Advent: a woman's place

I won’t lie to you: there are days when I struggle with calling myself an Evangelical. 
                
                      Today, for example. 
   
Yes, the Church of England’s General Synod recently voted to exclude women from ordination in the role of bishop.  Yes, an acquaintance, who has since been hidden on my social media feed because I seriously can’t take anymore, posted a youtube video from the previous (not Obama v. Rommey, but Obama v. McCain) election in which a male pastor explained why and how, “biblically,” women in governmental leadership positions equal a nation under God’s judgment; and, that women should never, ever, ever be permitted to preach.  Yes, the church I recently committed to attending (the last bastion of hope in my local vicinity) has ousted all female pastors for personal reasons, and hired a plethora of young, married men in their stead.  And yes, recently I had a conversation with a friend who assured me that her marriage would be recognized in God’s eyes because she had been married by a male leader.  For, to be married by a female pastor (oh, that they even have the audacity to call themselves that!)  makes any covenant illegitimate in God’s sight. 

                  What?

Why is the faith that I love so dearly, so harmful and restraining for women?  How is it that we can read the exact same scriptures, and cite experts in the field, and come to such polarizing answers?  How can it be said that women have no voice; yet Jesus Christ gave the honor of first missionary to a woman, instructed women to proclaim the gospel after he rose, and allowed a woman to study at his feet as the other male future-leaders did?   

How can women be so excluded from God’s plan of redeeming creation that we have been relegated to our husband’s dreams or callings?  Or at best, to the tents of the other women? 

Dear one, you know this topic is my heartbeat: the God of the universe is the same God of women.   I hope I am clear in my pursuit: not a female over male, to counteract the current systems, but female with male.  Serving together, teaching and learning from one another, ministering to each other, living the gospel together for the benefit of each other.  Because God made women, as He made men, in His own image.  And in Christ, all are free to worship Him thus; and teach about Him thus; and show the world who He is.   Because we all have the same outpouring of the Holy Spirit as our male counterparts.  There simply is no scriptural way to duck this truth.       

And where do I land after another gender-equality rant?  Where do I go when I am so weary of only hearing God's Word taught by male voices?  To whom do I turn when, yet again, all I'm told is that based on the sole fact of my gender I am exempt from decision-making, as though "female" is a reasoning-handicap?  When I am counseled to lay aside my calling and dreams thereof, so that I may invest all time and energy into my husband's calling. 

I go, dear one, to the only place one can: to Jesus, the only one who has the words of life.   

And because we are so close to the celebration of Divinity incarnate, I am focusing for the next few weeks on the nativity story.  More specifically, I am purposing to enter into this advent season devoting myself completely to the Magnificat [Luke 1:46-55].  Highly liturgical, perhaps.  But in these nine verses, sung by a newly pregnant teenage girl, I find so much hope and honestly and beauty and high theology that anticipate and reflect the coming of Christ Jesus.  These verses allow me to focus on the fact that before anybody else knew…before Joseph or Herod or Pilot or the Pharisees…a young woman was told about the advent of the Messiah.  This Jewess had no clout, no platform, no worth outside of her immediate family (and even that hinged on her virginity).  Yet, it was to her—and ONLY her—that the angel Gabriel imparted the news that changed everyone’s forever. 

                The Messiah is come.  God’s promise would be fulfilled.  
 
And yet, He did not announce it to a high priest or to judge or king or prophet. 
 
                Almighty God told one woman. 

It was up to her to tell the rest of her world.  Just as it was up to a Samaritan to tell her village; and as it was up to a woman to break tradition, enter the male part of the house and purpose to learn at the feet of the Master, so that she might teach others.  Just as it was up to a woman to announce the resurrection of Christ from the dead, so it was up to this one woman to announce the impending insertion of Immanuel into human history.

Never, ever, ever doubt, dear one, the impact one woman -- in love with the Lord and completely submitted to the Holy Spirit -- can do:

                change all of eternity. 

For the glory of her Lord, her soul will magnify His name.

Amen.      

