WHAT JESUS THOUGHT ABOUT WOMEN
Jeanenne Nichols

The Man said to the Lord in the judgment, “Master, you gave me five talents, and I have increased them to ten.” The Master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter the joy of your Master.”

The Man said, “You gave me two talents and I have increased them to four.” The Master replied, “Well, done, good and faithful servant, enter the joy of your Master.”

The Woman said, “You gave me five talents and I wanted to use them and increase them, but the Men of the church told me I couldn’t use them, so with grief, frustration and inward struggle, I hid them. I’m sorry, Master, I desperately wanted to serve you.”

“You are sorry?,” the Lord said to her, “Is that all you can say, that you’re sorry?” Then he said, “Take the talents from her and cast the worthless servant into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

This recurring vision has haunted me for ten years now. I have read Jesus, Paul, Faith Martin, Jay Treat, Carol Gilligan, Letha Scanzoni, Nancy Haresty, Carol Christ, Judith Plaskow, Paul Tournier, F. F. Bruce, and others, but still I do not have the answers I seek. I have asked the heavenly Father to reveal what his will is for me in his Body. I have asked myself if men are going to be allowed to do things in heaven that women can’t do. Will women be submissive to men in heaven?

In Mt. 11:11 Jesus tells me that the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist. If I as a woman am least in the kingdom, I am greater than at least one man, and a preacher at that! When Mt. 24:40 refers to our Lord’s return to earth, there is no sexual distinction made between whom will be taken and whom will be left.

Jesus is my personal Savior. I know him through grace, prayer, and study of the Scriptures, and he has laid these questions on my heart.

When God entered into history and became incarnate women were oppressed and treated as objects to be used for man’s individually decided pleasure. Of all human beings Jesus knew what it was to be oppressed. In Luke 4 he was rejected in the town where he grew up, but he nonetheless indentified what his mission would be:

The Spirit is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Lk. 4:18-19)

Satan foiled God’s original plan for males and females. In Gen. 1:27 God “blessed them and said to them, ‘be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and cover every living creature that moves on the ground.’” The equal ruling over the earth was God’s plan in the beginning, but when sin entered it brought with it consequences. The consequence of sin for the woman was “Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you” (Gen. 3:16). But Gal. 3:13 tells us that those who believe in Christ are redeemed from the curse of the law.

This is why we see Jesus over and over releasing the oppressed females and breaking the tradition which bound them. In his day tradition forced women into a role less than human. This is why the Samaritan woman asked Jesus, “How is it you a Jew ask a drink of water from me, a Samaritan and a woman?” The disciples marveled that Jesus broke with tradition by talking with a woman.

Jesus not only broke tradition, but he broke the law of Moses in order to bring grace, forgiveness, and equality to women (and men). In John 8 we read of how the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus caught in the act of adultery. Since she was caught in the act, we may wonder why they did not bring the man as well. They called for her to be stoned to death, quoting from Lev. 20:10. But they misused that law, for it called for the stoning of both the adulterer and the adulteress. Jesus’ response was to give the woman repentance and life.

In both of these examples Jesus shows us that it is possible for a man to talk with and be compassionate to a woman without lusting for her. He treated these women as human beings, as equals.

Jesus’ breaking of both tradition and the law might disturb us, but we are to remember the story of the Transfiguration. When Peter saw Jesus talking with Elijah and Moses, he called for the building of shelters for all three of them. But God spoke to them and to us all, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.” Listen to him, not the law or tradition!

Are we willing to listen to Jesus on the way women are to be treated? —Mrs. Nichols. who lives at:1310 Summoner Lane. Abilene. TX 79602, dedicates this essay to her mother, Amber Herriman Yadon, and her grandmother Susie Cobb Yadon, who in hearing the call of the Master “chose what was better and it will not be taken away from her” (Lk.l0:42).

 

An Ancient Prayer

“From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth, From the laziness that is content with half-truths, From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth, God of Truth, deliver us.”