Really great connections, Joy, I love your imaginative (in the best sense of the word) reading of John 12. Interestingly, David McLoughlin notes the OT instances of glossokomon in 2 Chronicles 24 and 2 Kings 12, but doesn’t develop the connection. The “common purse” in that story is, as he says, “ temple offerings…for the rebuilding of the Temple.” That is what John portrays Jesus as doing from beginning to end of his Gospel: tearing down the Jerusalem temple, allowing his temple-body to be destroyed, and rebuilding the new temple-family through his raised body and his temple-side (John 19:34). What I see in this OT allusion/typology in John 12 is a) Judas, as keeper of the glossokomon, should have contributed to rebuilding the temple (like Joash King of Judah, and Judah is the same name as Judas in Greek!), but instead contributed to tearing it down; and b) Mary’s freely offered gift did in fact contribute to the rebuilding of the temple-people of God, and she did this *apart from* the established authority structure echoed in 2 Chron 24 and 2 Kings 12. Thanks for helping me see more clearly how this story relates to the ministry of women in the temple-body of Christ. This story was also on my mind as Mary makes a brief appearance (alongside all of the other women in John) in the next post in my current Substack series :-).
Wow, Aaron, I love this! I saw the glossokomon mentioned in some of my reading, but definitely didn't see these connections. What a beautiful perspective. The gospel of John is indeed bottomless, as you always say!
Really great connections, Joy, I love your imaginative (in the best sense of the word) reading of John 12. Interestingly, David McLoughlin notes the OT instances of glossokomon in 2 Chronicles 24 and 2 Kings 12, but doesn’t develop the connection. The “common purse” in that story is, as he says, “ temple offerings…for the rebuilding of the Temple.” That is what John portrays Jesus as doing from beginning to end of his Gospel: tearing down the Jerusalem temple, allowing his temple-body to be destroyed, and rebuilding the new temple-family through his raised body and his temple-side (John 19:34). What I see in this OT allusion/typology in John 12 is a) Judas, as keeper of the glossokomon, should have contributed to rebuilding the temple (like Joash King of Judah, and Judah is the same name as Judas in Greek!), but instead contributed to tearing it down; and b) Mary’s freely offered gift did in fact contribute to the rebuilding of the temple-people of God, and she did this *apart from* the established authority structure echoed in 2 Chron 24 and 2 Kings 12. Thanks for helping me see more clearly how this story relates to the ministry of women in the temple-body of Christ. This story was also on my mind as Mary makes a brief appearance (alongside all of the other women in John) in the next post in my current Substack series :-).
Wow, Aaron, I love this! I saw the glossokomon mentioned in some of my reading, but definitely didn't see these connections. What a beautiful perspective. The gospel of John is indeed bottomless, as you always say!
“universal spare parts” who serve to support men - wow, that’s a great way to put it. Really good (and sad) observations here!
And so incredibly sad that Dorothy Patterson thought women should see being a “spare part” as an ideal to aspire to.
Yes!
This moved me deeply today. Thanks for writing and sharing. I am encouraged to keep living in such a way that I am giving my gifts to Jesus.
Thank you for letting me know, Lauren - that means a lot. Mary's story has been such an encouragement to me, so I'm grateful to share it with others!