Friday, VI Week
(John 16)
Betty Friedan, the great American feminist, used to dimay many of her colleagues. After campaigning for women’s equality in work and society, she seemed to back-pedal a bit. In interviews during her later years, the author of The Feminine Mystique spoke about the happiness of raising children.
In the gospel Jesus digs to the primal experience beneath raising children. He tells of a mother’s joy in giving birth to a child. Today we would not want to exclude the father’s participation in that satisfaction. In giving birth parents contribute to the great chain of life. They not only experience a sense of solidarity with all humanity but also realize a great personal achievement. Their genetic material – what used to be called blood-line – is handed on. It is an assurance that they will not be totally obliterated in time. Rather, something of their being is preserved for future ages.
Of course, Jesus is only making a comparison when he speaks of a mother giving birth. He means to say that like a mother giving birth, his disciples will rejoice after being disillusioned with his rising from the dead after being crucified. We should see more here than a turn about from intense pain to uncontainable joy. We need to observe a reasoning similar to that beneath the joy of giving birth: the one on whom the disciples have latched their hopes for everlasting life has delivered. Better than handing their genetic material on, they themselves will have achieved everlasting life.
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