Old Testament rulers judge between unchosen and chosen people, proud to receive “honor” from “chosen people” and to shame unchosen people. The “Scribes and the Pharisees, brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”
That one woman is guilty of betraying one marriage is asserted by rulers as the problem to be solved. The problem to be solved is that a ruling class of Chosen People is guilty of shaming unchosen people. Shaming the unchosen highlights the honor and praise due the Chosen. Shame is so much more pernicious than guilt. We feel guilt when we take an action that is bad. We are shamed when another judges our nature is bad. In the U.S., a ruling class of honored white men has crafted a culture that judges as sinful Black women, especially, but the nature of all Blacks and women. We are denied humanity because rulers chain us to accidents of our birth they have already dishonored and have already disparaged; color and / or gender. The pain will stab at our souls while we commit ourselves to love. It is a love unappreciated by a master class that will not remove the shame they assign. Therefore, what but the depth of the character we chisel, the disposition we nurture, and the virtues we practice will have us lift our head high? Yet still, we who are born black and / or female, know even then, in our depth of character, disposition, and virtue we may never be honored. Certainly not by the ruler class – and we wisely rejoice. For to receive the honor of the ruling class means we have joined the ranks of the Scribes and Pharisees. It means we are attached to the laws of War Lords like Moses. Ever so gradually, likely unbeknownst to us and from a heartfelt but misguided intention to reform that law, we will find ourselves one day standing among rulers willing to stone a woman. We can be free of it all. We can live in the integrity of self we have co-created with our loving Spirit. This truth has been on display these past two weeks in the Senate confirmation hearing of Federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. She has unfortunately decided to join the ranks of the Scribes and Pharisees, but that does not satisfy the system’s rulers. Like the woman in the Gospel story who has been caught in sin, she too has been caught in sin – the sin of being Black, of being a woman. We have watched as the rulers command us to stone such women. We have watched as rulers, white and men, will not honor her, for she is Black and a woman. Her character, disposition, and virtues are hewn from being Black and from being a woman, which she loves and transcends to be more deeply human. She is willing to respect whites and men as deeply human too but they cannot transcend their being white or being men which are indeed superficialities. They are accidents of birth that in the U.S. may well hinder our chiseling our character, nurturing our disposition, practicing our virtues. It is the sad sight of a white man or a white woman who, experiencing the mildest of inconveniences, cannot transcend even that. If a white woman, she is referred to as ‘a Karen.’ It is an unfortunate choice of names. If any name is affixed to a white woman of privilege, perhaps it is Ivanka. Perhaps that is the name fitting a person born to honor who likely knows but cannot admit she inhabits a world devised to benefit her superficialities but not designed to encourage her spirituality.
Another Black woman, bell hooks (1952-2021 RIP), who chiseled her character, nurtured her disposition, and practiced her virtues said this about spirituality, “When I speak of the spiritual, I refer to the recognition within everyone that there is a place of mystery in our lives where forces that are beyond human desire or will alter circumstances and/or guide and direct us. I call these forces divine spirit. When we choose to lead a spirit-filled life, we recognize and celebrate the presence of transcendent spirits.” It is the transcending spirit we pray grows in Ivanka, Marsha Blackburn, and so many other white women. It is the transcending spirit we have seen in Ketanji Brown Jackson, bell hooks, and so many other Black women.
Prayer: Spirit, guide me in a loving spirituality
Question: How have I been influenced to feel shame or to shame others?
April 3, 2022 Gospel John 8:1-11 Fifth Sunday of Lent