A 'Discipleship of Equals'

ACROSS DENOMINATIONS, Christians have attempted to build a more egalitarian and democratic ecclesiastical structure. The phrase “discipleship of equals,” coined by the feminist theologian Elisabeth S. Fiorenza, suggests that a community of Jesus’ followers cannot tolerate an absolute, centralizing power that justifies a relationship of dominance and subordination.

Yet, while Christians continue to challenge hierarchical structures in the church, we also acknowledge that a discipleship of equals will not be established simply by removing the hierarchy. The church is enmeshed in a concrete reality of everyday life, filled with a web of power relations that are neither fixed nor necessarily top-down.

Power relations experienced within the church are often inconspicuous. They take the form of microaggressions, subtle insults against other members because of gender, sexual orientation, race, class, and ability status. What is even more hurtful is that these insults are often disguised as “caring,” as when someone perverts a prayer request into gossip. The experience of the powers in the church can be paradoxical. Christians must deal with complicated and variegated claims to power, all of which borrow the name of God.

The texts for the next four weeks highlight the struggles in forming a community of God. They raise the question of power relations within the faithful community: How do we use the word “power” and what should be our first instinct in situations of conflict?

[ SEPTEMBER 7 ]

Slow Peace

Ezekiel 33:7-11; Psalm 119:33-40; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20

MATTHEW 18:15-20 demonstrates a carefulness and sensitivity to power relations in the Matthean community. Matthew uses the term ekklesiafor the community—an assembly formed to decide or judge a particular case. To “sin” in this text means an “offense” against another member in an assembly, which may  not only affect the relationship between the members involved but eventually destroy the whole community.

The text’s suggested procedure for addressing conflict avoids coming to hasty conclusions. Figuring out what is right or wrong is not the primary concern for Matthew. Rather, the text describes carefully making space for members to enter in, moving from little ones to other members, and finally to the entire community. This procedure is designed to prevent a premature and overactive use of authority, while respecting the agency of assembly members to speak for themselves or to correct their own faults. In this fashion, members are granted a chance to grow together through a conflict, instead of relying on authorities to remove it. Matthew’s suggestion on how to handle conflicts demonstrates a way in which the members of a community, regardless of their status, can break open the complex and strict power structure.

But what if the offender refuses to listen, even to the entire community? Matthew tells us to “let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (18:17). While this may sound cruel and discriminatory, we must remember that the Matthean community was a mixed one. Gentiles and tax collectors were frequently the objects of Jesus’ ministry. Thus the phrase suggests that a community’s pastoral concern for the errant member does not completely end, even after the painful step of expulsion has taken place. It rather demands that the community start from the beginning—as if the member had never been taught Jesus’ words.

[ SEPTEMBER 14 ]

Forgiving, Not Forgetting

Genesis 50:15-21; Psalm 103:1-13; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35

AFTER ALL THE abuses Jacob’s older sons have committed against their youngest brother, they are finally remorseful (Genesis 50:18). Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers is striking. “Am I in the place of God?” he asks (verse 19), because he wants to urge them to see their guilt as God sees it. However, Joseph differentiates forgiving from forgetting. He forgives his brothers, but he acknowledges their wrongdoing and affirms that it will be remembered by God.

Forgiving is not forgetting. When Jesus tells Peter to forgive his brother or sister “seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:22), he does not indicate that forgiving entails forgetting, nor does he suggest that forgiveness justifies, minimizes, or excuses the wrong. Forgiveness does not allow the offender to forget what he or she has done. The process of forgiving involves acknowledging both the victim and the offender, reflecting on the wrong committed, and deciding how and what to think about it. The process can move forward only when the victim is ready and willing. One ought not to use God’s name in vain in order to force a victim to forgive an offender.

Forgiveness cannot be automatically equated with justice, either. Though the victim decides to forgive, building justice is separate from forgiveness. Justice must include proper apologies, compensation, punishment, and restitution. To build justice is to envision hope. Without the proper act of remembering and amending injustice, a community cannot create a future. “The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood [and sisterhood],” says Martin Luther King Jr.

[ SEPTEMBER 21 ]

‘Because No One Hired Them’

Jonah 3:10 - 4:11; Psalm 145:1-8; Philippians 1:21-30; Matthew 20:1-16

THE COMPLAINTS of those hired first in Matthew 20:1-12 sound normal and fair enough. They want to receive more because they labored longest and hardest. However, the landowner, God, considers their complaints to be unfair and challenges them, asking, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?”

God’s question shatters our narrow definition of goodness and justice. Jonah’s constraining conception of mercy is also reproved by God. Just as God urges Jonah to see Nineveh as God does, God wants us to see the vineyard laborers’ situation as God does. The parable thus reverses the sense of justice and fairness from ours to God’s.

An often disregarded part of this text is what those who were hired last had been doing up until the landowner’s final visit. The text does not suggest that they are lazy or irresponsible. Instead, they were not able to find work, even though they had been “standing idle all day,” because no one had hired them (20:7). They were unwanted. In Jesus’ time they would be the weak, sick, and disabled. In our time, the list expands to include the elderly, women, undocumented immigrants, the underemployed, and anyone who does not fit the demands of “normalcy.” God’s justice is to give priority to the unwanted and to protect them from being shamed, slandered, and neglected by the privileged.

The preferential option for the poor, which has become a central tenet of Catholic social thought, finds its biblical basis in this story. Some critics have suggested that the option stands against the middle class. On the contrary, the option is fundamental for all followers of Christ because it is a call for conversion, an urge for a paradigm shift that surpasses ethical standards constructed by capitalism. God’s justice does not set one group against another. Instead, it enables the whole community to grow together by making it vulnerable before those who are most vulnerable.

[ SEPTEMBER 28 ]

Mind of Christ?

Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; Psalm 25:1-9; Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-32

“THE PARENTS have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Ezekiel 18:2) was a popular proverb used as a scare tactic in Ezekiel’s time. These words kept people from asking what they could change and led them to surrender to those more powerful, to accept life the way it was. By refuting the saying, Ezekiel delivers God’s words, “All lives are mine” (verse 4). The life of all Israelites, both the parents and the children, are God’s. All deserve God’s blessing.

Paul echoes Ezekiel’s urge. The key to understanding the famous Christological hymn is Paul’s demand for a community of “the same mind” (Philippians 2:2). For Paul, the call for this type of community entails transforming the lifestyle of each and every member to that of Christ. In other words, Paul wants the Philippian Christians to adapt Christ’s pattern of thinking and acting as they shape their identity as a member of the community following Christ. It requires not just a submission and self-emptying, but a careful awareness of and attendance to the various workings of power within the community. If there is an uneven distribution of power interfering with members’ full participation in the community, the community as a whole cannot adequately be renewed in Christ’s identity.

The misreading of Christ’s kenosis—his self-denial and submission—has produced deleterious effects on people at the margins of Christian communities. For the sake of Christ’s kenosis, women and minorities have been forced to accept submissive roles while powerful people justify their abuse of authority.

The Christological hymn challenges these destructive ways. The communal response to the kenotic call of Christ is a two-way operation. On the one hand, the desires for power-seeking and self-serving should be nullified. On the other hand, the systems that encourage and perpetuate destructive self-denial and lack of self-awareness should also be challenged. Thus the community, as a whole, is enabled to renew itself in Christ.

"Living the Word" reflections for October 2014 can be found here. “Preaching the Word,” Sojourners’ online resource for sermon preparation and Bible study, is available at sojo.net/ptw.