Dear Man/Dear Woman: A Noteworthy Conversation … May 7th, 2016

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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Dear Woman: Happy Mother’s Day!

 

Dear Man: Well I’m not a mother…

 

Dear Woman: I know. But maybe someday you will be. I think ahead.

 

Dear Man: I suppose.

 

Dear Woman: You seem miffed. Does Mother’s Day bother you?

 

Dear Man: Yeah, but not for the reason you think. I’m not jealous because I don’t have children. Mother’s Day is just an example of another title…without entitlement. What I mean is that men hide their chauvinism and their dislike for women behind granting them certain space while forbidding them total equality. If you’re a woman you can be a mother. You can be in charge of the women’s ministry at the church. You make a great secretary. How about fund-raising? Can you take care of the food bank? “You’re so pretty.” All of these are titles but they fail to grant the entitlement of being treated as an equal and dealt with in justice.

 

Dear Woman: Wow. Am I ever sorry I said “Happy Mother’s Day.” But just to play devil’s advocate, is it possible that some of these stereotypes–titles, as you call them–exist because there’s truth to them?

 

Dear Man: Do you really want to start a fight?

 

Dear Woman: No. As I said, I’m playing devil’s advocate.

 

Dear Man: No. It’s the loaf of bread syndrome. Once we realize there’s one loaf of bread, we start thinking about how we can get the whole loaf instead of giving a needful half to someone else. To do this we have to rationalize and make sure it seems like we’re not being selfish, just practical. Men and women share so much in common that it’s ridiculous to separate them using the jargon of ignorance and the culture of male supremacy. So we pretend. We pretend women are smarter, even as we refuse to promote them. We pretend women are more thrifty, but we never make her the Secretary of Treasury. And of course, we insist that women are better with the children so men have a way of playing with the kids when they want to, and walking away when something else diverts their attention.

 

Dear Woman: I see your point. But are there enough differences that some sort of division of duties is warranted?

 

Dear Man: Let me give you an example. You’re a Christian, right?

 

Dear Woman: Yes. Right. What’s that got to do with anything?

 

Dear Man: Relax. I wasn’t trying to throw you to the lions. There’s a story about Jesus which is not talked about very often, because it separates him from all other philosophers, religious leaders and cultural icons of all time. Sitting at the house of Mary and Martha, two of his friends and the sisters of Lazarus, who rose from the dead, Martha interrupts Jesus’ teaching to complain about her sister, Mary. Martha’s complaint seemed very legitimate to her–and probably to most people in the room. Mary was sitting in, listening to Jesus teach instead of helping put the food together, which would be served after the lesson. First of all, realize that it was against Jewish law for men and women to be taught together. So Jesus was already making a statement, which he did throughout his ministry. Men and women traveled Co-ed–same space, same responsibilities. So when Martha brings up Mary helping her in the kitchen, there was no disciple who thought Martha was wrong. After all, Mary was a woman. She was supposed to be involved in the kitchen, the children, the day-to-day household activities and the general welfare of the home. Martha thought she was on safe ground. Damn, she thought she was quoting the Word of God. But Jesus rebuffs her. He tells Martha that she worries about too many things, and that Mary had picked the better part by sitting and listening to the teaching. So you see, this story contradicts the practices, doctrines and limitations that most Christian denominations place on women. That’s why you don’t hear it taught very often. But the truth is, after they got done with the teaching, the men and the women could have gone into the kitchen, put together the snacks, and had great fun doing it. Here’s a powerful thought–if you don’t break stupidity you never find wisdom. So I think it’s ridiculous to think that only women are mothers. Every man has to mother children, too. If a little boy falls down and skins his knee, the dad doesn’t wait for the wife to get home to take care of it. If he’s a good parent, he suddenly becomes the healer–the mother.

 

Dear Woman: That’s amazing. Why don’t they talk about that more?

 

Dear Man: Because they would have to give women their entitlement instead of just a title.

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Jesonian: What do you know about him? … October 12, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

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He was called a bastard because his mother got pregnant before she was married.

He was born in poverty in a stable reeking with animal manure.

Even when his family tried to establish a life in the little town of Bethlehem, they were visited by astrologers from the East who brought gifts, but also brought down calamity on their lives because they accidentally passed on information to a jealous king who put out a contract of death on the little boy’s life. So they were forced to go into exile, into the land of Egypt, where they were strangers, and for about six years tried to subsist and carve out a life, as additional brothers and sisters were added.

His father, a man who believed in guiding his life by dreams, returned them to Judea, only to find out there was still danger, so they settled back into the community where the original gossip about his conception had brought them such pain.

He struggled to learn how to become a carpenter, even though deep in his heart, there was a strong calling toward other missions and goals.

He was made fun of by many of the local children because his customs seemed foreign, his demeanor was simple and he had not learned the letters of the Jewish law in their time-table.

He spent years in a small-town life without ever taking a wife of his own.

When he embraced the aching wishes of his heart and began to share a message of love and hope, which included not only Jew but Gentile, the local townsfolk pushed him to the edge of a cliff and threatened to murder him.

He escaped to a nearby fishing village, where he began to teach and discovered there was often healing, and miracles which followed when the people brought their faith to the situation.

His brothers and sisters thought he was crazy and came to retrieve him, so he was forced to alienate himself from them. He would not see them again for two years.

Even though his message did nothing to hinder the well-being of the Roman Empire, all the factions of the religion of his countrymen turned against him as one, plotting his demise.

Yet he persisted.