    

How to construct Love

Declaration 2:  This new creation that is me converses with her God every day: through prayer, reading and memorizing his word, still listening, and private worship; for

Love is built one moment at a time.

In our highly literate society, with the prevalence of words and shocking availability of scripture, I find a tendency towards reading about scripture…instead of reading scripture.  As western one-third-world dwellers, we’re more likely to attend a study taught by a favorite celebrity-teacher than to crack open our Bible with a group of believers.  We prefer readily distilled and easily digested lessons gleaned from others, from their scriptural immersion, to wading into the ocean of scripture for ourselves.  Why? 

We [myself first and foremost] can quote movies and books, sing entire operas, recite plays, speeches, and poems; even relate our favorite jokes.  But can only vaguely paraphrase the Holy Scriptures in our own tongue.  Memorization feels cumbersome, tiring, and more like a chore than the delight of a soul in love.

I lift friends and family and my needs up in prayer; tossing them to God like a last-ditch lateral with the clock working against me and the day pressing in like the defensive line: “here, take this; I’m about to be sacked.”  I ask questions, but don’t tarry for their answer.  More “status update/tweet” than genuine conversation. 

Worship.  This is the most embarrassing of all.  I worship corporately, I sing in the car.  But in my own house, all alone, I struggle to loose myself in it.  When it does overtake me, surprising and without warning, I pull back; like over-thinking a passionate kiss.  I should revel in the emotion and immediacy of it.  I should ache for it; physically crave it, as a lover craves her beloved’s touch.  But in the drought I have forgotten romance, left the flame of passion untended.  In doing so, my soul has become brittle; and my attempts increasingly awkward.      

How will I fall in love, if I never listen to the One for whom my soul longs?  How will I stay in love, if I let the day-to-day overrun spending time in Love?  How will I experience love, if I rebuff its intimate advances?

Today, I have resolved to pray as a lover.  I want to know my beloved; know his ways, his desires, what makes him happy, what makes him sad.  This means I have to listen.  I have to spend time alone with him.  I must be still.  Today, I have resolved to read the Holy Scriptures.  Every.  Single.  Day.  And to memorize it, that it might become the delight of my soul.  Today, I have resolved to worship; sometimes through music, through poetry, through enjoying beauty, through recognition of who God is.  And to let this worship fill me with pleasure and a growing desire for more of God. 

HOW?

When I pray, I will begin with Richard Foster’s “Prayer of Relinquishment” so that I may set aside all of me to become more immersed in Christ.  Then I will be still; and listen.  Even if all I hear is silence, resting in the presence of God will be exactly what my soul needs.

The Officer began a new reading plan, and has shared it with me.  While I haven’t followed it as strictly as he, it is teaching me the discipline of carving out specific time every day, for God’s word.  A list of other plans can be found here, at David Platt’s Radical Experiment website.

I am going to shut the windows, draw the blinds, and silence the phone.  Then I will put on music and sing at the top of my lungs [even if it scares the dog] to my God.  I might dance a bit.  I might talk out loud to Him about how spectacularly awesome He is.  I might watch videos, or listen to lectures, or read the Ontological argument to try to wrap my mind around His majesty.  I might go outside and wonder at the petals of a flower, the quaking of leaves, or the stately grace of the mountain; and offer praises to the Creator.  But whatever I do, I will do in private; as a lover delights in her beloved.  I will save my worship for my God and create an intimacy in our relationship that is the picture of my love for God.

I encourage you to find ways to read, memorize, pray, listen, and worship daily.  I know that everyone’s lives look different; that we’re all in different places in our walks with the Lord.  Just don’t let creation become more important than the Creator.  And know that whatever you do, God will delight in meeting you right there, and with songs and rejoicing will overwhelm you with His love.

Recognition of Joy: the in-between spaces

Read: Psalm143

In Psalm 143, we once again find David, the man whom God hand-picked as king, crying out to the Lord.  David, amid armies who sought his destruction.  David, who seems never to be far from an audience with the Lord.  Again, David is crying out for God to save him, to rescue him from his enemies, to place his feet on solid ground again.

