I received this text from a young mother in our church a few weeks ago. Two of her children, including one of her daughters, helped distribute Communion elements to our congregation. We end every Renovation Community worship service with Communion and I recently began asking children to serve the bread and grape juice.
The mother [who grew up in a different church background from my own] said, “Thanks for letting our kids be a part of Communion tonight. I’ve only seen grown women serve communion a handful of times and never a little girl. So that was really special.”
I choked up reading the mom’s words— tears of sadness to learn her church experience and tears of joy that our little church sets forth a different example.
***
I recently began following a ministry online that often highlights the sad forms of abuse and mistreatment women have experienced in the Church and in their Christian marriages. It’s been eye-opening and heartbreaking.
During my early and incredibly dark days as a pastor, I developed an unquenchable thirst for reading biographies of long-dead Christians who served God in spite of their own dark circumstances. I found the majority of these biographical examples in missionaries who followed the Lord into regions thousands of miles from their homeland.
As God pushed me (often against my will 😒) towards increasing levels of tangible Christian service to my hurting neighbors, I wanted to learn from Christians in difficult places who practically and tangibly met others’ physical needs just as much as their spiritual needs. This reading journey meant I eventually owned more biographies of Christian women than of their male counterparts. For generations, it seems Christian women have outpaced men in practical acts of service throughout the world.
Painting with an extremely broad brush, it would appear male missionaries sought opportunities to preach in Christ’s name. But women on the mission fields sought opportunities to feed, clothe, heal, comfort, educate, foster, and give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name; my own sense of Calling has resonated more with their example.
These brave female missionaries often left home unmarried. Sadly, they also often left home with little support (financial, or otherwise) because male Christian leaders didn’t trust them, didn’t believe they were competent for the task without a husband by their side, and/or believed their work wasn’t as important as the more male-dominated “spiritual” work.
The world…the Church… has a long history of unkindness towards women.
But Holy Week always reminds Christians the honored role women played in Jesus’ ministry. Women followed him, financially supported him, and cared for his needs. But they also served as the Church’s first *full* Evangelists. [“Evangelism” (and all it’s similar words) come from a Greek word that basically meant “Good News.” The Gospels tell us Jesus began his ministry preaching the “Good News.” Of course, Christians believe the *fullest* version of that Good News wasn’t made clear until Jesus rose from the dead. But more on that in a bit.]
I closed our church’s Good Friday service challenging our people to “suspend reality,” to give up the knowledge we have of Christ’s Resurrection and stand in solidarity with those weeping at the foot of the cross. I reminded everyone that Jesus’ followers had mostly scattered after paralyzing fear consumed them. But not the women.
The women below Christ’s body experienced the same overwhelming grief as the other disciples. His mother, Mary, experienced far *more* grief. Yet they didn’t experience the same fear. Or perhaps they *did* experience it but refused to let it control them as it seemingly controlled most of Jesus’ male followers.
Jesus’ mother and other women stood only feet away from the Roman soldiers who drove nails into Jesus’ body. They loved this man condemned by the State and weren’t afraid to display their tears before his Executioners. Would Roman soldiers or Temple leaders try arresting (maybe also crucifying??) any of Jesus’ followers whom they found during his execution? While it wasn’t common, history shows us Rome *did* crucify women when it served their purposes for invoking fear and reasserting control in tumultuous regions.
These women didn’t care. No matter the outcome, they would publicly stand and weep for their Rabbi…and son.
How had Jesus of Nazareth attracted these women who bravely followed Him into danger and darkness??
***
British author Dorothy Sayers’ 1947 work “Are Women Human” mused:
“Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man – there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as “The women, God help us!” or “The ladies, God bless them!”; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unself-conscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything “funny” about woman’s nature.”
***
Even after His death, Jesus attracted women who noticed he was different from other men in their lives. One of ancient Christianity’s most vocal critics was a Roman man named Celsus. He noticed how women (and other demographics that didn’t fit the “free Roman male” ideal) disproportionately filled ancient Christian gatherings. His criticisms embodied the sexist and elitist Roman attitudes of his day:
“[Christians] show they want and are able to convince only the foolish, dishonorable, and stupid, only slaves, women, and little children”
***
Because Jesus’ corpse had been hurriedly placed in a tomb before a Sabbath, there wasn’t time to follow the typical burial customs. So we learn “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” (Mark 16:1-3)
But they arrive to find an empty tomb and an angel. “The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’” (Matthew 28:5-7)
These women had first-hand knowledge of Jesus’ teachings. They were eyewitnesses to His miraculous power and bodily resurrection (something the apostle Paul later used to attest to the Christian message’s trustworthiness). Yet following the logic used in many churches today, these women (despite their firsthand-knowledge of Jesus’ life, miracles, and resurrection) shouldn’t have publicly shared that knowledge when gathered with other Christian followers, especially when men were present— because “women shouldn’t teach or assume authority over a man.”
At first reading, a famous New Testament verse *seems* clear when the Apostle Paul discussed protocols for worship services and said “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet” (1 Timothy 2:12). Many Christians, therefore, (thousands of whom have *far* more Biblical training than me) have prohibited women from teaching in church gatherings in a well-meaning attempt to obey Scripture.
Renovation Community is part of a global denomination, the Church of the Nazarene. [Nerdy details: In denominational nomenclature, we fall under the “Wesleyan-Arminian” group and, more specifically, within the “Holiness” movement. Some of our closest ‘kin’ are the Wesleyan and Salvation Army denominations. Yep, the Salvation Army is an actual denomination. Surprise!] In common modern American classifications, few would ever describe us as “Progressive.” Yet our denomination has practiced one so-called progressive act since our inception over 100 years ago: we’ve ordained and supported women preachers (even before U.S. women had the right to vote).
