The Model Disciples(s)

Gospel: John 20: 25-34

The Gospels have a classic bookend device that provides us with an important lens for seeing what it is to be a disciple.  At the beginning and end of the Gospels we are presented with women of great faith who show us how to follow the call of God in our lives.  In the beginning of the Gospel we have Elizabeth and Mary who accept God's call despite the trials it will bring and develop the first faith community.  At the end of the Gospels we have Mary and other women alone at the foot of the cross with Jesus, alone at his tomb, and alone - the first to experience and give witness to the resurrection of Jesus.

Throughout the Gospels we will meet other women of great faith who will also model this discipleship: Peter's mother-in-law, the Samaritan woman, the Canaanite woman, the woman caught in adultery, Martha and Mary, Mary Magdalene.  These women will stand in contrast to the men who will continue to doubt, strive for power, betray, and deny Jesus from Zechariah to Thomas and a host in between.  

This week we have two great feasts of women - today in Mary Mother of the Church, and later in the Visitation.  These feasts stand as reminders of those who were the first to believe, the first to create faith communities of believers, and the models for our own faith as we seek to follow the way of the Lord Jesus in our own lives.