Clothesline March 2007

Greetings to all on 12 MAR 2007

Word for the Day
Anthropomorphize – to ascribe human motivation, characteristics or behavior to objects, animals or natural phenomena

Quote for the Day
The Mother who is above all mothers says, “I will comfort you; I will remind you; I will motivate you; I will define you; I will wean you from all rudeness and uncivil things. I will make a well-bred child out of you, better than any mother does in the world.” [1]

Website for the Day
www.wandringpoet.wordpress.com
Gabe Peterson is a graduate student at Abilene Christian University. You can read about his struggle with life.

Thought for the Day
Some of you know that recently we became grandparents for the second time. Our daughter and her husband brought Christopher Ryan into this world on 5 September 2006. A couple of months ago, as I was watching him during Sunday ecclesia, it occurred to me how totally helpless a baby is. Reflecting on Ryan being totally dependent on his mother prompted me to compare that relationship to our dependency upon the Divine for our sustenance and protection or, at least, how we should rely upon God to provide. Maybe that’s what Jesus had in mind when he told his disciples to allow the children to come near for, “such is the kingdom of heaven.” [MAT 19.13]

Today, I offer for your consideration that the triune nature of God is a model of family with the father (Yahweh), child (Yeshuah) and the spirit (Ruach HaKodesh). Ruach is Hebrew for Spirit and is feminine in gender. HaKodesh means The Holy. [2] Think about it. Does that not make sense for a family to have a father, mother and children? Isn’t that the ideal?

Psalm 51.11 is only one of four places in the Tanakh (OT) that links Holy and Spirit. [3] However, there are several passages that refer to the feminine nature of God. Consider Isaiah 66.10-13 where we read, “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may suck and be satisfied with her consoling breasts; that you may drink deeply with delight from the abundance of her glory. For thus says the LORD: Behold, I will extend prosperity to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall suck, you shall be carried upon her hip, and dandled upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”


Jesus promised that he would send us a comforter after ascending back to heaven. The Greek word that John uses is parakletos - one who stands beside you to comfort or intercede. But remember that Jesus and the disciples spoke Hebrew and Aramaic, not Greek. The only other occurrence of parakletos is in 1 John 2.1 where it refers to Jesus and so it is not unique to describing the Holy Spirit. Perhaps our dependence on the Greek text has hidden the original sense of comfort that only a mother can provide. Isn’t that more inviting than imagining the Ruach HaKodesh as a lawyer standing by us in court? Some scholars believe that the Isaiah passage was looking toward Jesus’ last words to his disciples. Zinzendorf links Isaiah 66.13 with John 14.26 by saying that Jesus thought, “If I should say to my disciples that I am going away, then I must give them some comfort. I must say to them that they will receive someone who will comfort them over my departure. It will not be strange to them, for they have already read it in the Bible, …There it read, ‘they shall have a Mother: I will leave you my Spirit’.” [4]

Does this mean there is a “Leave it to Beaver” family sitting around a dining table up in the sky? Of course not; the triune God is spirit and our confusion stems from the very natural attempt to anthropomorphize God. Not only is it natural for us to visualize God in our image, but He helped us along that path. The Father is often pictured as having a face, voice, hands, even a backside. The Hebrews and other Easterners are more visual thinkers than us Westerners and would find it natural to describe God as a rock or a consuming fire or even a human. The phrase God the Father may obscure the fact that we know that He is no more “male” than God the Spirit is “female,” but the imagery helps us to understand the role of each personality in the Trinity.

There is an old spiritual song that repeats the phrase, “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.” [5] How awful for a child to be abandoned by its mother. The Ruach HaKodesh will never leave us. Recall these verses:

“The Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words”
[ROM 8.26]
“The Spirit will guide you into all truth”
[JOH 16.13]
“ He will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever”
[JOH 14.16]

Now think about how a mother cares for her baby. She is attentive to her cries. She will wake up if she has a feeling that the child needs to be checked on. She can identify his cry among the other babies in the nursery. She provides life-giving milk to ensure health and growth. She would give her all for that child. Couldn’t we say the same for the Holy Spirit as our comforter? Who usually has the natural gift of comfort - the man or the woman? You know the answer.


May God Bless
Mike Toole
Lori Moores, ed.


Note: Yes, I know that the Holy Spirit is always referred to as “he” in the NT. I do
not see that as contradictory because almost every pronoun in the NT is biased
toward male gender. See John 13.35; 14.23; 15.5 et al. Plus, remember, I’m not
arguing that the Holy Spirit is actually a “woman.”

1. John Atwood, www.zinzendorf.com/atwood.htm, 10 FEB 2007

2. John Dart, New Concepts in Christianity, found on www.the-
branch.org/Feminine_Holy_Spirit_Mother_John_Dart_Lois_Roden
Note: Even though this was found on the Branch Davidian website, the article was
written by John Dart for the “Times” newspaper on April 10, 1982.

3. David Stern, Complete Jewish Bible, Jewish New Testament Pub., Clarksville
MD, 1998, pg. 1589

4. Zinzendorf, op. cit.

5. Author unknown, www.negrospirituals.com/news-song/sometimes_i_fell.htm, 10 FEB 2007