Dear Church@ Philippi,
Euodia and Syntyche, sisters in Jesus Christ write this letter
To all the people in Philippi,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
As many of you will remember both of us were among those women along with Lydia who on a Sabbath day gathered by the river outside the gate at a place of prayer and listened to Paul and his teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 16:11-15). From then on, when we as women began sharing our testimonies and experiences of prayer, by the grace of God the Church at Philippi began to grow. We are grateful to Paul for his ministry and his missionary journeys, especially for God in Jesus’ calling Paul to mission both to the Jews and the non-Jews equally, we praise God. We also thank Paul for recognising us, though women, as those who have struggled beside him in the work of the gospel (Phil 4: 3), and for also preaching and practicing that there is no longer, Jew, non-Jew, male, female for we are all one in Christ. We also thank Paul for taking time in writing a letter to our church from his imprisonment. We send our prayers, peace and thoughts to Paul at a time like this.
As we received this letter from Paul, we were saddened to note not only that both our names were called out in the public, but were also disheartened to realise how we were portrayed as quarrelsome women in the church. Paul would have written with a good intention of asking both of us ‘to be of the same mind in the Lord,’ (4:2) but ever since this letter from Paul came out everyone has started to enquire about the quarrel we had, and the reasons for such a quarrel. We as women get very little attention in the literature of ancient Christianity, and when we are mentioned for wrong reasons, in this context over a quarrel between us, you can imagine the kind of ostracization we women have been facing.
Ever since we have called out in the letter, we have been branded as ‘two quarrelling women’ and have been stereotyped as women are the ones who always quarrel, and unfortunately some even went on to say ‘wherever there is a quarrel there is a woman.’ We do recognise that we live in a patriarchal world, and women have always been subjected under men, and this calling out our names in the public sphere by Paul is unwarranted and unexpected. So, our call to the church at the Philippi and to all the readers across time and space is to not yield to patriarchy, subjecting women under male dominance and to stereotype women as those with whom quarrel is associated. There isn’t anything funny about this matter. We as followers of Jesus Christ believe that people with all genders are created in the equal image of God, and any practice of patriarchy in the church and outside the church is a sin. We urge Paul, and the rest of the Christians to repent for practicing patriarchy, which is male dominance and arrogance, consciously and unconsciously, and strive towards building a just society by affirming in the equality of all genders.
We urge the church not to be too inquisitive to know the reasons for why Paul has written about us ‘to have the same mind in the Lord.’ This is not about any conflicts or quarrels that we have, but it is an exhortation that Paul is making to the entire church through us to strive towards having a same mind in the Lord. Sameness is not about uniformity, but is about unity in diversity in the Lord.
We are thankful to Paul for not taking sides with any of us, and for not provoking each of us to fight between us. All that he calls us is ‘to be of the same mind in the Lord.’ He did not urge us ‘to be of the same mind with one another,’ for then we would have struggled to know which same mind. Paul has given us the clue to have the same mind in the Lord, which is to have the mind of Christ, which is to be inclusive, open, humble, accepting one another, receiving one another, serving one another and loving one another with out any conditions.
We call on the church to recognise partnership as a key feature in Christian discipleship. Paul did mention about Clement, about Timothy, about us as deacons, as co-workers with him, for partnerships of working together is a way forward for us as churches. Partnerships recognises the diversity of gifts among us, and when we work together offering our own gifts for the Kingdom of God, we can together make a difference. The plural of disciples is church, and partnerships of men and women, young and old, Jews and non-Jews, Greeks and Romans, when all of us work together, we can work with Jesus in bringing a change in our locality. So, keep working in partnerships for it provides a collective and communitarian witness to the gospel of Jesus relevant for our times.
When we are in partnerships, in unity with one another we can rejoice in the Lord, for to rejoice in the Lord is to celebrate partnerships, where others priorities become our priorities and where we can serve God by serving one another. Let our gentleness be known to everyone, for we as church will be known by our partnerships, by our being in the same mind in the Lord and in rejoicing in the Lord. Rejoicing in the Lord is not rejoicing in Ceasar. Again, we join with Paul in saying this, rejoice in the Lord always.
Make prayer a priority, for prayer is listening to God, waiting on God, retreating from all busyness of life and hearing to God speaking to us, for God is a speaking God, collaborating God willing to work with us.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, for we cannot predict the ways and works of God, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, the hope of this world today and forever. Do not allow our lives to be guarded by any other securities other than the peace of God and strive to share that peace with everyone we meet.
Finally, as you will know the meaning of our names Euodia which means “Good journey” or “fragrance” and Syntyche means “Good luck” or “fortunate” reflect that in Christ our lives have been on a ‘good journey’ of fragrance, faith and fortune. May goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life.
(This is a reflection imagining if Euodia and Syntyche write a reply letter in response to Philippians 4:2-9 to the same church)
Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta
11th October 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment