In this episode of Working the Lectionary, your hosts John Bottomley and Brendan Byrne discuss readings for Pentecost 6 and 7 in Year B. They begin with Mark's account of Jesus' encounter with Jairus, the leader of the synagogue, and analyze how Jairus, stripped of all his socio-political importance and reduced to basic human need, is emblematic of the way in which modernity's construction of work victimizes even its "winners". In the second reading, the unbelief of the people symbolizes the bitter irony of our own age, in which cynical rationalism has led to belief in all manner of conspiracy theories and self-serving narratives that become the cornerstone of modernity's mythologies of self-autonomy and the moral value of "hard work".
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode does contain some discussion of suicidal ideation.
Theme music: Work Undone by Pearce Roswell. Available through Epidemic Music. Used under license.
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