caution and keep them submissive otherwise they could not be trusted. (We were warned more than once in the minor seminary at St. Thomas out on Brownsboro Road about this possibility. Good thing I didn’t believe everything I was told back then!)
Over time, women were more and more dominated and controlled by men. They were seen first as the property of men; first their fathers, then their husbands, then if they were widowed, they became the property of their sons or their brothers. We see remnants of this tradition when Jesus gives his widowed mother to John from the cross. He understood well the danger Mary would be in, in that culture, without a man to look out for her!
We see remnants of this domination even in our own time in a typical American wedding. Most brides dream of walking down the aisle with their fathers, but they are often mortified when they find out what that tradition really means. When the bride and her father walk down the aisle, her father “gives her away” to the groom standing there waiting to “receive” her. There it is! One man gives his property, his daughter, to another man as his property!
The mistrust of women that was canonized in the Garden of Eden story had several other tendrils besides being treated as property. Besides being a temptation and occasion of sin, women were viewed as frivolous, sensual, lazy, gossipy and disorderly. Men were seen as guided by reason, but women were seen as carried away by emotions and sensuality. According to Jewish Scriptures, women were inferior to men in everything. In fact, a Jewish man thanked God every day during a morning prayer that "God didn't make me a Gentile, that God didn't make me a woman, that God didn't make me an ignoramus." There was a popular quote that said that "the words of Scripture should be burned rather than being given to women." Sadly, in many cultures, even today, I have noticed that men often do most of the talkin’ while women still do most of the doin’!
It is obvious in the Scriptures that Jesus had a lot of women friends. Without challenging the customs and traditions that excluded and demeaned women, Jesus basically ignored those customs and traditions. He approached women without hesitancy and related to them openly, without being affected by any prejudice. Women, on the other hand, were attracted to his presence. For many of them, it meant being free, at least for the moment, from the life of marginalization and work they experienced at home. Some even dared to follow him on his Galilean trips. These were probably single, unfortunate women who saw traveling with Jesus’ as a way of living with greater dignity.
Certainly, women saw in Jesus a different attitude from that of the predominant culture. They never heard those disrespectful views from Jesus that the rabbis regularly expressed. Jesus never exhorted them to be "submissive" to their husbands or to be subjected to some one-sided patriarchal system. Jesus showed no animosity toward them, only respect, compassion and unexpected sympathy.
It would be worth our time to carefully study the relationship Jesus had to women, who were among the many “excluded and marginalized” people that Jesus called “friends.” For Jesus, the “inclusion” of women among the marginalized was a symbol and foretaste of the Kingdom of God. For Jesus, the excluded and marginalized would be among the first to enter the Kingdom of God!
We need to know that 1,165 women now work in the Vatican, compared to only 846 women in 2013. Their numbers are growing and they are being welcomed into higher and higher positions - thanks mostly to Pope Francis. In parishes, that number is much, much higher, with most parish staffs being made up of women and some of them are even leading some of our parishes! We certainly could use more of the help, expertise and insights of our talented women, both in our country and in our church! It's coming and it's coming faster and faster. I, for one, welcome it and celebrate it whenever and wherever I can!
