Title of the paper: Luke 4:18-19 and Salvation in the context of the marginalization of women within the Pentecostal church in Botswana.

Transcription

1 Rosinah Mmannana Gabaitse University of Botswana Title of the paper: Luke 4:18-19 and Salvation in the context of the marginalization of women within the Pentecostal church in Botswana. Abstract. Luke 4:18-19 has always been interpreted as Jesus manifesto; his roadmap at the beginning of his ministry. In my Pentecostal context in Botswana, this text is taken seriously as it announced Jesus program which was to later become the program of the Church through the Holy Spirit. However, the interpretation of this text has always been highly spiritualised, emphasising spiritual blindness, spiritual poverty and spiritual oppression and release with little or no focus on the socio-political and physical blindness, poverty, oppression and needs of people. Pentecostals tendency to spiritualise texts in general and Luke 4:18-19 in particular has to a large extent influenced the way they deal with the marginalisation of women and violence against women. Often times, these problems are minimised or ignored because they are perceived as world problems. While these are ignored, women who inhabit patriarchal oppressive spaces suffer and fail to enjoy salvation here and now which is the focus of Luke-Acts. In this paper I seek to demonstrate that in Luke 4:18-19 Jesus was not only offering to release and heal people from spiritual blindness, poverty and oppression, he offered people physical and social release from systems of oppression that denied them an experience of complete salvation in the here and now (present). This paper begins by offering a brief overview of Luke 4:18-19 in order to establish that salvation is eschatological and present, spiritual and social. I will move on to discuss how Pentecostal hermeneutics and theology are implicated in denying Pentecostal women whole experience of salvation by spiritualising interpretation of texts, social problems and solutions to social problems. I will further demonstrate that interpreting Luke 4:18-19 in order to emphasize wholistic salvation can be affirming for Pentecostal women inhabiting spaces of oppression in patriarchal Pentecostal churches where their socio-cultural, socio-economic well-being and experiences of suffering are minimised. Introduction Luke 4:18-19, a text describing salvation has received different kinds of interpretation among scholars and members of the Pentecostal church. As a matter of interpretation and agenda some interpreters, spiritualise the poor, the blind and the oppressed while some don t. Joel Green points us to the inadequacy of categorising the poor in Luke 4:18-19 as either spiritually or economically poor because of the complexity of the Mediterranean culture and the social world of Luke-Acts where status was determined by categories such as education, gender, family heritage, religious purity, vocation and economics. 1 The same can be applied to spiritualising blindness and oppression. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with interpreting the poverty, blindness and oppression in Luke 4:18-19 as spiritual, economic, political, social and physical poverty, blindness and oppression so that when a person is saved, their whole being has experienced salvation at all those levels. However, Pentecostal frames of reading emphasise spiritual aspects of salvation much more that they do the physical and social. Often times there is emphasis on salvation as eschatological and mainly concerned with the soul in preparation for the afterlife. This kind of interpretation can be life threatening for women and children who experience social, economic, political and cultural suffering in patriarchal societies like Botswana because their experiences of violence and marginalisation of women, of exclusion and domination in the social world are ignored and minimised. Minimising these experiences denies women an experience of salvation that is whole as other aspects, i.e. the physical, cultural, economic makes them suffer. 1 Green, J.B. The Gospel of Luke : New International Commentary on the New testament : Michigan, Eerdmans 1997, p