Though we love them dearly and agree with them on many other issues, we have always respectfully disagreed with our Christian brothers and sisters who decry women preachers. We have stood firm in proclaiming that ‘what *seems* clear in the Bible upon first reading, occasionally…isn’t.’
Sometimes the *clear* Biblical Truth lay obscured under millennia of cultural change, language barriers, idioms that don’t easily translate, and our lack of basic Bible history, Bible geography, Bible customs, etc. [And don’t get me started on how little the average Christian seems to under the first two-thirds of their Bible— the Old Testament!]
Ancient Jews were steeped in what’s often called “honor and shame” culture; the higher one’s honor, the greater their authority. Teachers of Jewish Scripture held honor and, thus, held authority over those they taught. Paul touches on those honor/authority issues in his 1 Timothy passage on women.
But Modern Western Americans famously put little stock in hierarchy compared to most cultures throughout history (and many global cultures today).
We also see this culturally-assumed Teacher/Student hierarchy in Luke 6:40 when Jesus says “The student is not above the teacher.”
But Paul (the supposed champion of prohibiting women preachers) practiced radical obedience, to the point of an avoidable martyrdom, in following ALL Jesus taught. Paul explicitly stated that the ENTIRETY of his faith and ministry purpose ultimately lay with Jesus’ bodily resurrection: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (1 Corinthians 15:14).
But if *everything* for Paul hinged on Christ’s resurrection, was he likely to contradict Jesus’ first post-resurrection words??
There near the Tomb, Jesus instructed brave women to do 3 things Paul *seemed* to be against: 1) Teach men Christ had risen, which [especially given that culture] 2) placed them in authority over the men who didn’t yet have knowledge of Christ’s resurrection. Of course, obeying the Risen Christ’s command also meant the women could 3) NOT remain silent once they returned to a predominantly-male gathering of apostles. Surely Jesus didn’t intend these women to silently pantomime the Resurrection News but to vocally speak it for the men to hear.
So if we interpret Paul’s 1 Timothy 2 quote as some would have us do [i.e. no women Teachers], then: 1) Jesus was out of line for instructing the women to teach men about the Resurrection and 2) the women were out of line for obeying Jesus.
As faithful Jesus-followers, do we really want to say that?!
Instead, what if we assume a different path forward? What if we assume the Apostle Paul would never teach ideas contradictory to Jesus’ teaching and actions? Or, at the very least, what if we assume that God would prevent any fallible human’s incorrect teachings from landing in His Spirit-Inspired Scriptures?
While Christians have disagreed on how to interpret Paul’s instructions for women, both sides agree on Jesus’ intentions in these post-Resurrection scenes. He intended those women to teach his male disciples the most important message the world has ever heard: Christ is Risen!
When defending Scripture, Christians sometimes say “God’s Word is true.” Yes and amen! But that does not (*should not*) automatically mean “I have truly understood God’s Word.”
Individuals, denominations, and even entire movements within Christianity must always approach Scriptural Interpretation with humility, acknowledging our imperfect understanding.
So if Paul’s confusing instructions seem to contradict Jesus’ explicitly clear instructions in the Garden that morning, perhaps we should humbly acknowledge we have misunderstood Paul. Perhaps Paul *wasn’t* saying what some *thought* he said against women Teachers.
[Evidence supporting this view comes from Paul himself. He wrote to a church in the ancient city of Corinth about how they should conduct worship services in line with commonly-understood customs and said “every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head” (1 Corinthians 11:5). Biblical prophecy wasn’t ‘future predicting’ like many today imagine; it was, in fact, “preaching to others.” Why would Paul instruct these Corinthian women to preach to others with their heads covered if he didn’t want them preaching at all?]
***
The apostles Peter and John also arrived at the empty tomb later in the morning (John 20:3-10). But neither Jesus nor angels greeted them or commissioned them in the garden to preach (that came later). In those sacred early morning hours ‘while the dew was still on the roses,’ Jesus *exclusively* met with and commissioned women to teach others the Good News. Perhaps on that first Resurrection Sunday our great Teacher of Parables enacted a living parable some of us have overlooked.
I’m proud to be part of a movement that has followed the Risen Christ’s Easter Morning example. Just as Jesus sent out women to authoritatively proclaim the Good News to all, including men, so our denomination has sent out women to preach in churches and in mission fields throughout the world. Last night I attended a service where we ordained 7 people; 6 were women. We’ve always ordained women to authoritatively proclaim the same message those brave Jewish women proclaimed nearly 2000 years ago…
“Christ is Risen!”
But what if you’re a woman in a church that doesn’t ordain women??
Dear Sisters in Christ,
May you trust that your knowledge of Jesus, not your gender, gives license to preach in His name.
Remember, Jesus reserved a special Commission for you that Resurrection Morning near the Empty Tomb.
So may you bravely follow your female forbearers’ footsteps, ‘treading among the tombs’ where men have feared to walk.
Just as those women steeled themselves that morning to face soldiers guarding Jesus’ body, may you steel yourself to face all who would attack, invalidate, and doubt your ministry to Him.
May your little girls feel welcomed to carry Christ’s body, Christ’s blood, and Christ’s message to the Nations.
May the Church follow Christ’s Resurrection Morning example— commissioning women with a message people must know.
The Apostle Paul said it well— “if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith”
May we never forget the first preachers of His bodily Resurrection…the first couriers of the Faith we profess… were Society’s disregarded women.
So preach it loud, sister.
Preach to men and women, young and old, rich and poor, healthy and sick, neighbor and foreigner. Preach boldly until all the world has heard…
“CHRIST IS RISEN!”
