The
Lenten-Musings 43
Friday,
March 8
Read:
Romans 16
Today is International Women's
Day. On this day people often, tend to remember women who have made a mark in
their field and have been channels of transformation and change. But there are
some who tend to be relegated to the sidelines and often forgotten because
their battles have been long drawn and they are still fighting their battle. On
this day, I believe I need to bring to
our attention the life and struggle of Irom Sharmila, human rights activist
from Manipur, India. Sharmila is fondly called as the Iron Lady of Manipur and
she has been on fast for the last 12 years. Fasting to demand the repeal of a
controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which provides the security
forces to shoot at sight and arrest anybody without any warrant. She undertook
this fast on November 2, 2000 when she witnessed to the killing of 10 people at a bus stop near
her home. Three days into her hunger strike, Sharmila was arrested on charges
of attempted suicide, sent to a prison hospital and put on a nasal drip. In
fact the charges of attempted suicide is still foisted on her and a few days back
when she had to attend the court proceedings, she told the court that " I don't
want to commit suicide. Mine is a non-violent protest. It is my demand to live
as a human being. I love life. I do not want to take my life. I want justice
and peace". Today, the 40 year old
Sharmila is frail but very stoic and full of resolve to continue her hunger
strike. Sharmila does not come on the front page of the news magazines nor on
the news channel, may be because for the channels her fight for justice may not
have the ingredients to boost the star rating of the channels or the news
agencies. But she is remembered very passively once in a while. People tend to
take her fight for justice and peace as something not serious and an issue that
they are not interested as the issues related to her hunger strike has nothing
to do with them. In a day when you will have number of discussions and
symposium on empowering woman, the greatest discrimination that a society could
do to people like Sharmila, is to take
her and her fight for granted. We don't
want to be serious about her and her cause because the very attitude
that a patriarchal society tends to promulgate
is to put certain boundaries both in life and in our perceptions with regards
to the way woman has to function, in family, church and society. Unless those
boundaries are not broken or widened, woman like Sharmila and host of other
unknown women who are struggling for justice and peace, will always be
relegated to the sidelines of the society.
Apostle Paul has been vociferously
condemned and criticized for his writings about his stand on woman and their
role in the church. But this criticism comes when we do not comprehensively
study Paul's epistles and his attitudes in contextual terms and understanding.
In Romans 16:1,2, we find Paul recommending Phoebe, one who serves the church
in Cenchreae. The Apostle Paul addresses Phoebe, in Greek as Deacon of the
Church. Thus you find a very unique contribution of the church in the early
years of its existence of appointing woman as deacons. Thus you had woman
deacons like Phoebe who must have been appointed by the apostles and had an
office of service. People may tend to misinterpret the word used to describe
Phoebe as "one who serves the church". The word used in Greek is
"diakonon" and is both masculine and feminine accusative form of the
noun, when translated in English is deacon and also could denote the word servant.
Thus, the early church had no problems
in appointing woman as deacons to serve the church. However, today the very
understanding of deacon has changed and also its gender affiliations. Deacons
were meant as a position to serve in the church, but today it is considered as
an office of authority and position. When the word deacon became a position of
authority and office, came the denial of woman from this office. Male could be a
deacon since it is a position of authority and power, while woman should not
have position and authority and hence the best way to deny woman authority and
position is to restrict the functioning of woman, by consciously limiting their
role to the other English translation of deacon- a servant. Man as a deacon is
a position of authority, while woman is considered more as a servant or one who
is consciously condemned to do the job of service. It is this type of
deliberate misinterpretation of biblical truths and historical facts that
denigrates the role of the woman in the church and the society. On this women's
day, let us consciously rise above such
hollow and lopsided interpretations of biblical truths and work in such a way
that church and society could break or broaden its boundaries so that everyone
irrespective of one's gender is able to contribute meaningfully to the growth
of the church.