2 The Pentecostal church is an ambivalent place for women as they (women) still experience hierarchical exclusion due to patriarchal norms which are maintained through the use of the Bible. Men are given enormous power over women both in the home, church and in public. Studies on violence against women demonstrate that violence happens because men have power over women. Sadly the Pentecostal church teaches and enforces male supremacy with legislative force. This and spiritualising texts and social problems has resulted in Pentecostal women experiencing marginalisation, exclusion and even violence, hence my argument that, they are denied an experience of salvation in the present. But if Luke 4:18-19 can be read and interpreted to emphasise and elevate not only spiritual salvation but physical, socio-political and economic salvation, the marginalisation, exclusion, subjugation and experience of violence could be seen for what they are: acts that oppress and deny women an experience of salvation. Therefore, in this paper, I seek to argue that the writer of Luke-Acts was interested in salvation not only eschatologically but in the present as well. If Luke 4:18-19 is read critically and in the whole context of Luke- Acts, which emphasises salvation in the present, it can provide the Pentecostal church which tends to emphasise spiritual salvation with hermeneutical frameworks that focuses on salvation as wholistic so that it (church) is able to denounce the marginalisation of women and violence against women which are enemies of salvation. Lukan scholars agree that salvation is central and prominent to Luke-Acts. 2 Although Luke 4:18-19 does not necessarily use the salvation terminology such as soter (saviour), soteria and soterion (salvation) and sozein (to save), what is described in the text and what Jesus sets out to do are acts that demonstrate salvation. David Bosch describes Luke s understanding of salvation as the total transformation of human life, forgiveness of sin, healing infirmities and release from any kind of bondage. Further salvation is the reversal of the consequences of sin committed against God and human beings. 3 Similarly, Mark Powell describes salvation in Luke-Acts as participation in the reign of God. 4 He further argues that salvation has got both present and future dimensions so that salvation means living life, even now as God intends it to be lived. 5 However, he argues that Luke puts more emphasis on salvation as a possibility in the present; the here and now through his repeated use of the term today. Powell further points out that Luke does not differentiate between what we might classify as physical, spiritual and social aspects of salvation God is concerned with all aspects of human life and relationships, and so, salvation may involve the putting right of any aspect that is not as it should be. 6 In this paper, I adopt Powell and Bosch definitions of salvation as participation in the reign of God total transformation of human life and living life as God had intended. In this paper, the poverty, blindness and oppression of Luke 4:18-19 refers not just to spiritual aspects of being human, they involve all aspects of being human; the social, political and economic John Nolland cautions us that the poor that Luke 4:18-19 refers to should not be spiritualised because Jesus was deeply concerned with the literal, physical needs of men. as much as he was with their spiritual needs. 7 This kind of interpretation is helpful because it calls the church and communities of faith to engage with the literal experiences of violence, trauma in practical ways. It is also helpful because the Pentecostal church can take the marginalisation experienced by women and children who inhabit oppressive patriarchal spaces and cultures very seriously, as it is these are minimised. Luke 4: Jesus declares his mission Luke 4: presents us with Jesus partially reading and quoting from Isaiah 61:1-2. Jesus proclaims that, (18), The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed. (19), To proclaim the year of the Lord s favour. Jesus uttered these words on the Sabbath, in a Synagogue in Nazareth, in Galilee, his hometown, so he was aware of the challenges his listeners were faced with. 2 Green J.B 1997, The Gospel of Luke, NICNT. Michigan: Eerdmans, 21 3 Bosch, D. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, New York, Orbis books p.107, Powell. M.A, Salvation in Luke-Acts Word and World 12\1 1992, 5 5 Powell, Salvation in Luke-Acts, 6. 6 Powell, Salvation in Luke-Acts, 8. 7 Nolland, J. Luke 1-9:20: Word Biblical Commentary Texas: Word Books. 1989: 197 2

3 Jesus identifies himself as the anointed of God, so that his ability to do what he does is fulfilling God s intentions and will. Jesus makes radical claims that he has come to perform five tasks, to proclaim good news to the poor to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord. What Jesus came to do was very radical, transformative and life giving. He came to restore dignity and give honour to a group of people who otherwise were without honour during his time. Throughout the gospel of Luke, Jesus claims in 4:18-19 were accompanied by tangible acts of and by stories of healing of the blind, the sick, multiplication of loaves and fish and the actual forgiveness of sins. Jesus heals those who are spiritually blind (Luke 2:30, 7:39, 18:10) and physically blind (Luke 7:21, 18:35-43). Jesus provides for the economically poor (Luke 11:41, 12:33, 14:13, and 18:22). People are healed from their debilitating illness that held them captives (6:9, 8:48). The lame walk (4:9), the lepers are cleansed 17:19). Jesus delivers people who are possessed