It's Different for Girls

John 8:2-9

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't you know that it's different for girls?
You're all the same

"It's Different for Girls" by Joe Jackson from "I'm the Man"

A friend once asked me the most provocative question about this scripture, she asked "Where is the man?" For those who questioned her intention with raised eyebrows she asked "Where is the man, the one who also must have been caught in the very act of committing adultery?"

Man, it's different for girls, isn't it?

So all of the fat cats in the synagogue are making their points and pointing their fingers and getting ready for a good old fashioned stoning, you know, the kind we had when we were little but don't do so much any more? In the midst of all of this, here's Jesus, just writing on the ground with his finger while all around him blows up.

It calms down enough so that Jesus is demanded to make his judgement against the woman, and judgement against is the foregone conclusion, when he stands up and says, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” That's when time freezes.

Jesus returns to his writings and the crowd begins to turn away, beginning with the Elders.

My friend thinks that Jesus has been writing the names of the scribes' and Pharisees' girlfriends in the dust. Hypocrites, you're all the same.

I guess in this case it was different for girls. She was taken to the temple, presumably in a state of undress. She was dragged through the streets. She was screaming while everyone else was yelling. It was going to be an old fashioned stoning just like the stonings when we were kids. But Jesus reminded them of one thing, that they were not without sin either.

Somewhere there was a man who was sharing the same sin. Somewhere there were friends and family who were just as guilty as she. Maybe not of the same sin, but in the sight of God, what the difference one sin to another.

Jesus knew this. He reminded the scribes and Pharisees that their judgement was coming along too. Maybe this is why the elders left first. They had lived enough life to know when they were indicted. They had the wisdom, they just needed the sharp reminder. As for the young men, they got the message. It's our message too. There is none without sin, and to say so is like dragging this woman through the streets and leaving the man at the scene of the scene.

Readers might ask why I didn't take this writing to the end, all the way to "go and sin no more." There are two reasons:

The first is that today I wanted to focus on the hypocrisy of sexism and how there are times where the sins men and women commit are different for women. I want to say that this is not so.

The second, well, if nothing else, life has shown us that we as a society don't get "go and sin no more." Just watch the news and get back to me on that one.

Two Women in Dire Circumstances

Genesis 38:12-26

In course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died; when Judah’s time of mourning was over, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she put off her widow’s garments, put on a veil, wrapped herself up, and sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. She saw that Shelah was grown up, yet she had not been given to him in marriage. When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a prostitute, for she had covered her face. He went over to her at the road side, and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” He answered, “I will send you a kid from the flock.” And she said, “Only if you give me a pledge, until you send it.” He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord, and the staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she got up and went away,and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.

When Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite, to recover the pledge from the woman, he could not find her. He asked the townspeople, “Where is the temple prostitute who was at Enaim by the wayside?” But they said, “No prostitute has been here.” So he returned to Judah, and said, “I have not found her; moreover the townspeople said, ‘No prostitute has been here.’ ” Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, otherwise we will be laughed at; you see, I sent this kid, and you could not find her.”

About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the whore; moreover she is pregnant as a result of whoredom.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “It was the owner of these who made me pregnant.” And she said, “Take note, please, whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” Then Judah acknowledged them and said, “She is more in the right than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not lie with her again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You grew up where young girls they grow up fast
You took what you were handed and left behind what was asked
but what they asked baby wasn't right
you didn't have to live that life,
I was gonna be your Romeo you were gonna be my Juliet
These days you don't wait on Romeo's you wait on that welfare check
and on all the pretty things that you can't ever have and on all the promises

"Point Blank" by Bruce Springsteen from "The River"

Here is one of the truths of the ancient world, the "state" did not help take care of its citizens. Of course, what we understand as a "state" or "nation" didn't exist in that day or time either, but that's another point for another day. Instead of the "state," it was up to individual families to take care of themselves.

In a society where men held most of the power, this left woman, orphans, widows, and the like at a great disadvantage. In this time, to protect widows and keep the names of all of the sons alive in the nation; if a son died, his brother would take the widow and when they conceived, the male heir would be the dead brother's son.

In this instance, Tamar was married to Judah's son Er. Er died without leaving an heir so his brother Onan was responsible for producing Er's son through Tamar. Well, Onan wasn't pleased with the prospect of siring his brother's son so he would not plant his seed in Tamar's fertile soil. This ticked off the Lord who put Onan to death. Judah's third son, Shelah was then responsible, but he was not yet old enough. Tamar was told to wait so she did; but Judah did not fulfill his responsibility to provide a son for Er by Tamar.

In our reading, we see Shelah is now ready, but Judah is not going to fulfill his responsibility to his son's widows nor to his son's lineage. So being a little randy himself, Judah finds Tamar thinking she's a temple prostitute. They get to "know one another in a biblical way" and Judah leaves his ring, cord, and staph as collateral to guarantee he'll pay the prostitute a kid from the flock.

You read how this ends, Judah learns of Tamar's pregnancy and suspects whoredom (which by the way is in truth what she was forced to do to guarantee not just her future but the name of her husband as well). She is brought in to be burned for her actions. Before this can happen, she shows Judah that he is in fact the sire of his own grandson because he would not fulfill his family responsibilities.

Women grew up fast in those days, and they grow up fast today too. Women are found in situations nobody should find themselves in because of dire circumstances. We have read Genesis, Springsteen sings of a woman whose life has taken horrible turns.

Bruce sings of a woman whose life has taken such tragic turns that he sees as her hoping without hope that tomorrow everything will be alright. But she knows that tomorrow's fall in number in number one by one. She finds she's dying doesn't even know what from.

Like Tamar she only waits for the promises that she never knows will come. This woman, like Tamar, has a choice. She could wait in despair or she could do the most drastic thing she could think of to ensure her future. Tamar was almost killed for her deeds, as for this woman... she's a lot like Tamar. As Bruce sings, "You're walkin' in the sights, girl of point blank and it's one false move and baby the lights go out."

Tamar lived because Judah, her father-in-law knew what she did was right. We need to pray for women everywhere who are living in Tamar's situation yet today. We need to act so that their fate never ends like the song, "bang, bang baby you're dead"