“Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.” (Romans 16:12)
Fans of the ‘Avatar’ movies may have noted the greeting the Na’vi clans share when meeting one another: “I see you.” It’s a direct translation of a Zulu greeting ‘Sawubona’ (pronounced Sa’bona). It is more than a simple physical statement. It implies noticing and acknowledging the person you are encountering and committing to engaging fully with them. You are giving yourself to them. You are fully attentive and respectful towards them. They are your complete focus at that moment, and you truly listen actively to them. The word was mentioned this week in our college community prayers. The point was that too often we actually fail to truly ‘see’ one another in Church circles in such depth. Romans 16:1-16 gave us some interesting points for reflection.
For instance, in the 30 people mentioned in these verses of the Epistle to the Romans, 10 are women. Yet so often these women appear ‘unseen.’ And this is reflected so often in church life: the contributions of women remain unseen. Five of the women in these verses are commended by Paul as ‘workers’ or for their ‘work in the Lord’. Yet they often remain unseen in our bible studies on Paul’s co-workers: it’s always the men that get listed – Timothy, Titus, Epaphroditus, Clement, Urbanus, etc. Something that is again too often reflected in our celebrations of Christian heroes: the work of women is simply unseen.
Is this simply a gap? An unintended not-seeing? Or is there even some level of intentionality? A deliberate choice to not ‘see’? I wonder sometimes what lies behind the choices of translators and commentators who, for instance, struggle with the ascription of the title ‘deacon’ to Phoebe or who query the teaching role of Priscilla or who question and downplay the apostolic acknowledgement of Junias (even re-gendering her). The whole notion of ‘apostles’ is itself another example of selective ‘seeing’. The word is used of 40 individuals in the Greek New Testament. Yet a theological choice regarding only the Twelve as truly ‘apostles’ then leads to mental gymnastics as to where Matthias and Paul should fit in, and linguistic alterations to ‘see’ the other apostles who are mentioned as ‘representatives’ or ‘messengers.’
Surely, we, the Church, impoverish our own fellowship and hamper our own mission when we fail to truly ‘see’ one another. Try it this Sunday! Look those you meet in the eye and say to them, “Sawubona. I see you.”