or held captives by demons (4:31) sickness (4:38) thus demonstrating acts of salvation in tangible ways and in the present. Throughout his mission, setting the captives and the oppressed free was at the centre of his ministry, he tells people; Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them (Luke 7:22-33). Perhaps the oppression in 4:19 refers to the socio-political captivity and his listeners appreciated these words more considering that the Jews were under Roman rule and they were colonised. Although the Jews exercised some freedom, it was limited because of the system of governance at the time. Although Jesus does not fully explain the oppression he is referring to, we can imply that Jesus is aware that there are systems and circumstances be they illness, habits, structures that oppress people and deny them life in abundance. He was aware that there were economic, socio-political systems of the day that held people captive and people needed release from such. Jesus demonstrates his awareness of oppression by delivering people who are possessed or held captives by demons (4:31) and sickness (4:38) All the above conditions (blindness, poverty, oppression) undeniably make human life and existence uncomfortable and undesirable. Whichever way we interpret this text, it demonstrates that there are conditions and systems that bind people and keep them under oppression. These are conditions that when people find themselves in, they are in need of some relief; in need of salvation in the present. Further, Jesus claims that he had come to proclaim the year of the Lord s favour, to which he was making reference to the Jubilee year mentioned in Leviticus 25 which was celebrated every 50 th year. The Jubilee year required agricultural work to stop for the land to rest; land was redistributed back to family plots, Leviticus 25, mentions that the The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine, with me you are you but aliens and tenants. According to this text, the land belonged to God and it had to be distributed, perhaps equally to all Israelites so as to alleviate poverty and to give dignity to those who were landless. On the Jubilee year, debts were cancelled and slaves and servants were to be released and set free. To the first century Palestinian, Jesus words that he was under anointing to proclaim the year of the Lord was very profound given that the majority of the people were in debt and under a high tax burden from the Romans. 8 They would immediately think of the economic relief the Jubilee year brought because of debts cancellation. They would experience uplifting of social status and dignity because of land redistribution and the slaves would experience real freedom because they were released. The year of Jubilee therefore, was the year of justice and jubilation, the year that reminded the Israelites about justice, equality and dignity and care of those lees privileged. It was a year which eliminated economic and social inequities among the Israelites when all people owned land and all were free. (although though temporary). Lastly, in Luke 4:21 Jesus stresses that the salvation that he has described in 18 and 19 will be experienced today. His use of the adverb today indicates that salvation can be a present reality, 9 not an event in the future. And he has demonstrated that reality for the people at 8 Richard Horsley, A People s History of Christianity- Christian Origins, ( Fortress Minneapolis) Viljoen, F.P. Luke, the Gospel of the saviour of the world. Nederduits Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif, 44 (1 and 2): ,

4 the time. Throughout his ministry Jesus was aware of existence and reality of economic systems and other systems of oppression that denied his listeners of living fulfilled, affirmed life. Luke s Jesus has demonstrated that salvation is physical, present, eschatological, spiritual and social as well and it is for all people. Luke s is interested in the welfare of women, he has women subsidizing his ministry in (8:1-3) and Luke-Acts contains more stories about women than anywhere in the New Testament. Further, Luke s Jesus was interested in gentiles and those who occupied a lower status and were underprivileged during the first century and these include women and Gentiles. Pentecostal church, hermeneutics and denying women an experience of salvation Patriarchy has found its home within the Pentecostal church in Africa and in Botswana. Studies indicate that many Pentecostal churches are patriarchal and resistant to gender transformation. 10 The patriarchy and resistance to gender transformation is manifested through hermeneutics and theology. Pentecostals advance hermeneutical approaches to the Bible which enslaves and deny women an experience of salvation as described in Luke 4: A negative gender discourse lurks within Pentecostal theology and practice because few texts are used to propagate gender inequality by reinforcing the idea of male supremacy. The promotion of male leadership, male power and control, domination of women and hierarchical relationships is advanced through biblical interpretation or hermeneutics. In Africa, scholars of Pentecostalism such as Madipoane Masenya and Rekopantswe Mate pay attention to the oppressive nature of biblical interpretation towards women. 