Jesus & Women

Jesus vs. Culture

/ Joan C. Thomson

Jesus came into a world in which Greek, Roman, even Jewish men taught that women were inferior, on a level somewhere between men and animals, evil, the cause of all trouble and something of a curse that they even existed.  Plato taught, “The price for our sinning was exacted at the beginning of time by Zeus himself when he afflicted us with these creatures (women)” and “if we spend our lives in wrongdoing and in cowardice, afterward Zeus will send us back into this life as women.” * Plato taught Aristotle, whose teachings many of the early church fathers openly mixed with Christianity—rearranging some of the words but not deleting the ideas.

No one could have gotten such ideas from Jesus!  He never put women down, never used them as bad examples in his parables.  Instead he often referred to them as astoundingly good examples of great faith and giving, as with the widow who gave all she had to live on (Mark 12:42-44).  He never rebuked them harshly. The closest he came to that was gently saying, Martha, Martha you worry about too many things.” (Luke 10:39-41)  Jesus never talked down to women but spoke directly to them some great theological truths—to the Samaritan woman (who he wasn’t supposed to speak to at all because she was a woman—people might get the wrong idea, and a hated Samaritan one at that) He said to her, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth,” and identified himself to her as the Messiah. (John 4:22-24) When Lazarus died, Jesus said to his sister Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  And she confessed, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” (John 11:27)

Jesus had Mary, Martha’s sister sitting at his feet to learn from him—the position of a rabbinical student, unheard of for a woman in their culture!  And he said that learning from him was the best thing to choose and that it would not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:38-42)

Jesus entrusted these women with deep truths.  Were these truths only for women?  The men had better hope not!  No.  Jesus expects all his disciples to teach others to obey the things he commanded.  We are to put our light on a stand and let it give light to everyone.

*Why Not Women? Loren Cunningham, David Hamilton p.72 from “Plato”, Microsoft© Encyclopedia Encarta, 1993

 

We Are Humans First

/ Joan C. Thomson

Jesus is the best that ever happened to women! Colossian says that Jesus created all things! (Colossians 1:16) Do you think our maker knows what women are supposed to be like?  Of course! We can tell so much by the way he treated women—or didn’t treat them.  He really didn’t treat them any differently than men except as humans that he came to save and serve.  Yes, he made women unique and he made men unique and science is discovering more of this all the time but first and foremost, we have more in common than we have differences—we are human.

All Together

/ Joan C. Thomson

Jesus included the women and treated them well but that didn’t stop with his ascension—no, they were right there in the Upper Room praying constantly.  And on the day of Pentecost they were still “all together.” They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues then Peter reminded the men who heard them that Joel prophesied that God’s Spirit would be poured out on both men and women and that both would prophesy (Acts 2).

 

The Twelve

/ Joan C. Thomson

Jesus made no distinction between men and women disciples, but what about “the Twelve?”  First of all they were set apart from all the other disciples, female or male.  But they were all male, so doesn’t that mean that church leadership should be all men?  Well, if they are to be our only example then the vast majority of churches are out of compliance unless their leadership is all Jewish and they’ve all been circumcised, unless several are professional fishermen, they’re all uneducated, one is a cheater, another has repeatedly denied the Lord, and another is a betrayer and thief–and let’s not forget the two hot-headed-me-firster “Sons of Thunder.” We don’t know why Jesus chose men for The Twelve (the Bible doesn’t say but he was likely drawing a comparison to the twelve tribes of Israel, since the twelve will “sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  Matthew 19:28) but he chose “the Three” out of those twelve, on several occasions leaving the other nine behind.

Women Disciples

/ Joan C. Thomson

When the Bible or even Jesus himself referred to “his disciples,” women—many women, were included in that designation.  They weren’t just part of the crowd or an afterthought. “Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers.” (Matthew 12:48-50; Mark 3:34)  Luke tells us by name just who these disciples were, ”After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others.” (Luke 8:1-3)

The same word is always used for disciples whether male or female. Women are not subset disciples but the first rate, real thing—if, as Jesus said, women as well as men, continue in his teachings. (John 8:31, 32)  Jesus’ teachings—and he continued to teach through the apostles, are the only teachings for Christians to follow—he said his sheep listen to only his voice.(John 10:3)  Get to know his word the Bible—especially the New Testament, intimately so you can use it as a filter for all the things that come at you.  Go beyond the English (or your language) translations and you’ll be amazed at the distinctions the ancient Greek makes.  It’s not hard to find Greek interlinear New Testaments and not at all hard to read them.  This is a good starting point in knowing what Jesus truly said. One I use is biblehub.com.