As I mentioned on Friday, the Officer and I have been on unsteady ground this summer.  Not with one another (thank God), but with external circumstances mounted against us.  So I can understand the “level ground” metaphor in verse 10.  I have felt like our path has been undulating beneath our feet for months now.  Sometimes jerking out from under us, sometimes turning sharply so we are thrown to our knees.  And I can’t count the number of times I’ve said to the Lord, “I’m done.  I want off this ride.  I’m so tired of it.”  Yet, with every bend, every day that we thought would bring an end to this rolling path we’re on, there has been an extension.  A date set further in the distance.  And we have had to wait.  Even more.  Again and again.  Like David, I have begged the Lord to “answer me quickly;” to “not hide [His] face from me” [v7].   Yet the answer remains imminent.  So I am left to wait.  Left to trust; left to entrust the space between my cries and His answer to the Lord [v8].

In this gloaming I, like David, must meditate on God’s works, in both my life and in history [v5].  Doing so allows me to recognize from whom my relief will come.  David repeats the same theme throughout this song:

YOUR faithfulness

YOUR name’s sake

YOUR righteousness

YOUR unfailing love.

David recognizes that the only help he can receive will be because of and directly through the LORD.  There is no other source; no one else who could affect change for David.  Not even the to-be-king himself.  Whatever the outcome, however the end to his current situation presents itself, it will only be because of God’s faithful, righteous, and unfailing love.  And it will only be for the glory of God’s great name.

So in my time of waiting on wave rippled roads, I resolve to waiting.  For joy is the recognition of whence my rescue comes.  And worship can be waiting right where you are, for the answer you know is forthcoming.    

"I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons





How a Servant is to Serve, a lesson from Mary and Martha

Martha and Mary by He Qi Chin

I’ve been Martha.  Not in the way you’d expect, the doing-all-the-things-because-I’m-a-beaver manner.  But in that I feel this unexplainable weight to meet the androcentric expectations of my more patristic brethren.  I’ve held my tongue, when I knew it was not what was being required of me at the moment, in settings where more traditional believers facilitated the gathering.  And I’ve relied on men to speak for me in similar settings, when I knew my job was to speak up for myself, or on behalf of sisters who had been belittled into silence.  I’ve hastily back-pedaled when asked if I desire to or was teaching God’s Word; and I’ve looked demurely at the floor, dying a little bit on the inside, instead of challenging the ideals spouted by denominational leaders. 

I’ve been Martha.  Distracted too much with the worry of how other people will react to my intentions or actions, to sit at my Master’s feet and quietly, though publicly, declare that I will be His student, so that I may be a teacher of His way to others.  Worried about the hard work of having to defend why I think what I’m doing is scriptural, why women should be permitted to behave thus.  Worried at the reaction towards my husband, who leans a little more closely to the traditional way of doing things than me.  Worried that my ministry or my voice or even the person for whom I’m advocating might suffer unnecessarily for my brazen speech.  Worried with the details of service, of how things will come off; because these events will reflect on me as a leader and my ability thereto.  Worried.  To the point of distraction, so that I’ve missed my Master’s presence in these beautiful moments. 

And because of this, I find that I might have more in common with Martha than Mary.

The Sisters at Bethany: Luke 10:38-42

As we mentioned on Thursday, By sitting at Jesus’ feet, Mary is signaling her intention to become a teacher herself; and Jesus declares that she is right to do so.[1]   However, if this is the sole intent of this narrative, Mary’s theological education comes at the expense of Martha.[2]  To counter the seeming unfairness towards Martha, Veronica Koperski proffers the theory that it is not Martha’s busyness that is being chastised, but her anxiety.[3]