11 Pentecostal movements advance teachings that perpetuate and maintain patriarchal ideologies such as female submission to the point of calling women towards blind obedience, i.e. women must submit to their husbands even to the point of death. While men and women can be saved, can receive the Holy Spirit and on the surface can serve in all ministries in the church, the Pentecostal church upholds male domination and female submission. This cloaks women into invisibility even when they are supposed to be visible especially that in Pentecostal churches the Spirit works among man and women equally and is no respecter of persons. Therefore, the Pentecostal church remains an ambivalent space for women, women have a voice but there are still in the margins. Since patriarchy, patriarchal norms and violence against women are linked, it can be argued that Pentecostal biblical interpretation, with its insistence on female submission, is oppressive and denies women an experience of salvation the Luke 4:18-19 way. The second aspect of Pentecostal theology that denies women an experience of salvation is the dualistic understanding of the world. The world is divided into the spiritual world and the physical world and the spiritual world is given more emphasis and it is more important than the physical world. The emphasis on the spiritual world leads to a theology that is more concerned with the salvation of the soul and spiritual experiences much more than it is with the social and physical salvation. The message of salvation focuses on being born again, speaking in tongues, prayer, intercession and worship and winning souls for the Lord because Pentecostals believe they are not of this world. Madipone Masenya writing within a South African context argues that the piestic message of salvation and a better life in the hereafter continues to reign supreme. 12 This understanding of salvation presents Pentecostals as immune to social problems in the physical world. Social problems such as civil wars, HIV, child abuse and violence against women are read as signs of the last days. Unfortunately, violence against women, for example, affects Pentecostals as much as it affects non-christians, but the Pentecostal church ignores and minimizes Pentecostal women s experiences of pain and trauma, while there are interventions for non-christian women faced with the same problem. In this sense salvation is abstract and it does not translate into the social, political and economic world women inhabit. When women are in life denying social and cultural situations and some live in dire poverty, they are encouraged to seek the salvation of their soul rather than focus on their problems. 10 Maluleke, T., and Nadar, S., Breaking the Covenant of Violence against women in Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 114, November 2002, Nadar, S. The Bible Says! Feminism, Hermeneutics and Neo-Pentecostal Challenges, Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 134 (July 2009), 153; Mate, R. Wombs as God s Laboratories: Pentecostal Discourses on Femininity in Zimbabwe, Africa, Journal of the International African Institute 72, no. 4 (2002), Masenya, 52 4

5 There is danger in emphasizing spiritual world and experiences only while downplaying social experience because political, social and religious systems that support the oppression of women are not challenged. Even Pentecostals who challenge Pentecostal hermeneutics and theology and their role in exerting strict control on women are often viewed with suspicion and can even be ostracized and labeled of the world. Therefore, religious systems, state policies and laws that oppress women are often ignored because they are not spiritual and Pentecostals should not be concerned about them. The same attitude is adopted towards solutions to social problems such as violence against women. The solutions to social problems are hyper spiritualized so that violence against women for instance is not taken as just a spiritual problem. At present, married women experiencing abuse are told to fast more seek God more or submit to their husbands more. Women who have unfaithful husbands are encouraged to pray more so that through their prayers God may prevent any possibility of getting infected with HIV. 13 Stories of women being told to suffer for the kingdom of God instead of leaving an abusive Pentecostal partner are many in Botswana due to the lack of emphasis on social, cultural and economic salvation. Because of Pentecostals tendency to spiritualize anything, women continue to be marginalized and denied an experience of the reign of God in the present. When Pentecostals spiritualize things they fail to challenge the systems that support the establishment and maintenance of a politically benign elite minority, at the expense of the majority of the poor and landless. 