There has been a lot of social conversation lately about women being harassed, exploited or objectified. I welcome the spotlight that has been shown on the issue. My personal experience is that it was a part of my own story in nearly every job where I have worked and sadly, in almost every ministry where we have served. Learning how to deal with it has been a difficult and often disgusting life lesson.
I firmly believe 1 Peter 4:17, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.” Our goal as followers of Jesus is Christlikeness. So, on the issue of attitude and treatment of women, what was Jesus approach?
In Mark 5:25-34, Jesus is pressing through a great crowd on an urgent mission to save a dying child. He calls it all to a halt though when a woman reaches out in faith and touches him. Rather than allowing her to continue in the shame and isolation of her sickness, Jesus refuses to move until her healing is acknowledged publicly. He forced them all to see her while calling her “Daughter”.
In Luke 13, Jesus challenges the ruler of the synagogue; accusing him of having more mercy on his ox or donkey that on a woman healed after eighteen years of a spinal deformity. This time he refers to the woman as a daughter of Abraham, elevating her by her connection to the founding father of the nation, and also to some degree demanding the “daughters of Abraham” be given the same respect as the sons.
Luke chapter 7, tells the story of Jesus having dinner at the home of a Pharisee when a woman comes in and anoints Jesus’ feet. The scripture clearly states that the woman was a sinner. That was all that the religious leader saw, her sin. Jesus looks at her and asks the man, “Do you see this woman?”
Not her sin, her embarrassing behavior, her intrusion into your dinner party…Can you look past all that to see her?
Because Jesus did see her.
He saw her many sins, but he also saw her repentance had led to forgiveness, and that she loved him so much she was willing to risk all social stigma to show Him.
Then there were those two dear sisters, Mary and Martha. Surely of all the women in the Gospels, they were among Jesus closest friends. When their brother Lazarus died, the scripture says Jesus wept when he saw Mary and the others weeping. He SAW her. It was that same Mary who just days before his death anointed him with expensive perfume, and again, Jesus had to tell the men in the room to “leave her alone”.
My point is that Jesus saw the women in his world as real people. He didn’t wait until the women He met had reached some level of perfection and were prepared for pedestalized sainthood and were thereby worthy of his attention.
I think it is safe to assume that the woman taken in adultery was not fully covered when they dragged her in front of Jesus. Maybe that’s why Jesus did not look at her the way the rest of the men did. He stooped down and wrote on the ground which would have also drawn the gaze of the men away from her. In front of her accusers, He doesn’t confront her sin; he confronts theirs! Was he also challenging their blatant double standard for only bringing the woman from the adulterous affair when He said that “HE” that was without sin should cast the first stone?
When He went to the cross, Mark 15:40 states, “There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem”.
Even in His final dying moments, He made certain that His mother would be provided for by John. After His resurrection, He appeared first to the women who were the first to believe.
Within the family of God, do you really see the women? Do you recognize them? Jesus does, He calls them daughters. You’d better not mess with one of His!