The
Relationship Series: A woman's heart.
Week
after week, we’ve been discovering that God is the God of relationships.
Relationships? Yes.
God
himself is a community of self-giving lovers demonstrated in the way the Trinity
is intertwined with the richness of koinonia (fellowship) – being one yet three
and three yet one. But this
koinonia doesn’t stop with God; he created mankind in His image – to be in
relationship with Him as well as each other. This kind of koinonia was the way it was supposed to be –
shalom. We’ve been invigorated by
the sophistication of our relationship with God and those around us. We’ve been striving for this kind of
shalom, and as we do, we’re realizing that our perfect
pattern/exemplifier/demonstrator is found in the person of Jesus – the Christ.
Last
week, we saturated ourselves in a story about greed, manipulation, lust,
murder, conspiracy, power, and truth.
As we looked at this passage (Mark 6:14-29), we examined some of the
appetites God has instilled in men.
We recognized that God made men with appetites for truth, beauty and
reputation. This week, we’ll be
examining some ambitions God has inducted in the heart women.
As
my wife and I sat down and engaged our imaginations to the imagery of this
story (Herod/Herodias/the Baptizer), we made a few observations in regards to
these three relational attributes that women seem to be wired with: nurture,
emotion, and beauty.
Nurture
Herodias
was nurturing King Herod, a man other than her husband. What is it in a woman that craves to
nurture? Whether nurture comes in
the form of motherhood, being a daughter, being a friend, or being a wife;
women have an innate desire to nurture the people around them. King David said that God weaves us together
in our mother’s womb – nurture. In
Genesis, God makes women as a suitable helper for men – nurture. Over and over again throughout the
Biblical narrative, women have a God-given desire to take care of people. As we see with Herodias, the ambition to
nurture can bring life or death to relationships depending on whether it
preserves or vandalizes shalom.
Emotion
Herodias
snapped. How dare the Baptizer
call her out on her sin! And her
grudge was held inside, deep within, until the opportune time arose to strike
with revenge. We all know that men
and women handle emotions differently.
Men seem to compartmentalize emotions while women seem to ball theirs
into a jumbled mess. At any time,
a woman’s emotions can leak into relationships with a toxic-like effect. This can be dangerous. We must realize that a woman’s emotion
is a wonderful gift when shalom is preserved. When shalom gets vandalized, look out…she’s on a warpath!
Beauty
Herodias’ daughter danced for King Herod and
his guests. She pleased the men at
the party with her seductive movements; she knew exactly what she was
doing. What is it about a woman
that produces the desire to be beautiful?
Why does this desire often become cheap, shallow, and distorted? When beauty only penetrates skin deep,
beware. Like nurture and emotion,
God created women to be beautiful, but when outside of shalom, beauty becomes
ugly.
Irony.
The way of Herod & Herodias bring death to John the Baptizer - the
one who prepared the way for Jesus.
The way of Jesus is the way of shalom, the way of life that is truly
Life, the way things are supposed to be.
And in this small story, we have the ways of Herod & Herodias vs.
the ways of Jesus.
God has created men and women with certain
appetites, ambitions, and characteristics. As we live our day-to-day, may we realize the responsibility
we carry. May we recognize that we
have the ability to introduce life or death into our relationships, all hinging
on whether we preserve or vandalize shalom. May Jesus continue to show us shalom. May Christ direct us to the way things
are supposed to be.
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