14 Secondly, spiritualizing encourage some Pentecostal women to detach themselves from the harsh realities of life they face daily, such as poverty, homelessness, diseases, violence and the very real possibility that they can be infected with HIV. While spiritual experience and prayer are essential and very important to Pentecostal living, a woman who is violated needs prayer and a practical solution that takes her trauma seriously so that she can find justice, peace safety and ultimately attain salvation. A thorough analysis of salvation in Luke-Acts and an analysis of Luke 4: demonstrates that there is no need for spiritual and social salvation to exist in antagonism. A quote by Allen Anderson captures this, he writes: The power of the Holy Spirit has more than just spiritual significance. It also has to do with dignity, authority and power over all types of oppression. God loves and desires the welfare of the whole person: and so needs his(sic) Spirit to bestow that divine, liberating ability and strength. 15 Luke 4:18-19: a critique of the marginalisation of women and violence against women While there has been research on Pentecostalism and gender, not much attention has been given to how Luke 4:18-19 might be read to transform the way Pentecostals understand salvation, so that salvation is understood as total transformation of all aspects of being human, not just spiritual transformation. As Luke is read this way questions such as what salvation is for women in patriarchal spaces, which aspects of their lives are saved and which ones are not saved and why could be grappled with and answered. But what does proclaiming good news to the poor, setting the captives free look like in the contemporary world? What does this mean in a world characterised and rife with inequalities and where violence against women is very real, both in and outside the church? What does Jesus declaration mean in a world where women and children are faced with interpretations of the Bible that do not take their experiences of suffering seriously and in a world where Pentecostal Biblical interpretation is actually used to maintain such systems? In today s world, the existence of the conditions described in Luke 4:18-19 (poverty, oppressions, loss of sight) are real and these conditions prevent human beings, both men and women from experiencing salvation in the present as God intended. Some of the conditions above can be imposed on people by political, socio-cultural and economic 13 Masenya, Masenya, The sword that heals! Anderson, Moya; The Holy Spirit in an African Context (University of South Africa: Pretoria), p.63 cited in Anderson, A., Global Pentecostalism in the New Millennium, p

6 systems. In the contemporary world for instance, violence against women is imposed on women by and through a system of patriarchy which is very oppressive. It is a system that manifests in many ugly ways such as violence against women. It is found everywhere, in state, church policies and cultures. It is maintained through cultures which encourage women to stay in oppressive situations that deny them an experience of the reign of God in the present. Jesus was very much aware that as much as salvation was a present reality and could be experienced and enjoyed by people regardless of ethnicity and gender, there were systems which prevented people from experiencing salvation (11:52). In my world those systems are many and one of these systems is patriarchy. Patriarchy is a flawed and a broken system of governance as it creates and sustains socio-political, economic, cultural and religious systems that are oppressive and enslaving. It is an organised system of privilege which keeps women and other men who do not subscribe to heterosexual patriarchal norms captive and denies them salvation as it prevents them from living the life God intended. Luke 4: is transformative, radical and relevant and subversive. It can challenge its readers to intercept and deconstruct patriarchal norms sustained through Biblical interpretation that prevent women from experiencing salvation in the present. There is no reason for a woman who has encountered Jesus, opened herself to the salvation he offers, given her life to Jesus to be kept captive by any system, theology and frames of reading. An encounter with Jesus should be life-giving because the gospel liberates. The gospel requires communities of faith to be intentional about proclaiming and interpreting the gospel so that it deconstructs oppression, critiques and unsettles any theology that still keeps women under captivity. Luke 4:18-19 can become a powerful resource which the Pentecostal church can use to transform social lives of women