First to Proclaim the Good News!

/ Joan C. Thomson

Now Mary [Magdalene] stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (“Teacher”).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. John 20:11-18

Jesus appeared first to women after he rose from the dead!  Some have said that it was only because they were there doing the “women’s work” of preparing the body—if it was women’s work, then Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were doing women’s work a couple of days earlier when they put spices on his body (John 18:38-31). No, the women were there because their love for Jesus overcame their fear.  And God will always honor that.

Jesus told Mary Magdalene and the women with her to “Go and tell my brothers..” but the men didn’t believe her (Luke 24:9-11).  A girl I know made that mistake once.  Her mother sent her little sister to tell her to come home when she was playing at a neighbor’s house.  The girl didn’t want to stop playing—who was this little sister to tell her what to do anyway– so she sent her away.  Of course, the younger girl went back to their mother who sent her again.  Then the younger sister came back to the older sister saying, “You’d better come, she’s really mad.”  She went.  The mother told the older girl, “When I send your sister, I expect you to listen; it’s just as if it was me telling you.  If you ignore her—you’re ignoring me.”  We dare not ignore the Word of God brought by his messenger even if some don’t like the package!  But to their credit, Peter and John raced to the tomb so they must have believed something (Luke 24:12)!

 

Leave Her Alone

/ Joan C. Thomson

Alabaster PerfumeMary of Bethany poured out her all for Jesus when she broke open an alabaster bottle of perfume worth a year’s wages!  Whether named or unnamed, each gospel account* tells of men complaining of her devotion—one said she was “the wrong kind” to be ministering to him, apparently thinking that her past life overshadowed her new one (Luke 7:39), while others thought ministering to Jesus was a waste of money!  But Jesus defended her saying, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.” (Matthew 26:10)  She was, he said, doing a very special thing for him—anointing his body for burial; other things, as important as they were, could be done anytime but Mary’s was a special, one- of-a-kind task in time–so important that Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her” (Matthew 26:13).  What this woman, Mary of Bethany, did for Jesus was so vital that the gospel is not properly preached without telling about her. (I don’t recall this having been said of anyone else.)

*I once was rebuked for saying in a Bible Study class that the four accounts spoke of one woman—Mary of Bethany.  “The scholars say!”

Matthew 26:6-13   Bethany   Simon the Leper   alabaster/perfume    “sinful woman”      anointed for burial

Mark 14:3-9            Bethany    Simon the Leper   alabaster/perfume     a  woman               anointed for burial

Luke 7:36-50                              Pharisee, Simon    alabaster/perfume   “sinful woman”

John 12:1-11           Bethany                                                       perfume    Mary of Bethany   anointed for burial

While the comparisons above are strong evidence the strongest is Jesus’ statement that, “wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (Matthew 26:13) Each gospel tells only of one woman, not two scenarios.  If there were two different women, then each of the gospels left out one or the other. It’s extremely unlikely that either Luke or John would have disobeyed Jesus and left out her story from the telling of the gospel (stated in Matthew & Mark).  Why does it matter?  Jesus did know who she was and welcomed her.  Mary of Bethany often found herself at Jesus’ feet, learning from him and worshipping him because he had forgiven her for so much and on top of it all—he raised her brother from the dead!

 

 

On the Road with Jesus

/ Joan C. Thomson

After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. (Luke 8:1-3)

Jesus didn’t have a problem with Joanna, a married woman going on the road with him—he didn’t chide her for leaving her husband alone.  And notice, the women who were with him weren’t “doing the cooking and cleaning” as many have said, but they ministered by footing the bill! (Luke 8:3) Besides, Jesus didn’t consider cooking to be “women’s work”, he could cook too! (John 21:9-13)