Bible Study 16.
Pastor Elisabet Lieven - IECLB
Text: 1 Corinthians 14.33b-40.
Translation: Pastor Marcia Blasi.
They tried to shut us up, now we scream if necessary ...
Read the text of 1 Corinthians 14.33b-40 very slowly the first time.
Now, read the text for a second time. Read aloud with the intonation your heart asks for. Now take a deep breath, 3 times, fill your being with air and put it out ... what hurt you deep in your soul? What words make you break the silence and scream at this moment?
These words of Paul always bother us. Thank God! It is liberating not to be quiet in the face of these words that have been imposed on women for so long. How does a man highly valued for his great testimony of faith bring us commandments of behavior that command us not to be women in the image of God? Didn't Paul deeply understand all the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Why then did he act like that? They are not allowed to speak. Women should not speak, express their opinion, hold leadership positions. It is shameful for a woman to speak in church so that there is decency and order! Even today people approve of these biblical words and use them. Religious violence wants to silence the voice of women, take away the power that comes from a scream, from denunciation and say NO to everything that does not do you good. Silence women in the Church, in society.
Well, if men wanted women to be quiet, it was because they spoke, questioned, argued and made all the difference just as we witness today in churches across all continents. Did they forget that there were disciples beside Jesus and stayed with him in times of pain and abandonment on the cross? And they were the ones who received the first resurrection announcement to be messengers of the good news? Did Paul not realize that in Lydia's house, where the first Church was founded in Rome (that is, in Europe!), was a leadership fully committed to serving the Kingdom of God ?! They needed the women in the arduous task of spreading the Gospel and did that frightened him because of the unwavering strength? We can imagine that Paul was afraid of women who boldly and courageously sought change. Eduardo Galeano (man!) defines machismo very well: “Machismo is the fear of women without fear”.
There are biblists who argue that the crooked words spoken by Paul are additions to the original text in order to exclude women from important positions in the churches and promote their silence. (according to the document “Gender Justice Policy”, prepared by the Lutheran World Federation, p. 27). We feel in our skin how these excluding words have slaughtered, burned, humiliated Christian women over the centuries. We would like to reply to Pauls: “We want to say everything we choke and swallow, we want to sing all of our songs and recite all of our poetry! We want to live the freedom to be what we are without having to prove anything and feel guilty about anything! ”
Friends ...
- What do you have to say to Pauls who want to shut us up in church, in society and inside our house?
- What words have you locked or muted? Where do these pains all over the body, these nodules and tensions, these suffocated screams come from?
There are days that it seems that they managed to shut us up ... they tired us and even drew the reserves. Women! We are daughters blessed with countless gifts and God in His Kingdom counts on us! We'll scream if we have to! We can no longer endure so much pain, tears, contempt, inequality. We want dignity! “They have sowed fear in us, we have grown wings” Vivir Quintana.
We are not alone! We are many and we hope for new heavens and a new earth!
The next songs show our hand in hand with women who say no to imposed silence:
Canción Sin Miedo - Vivir Quintana
(part. El Palomar)
Que tiemble el Estado, los cielos, las calles
Que tiemblen los jueces y los judiciales
Hoy a las mujeres nos quitan la calma
Nos sembraron miedo, nos crecieron alas
A cada minuto, de cada semana
Nos roban amigas, nos matan hermanas
Destrozan sus cuerpos, los desaparecen
No olvide sus nombres, por favor, señor presidente
Por todas las compas marchando en Reforma
Por todas las morras peleando en Sonora
Por las comandantas luchando por Chiapas
Por todas las madres buscando en Tijuana
Cantamos sin miedo, pedimos justicia
Gritamos por cada desaparecida
Que resuene fuerte: ¡Nos queremos vivas!
¡Que caiga con fuerza el feminicida!
Yo todo lo incendio, yo todo lo rompo
Si un día algún fulano te apaga los ojos
Ya nada me calla, ya todo me sobra
Si tocan a una, respondemos todas
Soy Claudia, soy Esther y soy Teresa
Soy Ingrid, soy Fabiola y soy Valeria
Soy la niña que subiste por la fuerza
Soy la madre que ahora llora por sus muertas
Y soy esta que te hará pagar las cuentas
¡Justicia! ¡Justicia! ¡Justicia!
Por todas las compas marchando en Reforma
Por todas las morras peleando en Sonora
Por las comandantas luchando por Chiapas
Por todas las madres buscando en Tijuana
Cantamos sin miedo, pedimos justicia
Gritamos por cada desaparecida
Que resuene fuerte: ¡Nos queremos vivas!
¡Que caiga con fuerza el feminicida!
¡Que caiga con fuerza el feminicida!
Y retiemblen sus centros la tierra
Al sororo rugir del amor
Y retiemblen sus centros la tierra
