5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle B
February 4, 2018
Saint Mary
Parish, Pylesville 4pm
Saint Matthew
Parish, Baltimore 11am
Respect
Today I
want to talk about respect.
One
word – respect. It may sound simple,
but it may not be.
The Word Respect
Our
English word respect – like many of
our words – is derived from Latin.
It is
made up of two Latin words: 1) re (spelled
R-E) which means back, as in going back, and 2) specere (spelled S-P-E-C-E-R-E), a verb that means to look at. And
so, our word respect literally means
to look back at, to take a second look.
And
from this, the word has come to mean to treat someone with regard and dignity.
Negatively, it means to refrain from injuring someone.
The
connection between the original and the developed meaning of the word is clear.
If we don’t just take a quick look, but if we look back and take a second look,
then we are valuing others.
As a
result, we are much more likely to act out of that – to treat them with regard
and dignity. And, of course, we are much more likely to refrain from any
behavior or word that would injure.
Okay,
so why am I so focused on this word respect
today? Why? Because I see respect lying
beneath today’s gospel.
Jesus Respects Women
The context is
that Jesus goes into Peter’s house.
Peter’s mother-in-law
is sick in bed with a fever. I have to wonder if it was something like the flu
that has been going around this year.
At any rate, and
here’s the key point, Jesus goes right up to this woman and takes her by the
hand. Now to us, that may not sound like a big deal, but it was in Jesus’ day.
In those days, men
were forbidden to touch any woman other than their wife. They couldn’t even
shake hands with a woman.
Now it’s important
to know that this prohibition did not exist out of respect for women. On the
contrary, it existed out of disrespect for them.
It was a highly
patriarchal and male-dominated culture. Women had no rights and were seen as at
best inferior.
So, a point that’s
easy to miss here is that Jesus, right at the start of his ministry, is breaking
a barrier. I mean, this is chapter one of Mark’s Gospel – Mark talking about
the first things Jesus does in his ministry.
And here, Jesus
breaks the gender barrier. He respects
this woman as a person with dignity, as a person in need, and he wants to help
her.
Apparently, Saint
Mark is really out to make a point about this. I say this because at the end of
the gospel, as Jesus ends his ministry, dying on the cross, Mark carefully
notes the presence of women.
He points out that
these women were disciples of Jesus. So Mark’s entire Gospel is framed or
bookended with Jesus showing respect for
women.
Respect Women Today
All of this got me thinking about something very current.
I think that Jesus would be supportive of the main thrust
of today’s #MeToo movement. Today his respect
for women might be shown by speaking out on behalf of the dignity of women.
He would speak out against verbal abuse, demeaning jokes,
sexual harassment of any kind, and even less pay for the same work and same competence. I believe that Jesus would call out all of
this as wrong.
He would want us to take a second look at what’s been going on. He would want us to be respectful in our attitudes, our words,
our workplace policies, and in our Church practices.
So, yes, there is a spiritual and moral dimension here.
There is a gospel-dimension to the women’s isue that is before us.
Respect Everyone
I want to add one more point.
Jesus pushes this respect
beyond the gender barrier. In various other incidents, Jesus breaks through
other barriers – religion, race, culture, and nationality.
And Jesus always does this out of respect. He respects the
dignity of all persons.
He wants to bring a wholeness and fullness to our lives.
And he wants to do this for us as individuals, for our society and for all of
humanity.
So, he treats all persons with respect, with no barriers allowed to stand in the way. His example
raises the question: are we doing the same?