The weight of this idea falls mostly on the translation of the Greek verb “diakouew” from verse 40.  According to Klaus Hess, in this particular passage, it means “service at a table;” however, this word occurs 34 times in the New Testament and in every use except this one, it implies “service, office, aid, support, distribution (of alms, etc.), office of a deacon.”[4]  In fact, Koperski contends that because of its usage in other New Testament passages, it is “not exclusively associated with table service, and the text gives no indication that a meal is involved.”[5]  In particular, she references a later passage in Luke 22:25-27 were this word expresses “the epitome of Jesus’ mission” and notes that “Jesus does not actually serve a meal, but charges his disciples to adopt the attitude of ‘one who serves.’”[6] Warren Carter asserts this position, noting that

in six of its eight occurrences in Acts diakonia indicates leadership and proclamation on behalf of God or of the church and the gospel.  In two of the six the administration and provision of material relief for those in need are indicated without separation of these tasks from the tasks of leadership and proclamation.  Partnership with others in the acts of ministry pervades all eight texts, as does the sense of ministering as the representative of God or of the church…thus [it] does not designate domestic or culinary activity.[7]

The question then becomes, why in this instance only does this verb refer to waiting tables?  Is it only because its subject is specifically female and could therefore offer no other service?  If this is the case, certainly Jesus’ words that Mary has choose the better portion indicates that becoming his student trumps domestic obligations.  On the other hand, both Carter and Koperski contend that Mary and Martha were involved, at some level, in local church leadership.  Carter posits that Martha’s anxiety stems from the exultant doing of this ministry, while Koperski attributes the worry to her feeling of being pulled away from her service therein, by the disapproval of others.[8]  While both theories certainly place more weight on Martha’s potential ministerial duties and make her seem less like a petulant child, neither can be adequately proven from the text itself. Yet, neither can a simplistic outburst concerning the unfair distribution of domestic duties.  What remains are Jesus’ words that Mary “has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (10:42). 

Thus however you read this particular word for service, as domestic in only this one instance or as service for the kingdom, the good portion for which Mary is lauded is: being aware of her Lord’s presence, of abandoning what is culturally expected to spend her time with him, soaking up his presence and his teaching even if it is socially unacceptable.  Because those are the only things that will sustain a servant of any ilk. 

I must encourage you: sit at Jesus’ feet, soak up His presence, and learn from Him through reading God’s Word.  Be prepared to share what you have learned, to freely give what you have freely been given.  And when societal boundaries seem to rise up against what you’re doing, cross them.  Like a rebel who hails from a kingdom where your King delights in eliminating the walls that keep us from Him.    

Enjoying this study?  Here's a link to other articles in this series: The Women Who Knew Jesus

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[1]Wright, N. T., Bishop of Durham.  “Women’s Service in the Church: The Biblical Basis.”  Conference paper for the Symposium “Men, Women and the Church,” St John’s College, Durham, September 4 , 2004.   www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Women_Service_Church.htm
[2]Veronica Koperski.  “Women and Discipleship in Luke 10:38-42 and Acts 6:1-7: The Literary Context of Luke-Acts.”  A Feminist Companion to Luke.  ed. Amy-Jill Levine with Marianne Blickenstaff, 161-196.  New York: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002, page 183.
[3] Ibid, 195.
[4] Colin Brown, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, vol 3 (Grand Rapides: Zondervan, 1986), s.v. “Serve, Deacon, Worship,” by K. Hess.   
[5] Koperski, “Women and Discipleship,” 183.
[6] Ibid, 182.
[7] Carter, Warren. “Getting Martha out of the Kitchen: Luke 10.38-24 Again.”  A Feminist Companion to Luke.  ed. Amy-Jill Levine with Marianne Blickenstaff, 215-231.  New York: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002.  Originally published in CBQ 56 (1996): 264-280, page 222.
[8]Carter, “Getting Martha Out,” 230; Koperski, “Women and Discipleship,” 185.

An Outsider's Outsider

The water went out at my house a few years ago.  Construction to a neighboring area necessitated it.  But somehow, I didn’t get the memo.  You don’t realize how absolutely necessary water is, for everything, until you don’t have immediate access to it.  My sister was home alone with my small children at the time, and not only could no one get a drink, but they couldn’t flush or wash hands or make mac and cheese.  All of which are requirements of daily life with little kids.  Fortunately, I have an extremely resourceful sister who emptied out our ice maker and boiled the ice on the stove for cooking; she kept hand sanitizer in her purse, and the little boy (to his great delight) was encouraged to use the outdoors for relief.  After this incident, I keep 3 gallons of store-bought water in the pantry, just in case. 

Even with all of our modern conveniences, water is a necessary part of daily life.  This is no different from life in first century Palestine.  In the absence of indoor plumbing the only place water one might procure water was from a stream or a well.  Today, we’re going to start our series with a familiar, though unnamed woman.  A Samaritan who needed water.   

The Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s Well:

John 4:4-30

As with all of scripture, there is so much truth and beauty bound in this passage, we are going to have to be selective to what we attend.  We could spend the entire four weeks on this one exchange, but to stay on track, we can only stay for three days.  For today, we must start by reading the account of Jesus and this woman.  I know it’s very likely that you know the story, and could recite the gist of it by heart.  But, we are going to need to set aside what we have already heard about this encounter and engage the text anew.  If you’re not near a Bible, I’ve included a link [John 4:4-30].  Don’t worry, I’ll wait. 
 

Our goal today is to see what the text actually says, and set aside what we have been taught or have always assumed about this woman, but is not found in the text (or other reliable, historical documents). 

The following are key points we learn from the text: 

1.         The text tells us that Jesus “had to go through Samaria.” 

2.        It was noon.

3.        Jesus was alone.

4.        The woman he encountered was alone.

5.        The woman he encountered was a Samaritan.

6.       She desires the living water of which Jesus speaks.

7.        She is not married to the man with whom she’s currently living.

8.       She knows about the prophesied Messiah.

9.       Jesus offers her the clearest, most efficient personal Christology in scripture yet: “egw eimi,” I am he.

10.     The woman leaves her present task to go and tell her fellow townspeople that the Messiah is among them. 

I had always pictured Jesus strolling through the countryside, en route to somewhere important, making a pit stop in Samaria.  My family makes frequent trips south to visit extended family, and our tried and true rest stop is Raton, New Mexico: the halfway point.  We end up there at noon more often than not.  So in my mind, Jesus and the disciples were on their way elsewhere when they got hungry and thirsty and pulled off the freeway to refuel before heading back onto the road. 

Yet, scholars agree that this was not a geographical necessity; according to Peter Phan, there is an alternate route from the Jordan valley up to Galilee through the Bethshan gap, without a traveler ever having to pass through Samaria.*  And because the Jewish people viewed the Samarians as perpetually unclean due to their non-Jewishness, it is very likely that a group of Jewish men would take a route that kept them out of Samaria.  Thus, as the disciples are away procuring food, Jesus has gone out of his way, literally, to meet this particular woman at this particular well.      

Much has been made of John’s inclusion of the time.  John tells his readers that it is noon; some scholars deem this an unlikely time for drawing water, and make assumptions about the woman’s character based on this fact, including that she has no friends or is not welcome by the other women, which is why she draws her water at noon, alone.**  Were this the only reason for John’s inclusion of the information, it would further this woman’s typography as an outcast, one whom even the Samaritans would not accept.  However, John’s gospel is characterized by his inclusion of time and locations; and this particular example thereof is likely employed for the purpose of expressing a duality between this encounter and another very recent one, between Jesus and Nicodemus the Pharisee.  But, we’ll have to explore this in more depth on day three.

Many teachers, preachers, and scholars have made sweeping judgments about the Samaritan woman’s character, based on her assertion that she is not married to the man with whom she lives.  And while the people who have come after John have branded this woman a harlot, a prostitute, or a whore, Jesus does not utter such a label; nor does John provide one.  Thus, Tuesday next we will examine who this woman was…and who she wasn’t.      

Today, consider what the text says. 

Jesus “had” to go to Samaria; yet we know it was not a geographic necessity.  Under what compulsion did he go?  To meet a woman in need of a Savior.

Prior to this encounter, Jesus has spoken with learned men and leaders of his community, as well as fringe dwellers, like the disciples.  Yet it is to this outsider that he gives the most clear and concise Christology; when she talks of a promised messiah, Jesus says, “I AM HE.”

As soon as she hears this, the Samaritan woman abandons her daily task of fetching water necessary for her survival.  She runs into her village and calls her community to this stranger.  She heralds the Promised Messiah to a people deemed unworthy by the religious elite of their day.  And she brings her community to him; draws these outsiders to the One who can give Living Water. 

Would that we all could be more like her.



Enjoying this study?  Here's a link to other articles in this series: The Women Who Knew Jesus

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[1]*Peter C. Phan.  “An Interfaith Encounter at Jacob’s Well, A Missiological Interpretation of John 4:4-42.”  Journal of the International Association for Mission Studies.  27 (2010): 160-175.

[2]**Craig S. Keener, “One New Temple in Christ (Ephesians 2:11-22; Acts 21:27-29; Mark 11:17; John 4:20-24),” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 12 (2009): 82.

My Editor's Job

If I had an editor, her job would be to take these articles and arrange them into a palatable and organized sequence.  Sadly, that position has not yet been filled.  Likely because it’s more un-paid internship than actual job; but I digress… 

If I had an editor, she would have put this article first.  As a preface to the introduction of a five week study of who Jesus was with the women he encountered; and who they were because of it.  Then would come the clear assertion of who Jesus was and is; then a quick jaunt through history to recall the context in which we find these women.  And then we could meet each one individually and examine what scripture teaches us about her relationship with Jesus.  And discover what that means for us today. 

I’m still a student.  As such, I’ve had the spectacular opportunity to really dig into God’s word regarding topics I’m passionate about.  A topic that is particularly close to my heart is Jesus’s interactions with women, as found in the gospels.  How the living, breathing Lord acted and spoke around living, breathing women in first century Palestine, with all the cultural parameters of that time.  And what that means for us, as a body of believers, today.  After completing this project, I was surprised, not at what I’d found, but that people outside of school wanted to read my paper.  Why? 

Though, during my research as my spirit was stretching out into this new, wide open space I was discovering, I recall driving home, asking God, “why haven’t I heard this before?”  I could feel Him smile.  And though I can’t give a precise reason, I have a hunch that this topic drove me deeper into His word than I’d been before; and it had me climbing up onto his lap with my books, pointing out passages and talking excited about them to Him.   And I am guessing that He, as I do with my own beloved children, delighted in the time we spent together; relished watching me make discoveries that were not new to Him, nor to many other more mature believers; and thoroughly enjoying my deepening love for Him and His Son.  After I was done, I tucked my newfound discoveries away, sure that I had simply uncovered what everyone else already knew.

And yet…

As I listen to dear friends and trusted teachers, I find my head cocking to the side.  I flip to the passages they are talking about and wonder, “Does scripture really say that; or is that just what we’ve been taught for so long that it’s tradition?”  And I felt the certainty I held so close a few semesters ago slipping into the background.  I felt a pull to share what I’d learned.  To not be stingy and hoard the insights I’d been allowed to discover, but to set these treasures out in front of my friends and family, so each may adorn themselves with the beauty that is the Truth of Scripture.*              

Thus, every Tuesday and Thursday for the next four weeks, I’ll provide an article in this series which will examine the interaction of Jesus and a woman found in scripture.  We’ll put aside what we’ve heard about her before.  We’ll turn off that pastor-in-my-head, and look at the passage with fresh eyes.  We’ll listen to what scripture is telling us, through these encounters, about whom Jesus is; and who we are because of it.  I welcome, or more accurately, I ask for your comments and questions.  Leave them in the comment section below, Facebook them to me, e-mail me, tweet them at me.  Drive by my house and leave them taped to my door.  But join me in taking a fresh look at stories we’ve heard taught time and again; open your hearts and minds to a new work by the Holy Spirit.  Let the accounts of these women draw you closer to Jesus and His Father.  And experience the wide-open space in your spirit that is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in you.     

I know the title for this series is hardly a catchy one:

The Women Who Knew Jesus,

but, I’ve heard editors help with that, too. 

* And on the off chance that any of this idea gives you pause, let me assure you: I have had more than one set of eyes on this project (one set belonged to a Distinguished Professor of New Testament, and he hasn’t branded me a heretic yet.  Though, this coming semester of Greek may provide that opportunity).  Thus, let me assure you that what I present is very safely within the bounds of scripture.    

Enjoying this study?  Here's a link to other articles in this series: The Women Who Knew Jesus

 

Women, historically

Last week, I attempted to be very clear about who Jesus the man was.  He was a real, live human male.  He lived in first century Palestine.  And he was a practicing, orthodox Jew.  As a final preface for examining Jesus’s interactions with women, as recorded in the gospels, I find it necessary to try to understand the culture in which these women existed.  Particularly as it pertains to them as women.  Because we cannot come to these passages with our Western, one-quarter world ideas and think that we can fully grasp what’s going on.  It would border on negligence to take our understanding of the world, as it is today, in our frame of reference, and apply this knowledge to Jesus’ interactions with these women. 

Yes, scripture is God-breathed.  Yes, it is alive and applicable today.  Yes, we can and should mold our lives to mirror its tenets.  Yet, we cannot mimic a culture from which we are 2,000 years removed.  So must do our best to take off our twenty-first century goggles, and peer back through eons to the time when Jesus walked among humans.

Lynn Cohick, in Women in the World of the Earliest Christians: Illuminating Ancient Ways of Life, asserts that “for most women in the ancient world, and in the majority of cultures today, the home is the primary workplace; [as] tending to children, preparing meals, making clothing, soap, and so many other necessities of life bound women’s lives tightly to the home.”* We cannot read scripture and assume that these women had the opportunity to choose between being a professional or staying home, or even a finely balance mixture of both.  Nor can we assume that they, after weighing all the options, made the best [and therefore generalizable] choice.  They had no choice, home was the only place for them; as soon as a woman married, her father transferred her proprietarily into the household of her husband.  Unless she was unwed and abandoned by her family of origin; in which case she may have been sold into slavery as young as the age of six.  Modern women may not be able to relate to these circumstances, however we must note that neither today nor in the first century did any of this preclude women from participating in religious ceremonies or festivals, nor from daily public life in the marketplace.   

origin

These women were not American citizens with rights afforded us today.  The historian Josephus establishes a Jewish perspective on women in the first century, saying, “the woman, says [Mosaic] law, is in all things inferior to the man.  Let her accordingly be submissive, not for her humiliation, but that she may be directed, for the authority has been given by God to the man."**  Ms. Cohick later notes that scholars are unclear about the exact law to which Josephus refers; postulating instead that this mindset was established much earlier by Plato and Aristotle, and was so ingrained into Greco-Roman society that it assimilated into Jewish culture to the extent that Josephus mistakenly attributes its conception to Moses.  Yet, to this view of women, a lack of formal educated could be attributed.  But, in reality, the primary reason for this discrepancy, Ms. Cohick points out, is the majority’s economic class within this timeframe.  Most people were simply too busy with the daily business of survival.  The few women who had any wealth were legally allowed to manage it independently; though even in the first century both Jewish and Roman documents encourage wealthy women to transfer monetary control to their husbands.***

Thus we can conclude that the women with whom Jesus interacted, the ones whom we’ll look at over the next four weeks, were likely not well-educated.  Some may have been financially secure, though most were probably impoverished outside of daily survival.  Each one was considered inferior to the males of her time.  Yet, Jesus interacts with these women with a great deal of intimacy, respect, and a focus towards inclusion, so that the culturally-held ideas and norms might give way to unity within the coming Kingdom of God.       

Enjoying this study?  Here's a link to other articles in this series: The Women Who Knew Jesus

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*Lynn H. Cohick, Women in the World of the Earliest Christians: Illuminating Ancient Ways of Life  (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), 160.

**Cohick, Women in the World, 83.

***Cohick, Women in the World, 83.