Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
In today's liturgy young prophet Daniel interrupts the railroading of Susanna by a Kangaroo court. By demanding that her corrupt judges be examined, the lad prevents the shedding of innocent blood.
Daniel is one of the first figures in salvation history to insist on the rights of women. “As she was being lead to her death, the Lord raised up a young boy, whose name was Daniel” (Daniel 13:44). Daniel prefigures Jesus as an advocate for women.
Susanna's saga was significant for the earliest Christians. Three frescoes featuring her epic tale adorn the walls of the the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome. (Priscilla and her husband Aquila were the right and left hands of St. Paul in his ministry.)
In fact, one the women who ministered to Jesus, likewise Susanna, was named for our righteous heroine. Other biblical figures of the past such as Deborah the judge, Ruth the matriarch, Esther the queen, and Judith the warrior modeled for the primitive church how God inspires women to the divine purpose.
Our earliest New Testament writer is Paul. He was twenty years removed from the historical Jesus and twenty years prior to the first narrative Gospel (Mark). Women were key players in the churches Paul founded. The Gospels, too, stress the egalitarian nature of the Kingdom of God.
Paul mentions Phoebe (Rom 16:1-2) as a deacon of the Church. The word he uses for her is diakonos, the same word used for his beloved Timothy. She wasn't a “sort-of-deacon.”
Junia (Rom 16:7) is “numbered among the apostles.” Later translations of Romans added an “s” to her name to masculinize it. But the masculine form “Junias” was unknown when Paul wrote his masterpiece Letter to the Romans. Junia the apostle was a woman.
But didn't Jesus establish a hierarchy? Yes. The Kingdom of God movement of Jesus of Nazareth listed its hierarchy as the rejected, the marginal, the oppressed, and the destitute.
Luke tells of the instrumental contributions of women. Besides Susanna he lists Joanna and Salome among those who were in it for the long haul (8:1-3). That long haul included Golgotha. Salome assisted in preparing Christ's body for burial and she was one of the myrrh bearers who found an empty tomb on that early Sunday morning.
Of course Mary Magdalene is the “apostle to the apostles.” She's the first to experience and believe the resurrection. Therefore, as such, she was the very first Christian.
Many were perpetually black garbed widows of some stature, sources of financial support. Culturally widows were expected to be dependent on a son or son-in-law. Apparently Jesus didn't see it that way. It was likely an additional charge against him that he was a “kept man.”
Women did not only assist in the Kingdom of God movement and in the primitive church. They were in the forefront of it.
How is Susanna faring these days?
Timothy J. Cronin