who are experiencing violence and marginalisation in and outside the church. It is a relevant text because it points to the existence of factors/systems that deny people an experience of salvation and any community that reads it with justice as a goal, should be aware of and critique systems of oppression that deny human beings an experience of salvation as they also keep them in the margin. Most importantly, the church should not be a stumbling block to women s experience of salvation by reinforcing patriarchal prerogatives. But the situation at present is that through its hermeneutic and theology, the Pentecostal church is a stumbling block to women attaining full salvation. The Pentecostal church frames of reading and theology are full of gendered language, language of domination and subordination and therefore, the Pentecostal church has to reflect on the heart of the mission of Jesus by not oppressing and burdening women with oppressive demands. In fact the Pentecostal church sins against women through the maintenance of a system that enslaves and keeps women in the margins. The sin of the Pentecostal church translates into individual men s sins where wives are violated as a way of demonstrating power and control. If the text is read with the intention of advocating for wholistic salvation, Luke 4:18-19 can be subversive as it exposes the oppressive lies of patriarchy that women s experience of violence is because they failed to submit enough, pray more or they were untamed. It can critique systems that deny women an experience jubilee as we, its readers name, and challenge and deconstruct these systems. The text can continue to unsettle and judge the church for not only failing to make it possible for women to experience fullness of life because they inhabit patriarchal oppressive spaces and keeping silent on the marginalisation of women, but for also advancing patriarchal norms that oppress women. Conclusion A saved community and saved individuals must have makers and characteristics, and one of the many characteristics of a saved community and individuals should be hermeneutics that affirm salvation for all people regardless of gender, ethnicity and race. Second, a saved community continuously seek ways of transforming unequal gender relations and affirming life of its members so that men and women experience jubilee. For this to happen, the Pentecostal church needs to acknowledge that its frames of reading and interpreting the Bible marginalise women. Third, the Pentecostal church needs to acknowledge that salvation involves the whole person and it is present as much as it is eschatological. Fourth, it also needs to acknowledge that there is a direct relationship between Pentecostal hermeneutics and the marginalisation of women which sometimes manifests itself through violence against women. Fifth, the Pentecostal church needs to 6

7 acknowledge that the marginalisation of women in its different shapes and forms is real, hurtful and it should not be minimised. Lastly the Pentecostal church should accept that it is its responsibility to proclaim and advocate for freedom for women who are faced with multiple forms of oppression. This can happen if the church can take the experiences of women s marginalisation seriously and acknowledge that women inhabit systems that deny them fullness of life and these systems and the problems, challenges and suffering they cause women should not be spiritualized. Luke 4: offers the church an opportunity for the Pentecostal church to create and provide an alternative worldview that acknowledges that violence against women robs them of experiencing salvation and total transformation. The text is transformative enough for Pentecostals to challenge its theology and hermeneutics and its understanding of salvation and to challenge the country s unjust and unfair laws and policies which states that women cannot apply for loans on their own. It is a text that can speak and critique laws that repress and call for the domination of women because all these are not consistent with salvation described in Luke 4: Jesus proclamation must be the proclamation of the church because the church is the representative of Jesus on earth. The kind of salvation Luke-Acts presents knows no distinction between the physical, spiritual and social. 16 Salvation takes different forms and shapes, different people need salvation depending on their circumstances and contexts, however the end results of salvation is the same for all humanity and God desires a healed whole humanity. A human being is saved when they have encountered Christ so that their soul is saved and when the conditions they exist in and inhabit allows for socio-political, physical and economic salvation. 16 Green 1998:89J.B. Salvation to the end of the earth: God as the saviour in the acts of the apostles in Marshall.I.H and Petersen D., eds, Witness to the Gospel: The Theology of Acts. Michigan: Eerdmans 7