Rhoda

 Twelfth Day of Christmas

Eve of the Epiphany

First, let me say thanks to all of you who have sent me emails or texts or made comments on the blog. I've been giving only first names, but today, for no particular reason, I'll give first and last. Thanks to Chris Martens, Glenn Pomykal, Pat Shanower, Frances Casey, Jennifer Christenberry, Ed Wike, Vicki Wike, Vicki Church, and the commenter first in my heart, April Wilson Smith. 

 

For the time being, if you want to send me a personal email, send it to jwilson401@att.net

Second, today's comment, which came through as "Anonymous," was from Chris Martens. No Chris, I don't know of any studies on dreams, angels, and prior religious beliefs, although I feel sure that there are. There are studies on just about everything. Here is something I have noticed of a similar nature, appearances of the Virgin Mary--Lourdes, Guadaloupe, Maggigore in the last couple of centuries, along with many others. Mary always appears to Catholics, never to Protestants. Jesus appearances are much less frequent. This is just an observation. I don't intend for it to imply that these appearances are necessarily invalid. My own view is--maybe, maybe not. 

For today's Bible study please read Acts 12:12-17. 

Besides there being too many Herods and too many Jameses in the NT, there are too many Marys.We briefly encounter a new one today, Mary, the mother of John Mark. Here's a list of the others:

1. The Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus

2. Mary Magdalene, friend of Jesus and leader of the group of women disciples who itinerated with him

3. Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus. She did not itinerate with Jesus but lived in a house in Bethany (on the opposite side of the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem). She anointed Jesus. 

4. Mary, the mother of James (and John), witness to the empty tomb.

5. Mary, the wife of Clopas. If Clopas is the same man as Cleopas, this Mary may have been one of the couple who encounter Jesus on the Road to Emmaus.

6. Mary, the mother of John Mark

There are also too many Johns. This one will be a traveling companion of Paul and Barnabas in the next few chapters of Acts. He also may well be the author of the Gospel of Mark.

It would appear that this Mary (number 6) was a woman of at least moderate wealth, owning a house with a yard and a gate and having a servant girl, Rhoda. Both Mary and Rhoda are Christians,  the early Christian Church making no distinction between social classes. Rhoda knows Peter well enough to recognize his voice before she sees him. She is so excited that he is out of prison that she runs to tell the rest of the household without letting Peter in. "They," apparently other servants and family members think she is out of her mind. Luke's overall portrayal of Rhoda is that she is a bit flighty. "They" say that it is Peter's angel. There are two possible meanings here. They could be thinking that Peter has a guardian angel (cf. the book of Tobit in the Apocrypha) or that when Christians die, they become angels. If the latter, it is the only place in the Bible with this idea (although Jesus in argument with the Sadducees says that in the afterlife, we will become "like" the angels.

 

Peter keeps knocking and they finally let him in. He tells them the story of his escape. Then he asks them to tell it to James and the other believers. His singling out of James likely indicates that James (the brother of Jesus) is already the leader of the Jerusalem Cburch.

You could draw a couple of lessons from this story. The seemingly simple Rhoda has believed what she heard, while "they" were skeptical. Or, hearing (or seeing) first hand is more believable than being told second hand. Or, God chooses ordinary people to be his witnesses. Or, maybe we should just let the story stand as it is.

Tomorrow, more "High Church--Low Church."

Faithfully,

Christian