The advancements he presented in his teachings are still a stumbling block to many fundamentalists today:

• Women are as good as men.
• “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is foolish.
• It is what we do to the least of our fellow-humans that matters most.
• There is neither Jew nor Greek.
• We are not to judge.
• There are people who are born to be eunuchs and born by the will of God to be a certain way.

Eventually he was betrayed by one of his closest friends, accused on trumped-up charges and killed for a crime of sedition, which was the furthest thing from his doctrine–for he believed it was important to render unto Caesar the things that were Caesar’s and unto God the things that were God’s.

He was abandoned by his friends and tucked away quickly in a borrowed tomb so that the surrounding faithful could honor the traditions of their religiosity.

It was in that tiny enclosure that he was finally able to manifest the true essence of his power, by being allowed to rise from the dead.

But after nearly two thousand years, a name that was reviled, persecuted, rejected and cast aside from his brethren is now the central figure in the history of the world.

Because when war has finished tallying all of its victims, there will always be a need for the voice of peace. And the voice of peace was found in his throat and resounded through his message.

Do you know him?

How much do you know about him?

Because the more you know, the lighter your load.

 

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

 

The Sermon on the Mount in music and story. Click the mountain!

 

Click here to get info on the “Gospel According to Common Sense” Tour

Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.

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Did She? — November 16, 2011

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The story is clear. (I must give props to the Bible for always being fairly candid about its characters and not trying to make them look better than they are to promote the idea of righteousness.) In the story we are told that a woman was brought to Jesus who was caught in the act of adultery.  In other words, there is no possibility that she was framed, was part of a ploy to trick Jesus or even that she was merely necking behind the stable. No, this was a really nasty situation about “doing the nasty.”

You know the rest of the story. The scribes and Pharisees wanted to stone her because that’s what the law of Moses commanded. Actually, if you understand the history of the period, the Romans had forbidden the Jewish populace to execute anyone without permission from the state. But there was still the possibility that some vigilantes might grab an errant soul, take him or her out behind the Mount of Olives and rock their world. So this woman was in some danger from this group of religious fanatics who were determined to achieve two goals: (a) prove that they were willing to kill a woman to honor God; and (b) tempt Jesus by making him side with the woman and end up looking soft on theology and maybe even too weak towards females.

I repeat. Nasty business.

Jesus takes a moment and tells the scribes and Pharisees that if they want to stone the woman, that they should do so only if they, themselves, had no sin. Long story made shorter–they all leave and Jesus is left alone with this woman who was caught in adultery.

But what happens next? Jesus asks her if anybody has condemned her.  She says, “No man, Lord.” His reply? “I don’t condemn you either, but go and sin no more.” It is a statement that satisfies neither conservatives or liberals. Conservatives would like a little bit more edge of rebuke and liberals may not be quite pleased that Jesus brings  any judgment whatsoever to her by asking her to stop her sinning.

But what I’d like you to focus on is this: did she? Did she walk away from that near-death experience, only saved by the gracious cleverness of Jesus of Nazareth, and swear off immoral affairs? Was that her determination? Well, here’s what I am sure of:

1.  The laws of religion would kill her, giving her no pathway to repentance.

2. Those who believe in intervention would insist that such a traumatic encounter as this near-stoning would be enough to stimulate change.

3. The zealous Christians of our day would put forth the notion that merely coming into the presence of Jesus transformed the woman into a new creature.

4. Common-sense individuals would say that she, having been scared to death, would refrain from her activities for a season, only to resume them again when the impact of the event had faded from her consciousness.

Now, here’s what I think Jesus believed–I think Jesus believed that the law, without mercy, always ends up killing people–emotionally, mentally, spiritually or physically. I think he also felt that condoning sin was not an attack on God, but rather, giving people license to commit suicide. And I believe Jesus knew that God, social pressure, intervention or even knowledge do not prevent people from being nuts. It is a decision they must come to on their own.

Jesus gave this woman a chance to have her moment with herself. Religion would have robbed her of this moment, destroying her on the spot. Jesus weighed in by saying that her lifestyle was sinful–but that there was no condemnation in his heart for her.  Yet she was destroying herself in the process.

If you want to know how to help people, you must be willing to take away the sting of judgment and replace it with the commonsense of human growth. Then it’s up to them.

There are many things I do not believe in and don’t like. Many of my family members and friends still participate in these activities at will. There are two things they do know–I love them and do not condemn them, but I feel that they are doing harm to themselves. Is that enough evangelizing on my point to create change in them? It is irrelevant.  I do not create change in people. It is my job, through mercy, to save them from judgment and to challenge them to excellence.

Did the woman go and sin no more? Well, it wouldn’t have been because she was afraid.  Fear passes.  It wouldn’t be because she had an encounter with God, because her face-to-face with the Divine was based upon grace, not self-realization. And it wouldn’t be because Jesus gave her some mystical stare that translated her into a new woman, because Jesus was just a man, filled with the Spirit and no more. It would have to be because this woman came to herself and decided to stop the foolishness.

So here’s what you do with all your friends who really distress your soul with their activities: take away the judgment, give them mercy, but let them know how you stand on the issue. 

And then say that wonderful prayer: “Into your hands, Father, I commend their spirit.”

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Here comes Christmas! For your listening pleasure, below is Manger Medley, Jonathan’s arrangement of Away in the Manger, which closes with him singing his gorgeous song, Messiah.  Looking forward to the holidays with you!

 

Jonathan sings “Let”

 

Jonathan Sings “Spent This Time”

 

Jonathan and his partner, Janet Clazzy, play “The Call”