tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7185729761630653103.post1917954137194964685..comments2024-01-17T03:44:56.016-05:00Comments on City Called Heaven: He Told Me Everything I Have Ever Done!Paul Bellan-Boyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15535442342075593259noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7185729761630653103.post-52354908464071534102011-03-26T05:55:17.473-04:002011-03-26T05:55:17.473-04:00Thank you, Lisa, for very helpful reflections. I a...Thank you, Lisa, for very helpful reflections. I agree that we need to be careful about making "what she has done" our business in a way that distances us from her (and Jesus!).Thomas Renzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705647686623100131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7185729761630653103.post-51979304764343048172011-03-25T20:20:26.671-04:002011-03-25T20:20:26.671-04:00Lisa replies...
Thomas, thanks for your question....Lisa replies...<br /><br />Thomas, thanks for your question.<br /><br />People that suffer do not do so passively, even when the suffering is brutal and they have little freedom or agency left. <br /> <br />Being people, people who suffer have responses and reactions that are expressed in behavior: they "do things." <br /> <br />Placing hope in things and people that disappoint them, getting depressed and giving up, acting out in anger and frustration; hiding away and becoming protective and secretive, these are all kinds behavior that Jesus might have described to her when they were having their talk at the well. Jesus does not name in the text the "things she's done." It's not the concern of the text and it's not our business. It was <i>her</i> business, and she knew that he <i>knew her</i>. (See John 3:17 and John 8:11 - Jesus is not in the condemnation business so familiar to her and to us.)<br /> <br />For a very well researched and believable example of the relationship of suffering to behavior, in a woman of the ancient world and from the Bible, see the Anita Diamant novel: The Red Tent, about the life of Dinah, the sister of Joseph, and the women in Jacob's camp.Paul Bellan-Boyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15535442342075593259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7185729761630653103.post-67533442724390633792011-03-25T14:59:44.681-04:002011-03-25T14:59:44.681-04:00I am sympathetic to this reading but get stuck wit...I am sympathetic to this reading but get stuck with "everything I ever did" in verse 29. I am not aware of any parallels where this might shade into "everything I suffered" which would be more appropriate on the view that she was sinned against more than sinning. Any thoughts?Thomas Renzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705647686623100131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7185729761630653103.post-9984395685695537932011-03-14T20:51:46.357-04:002011-03-14T20:51:46.357-04:00Thanks Lisa. I am just starting to work on this te...Thanks Lisa. I am just starting to work on this text as I am preaching a week from Sunday. I especially like the bit from the Eastern Orthodox folks at the end of your comments and the painting by He Qi, one of my favorite spiritual artists.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com