A Woman's Place

This is a subject I have been thinking about quite a lot lately and wondered whether or not to blog about it.  Could be controversial.  Then yesterday, after the Prime Minister's ill- advised (so called) joke to a female minister on the opposite side of the house, I decided that maybe it was time to say what has been on my mind.  I don't want to discuss about the Prime Minister or whether it was a sexist remark or not.  It's more about the general attitude to women in society and in the church that I'm thinking.

We criticise those of other faiths because of the way they treat their women but traditional Christians are not always free from blame.  There are many places where they wouldn't dream of having a woman preacher or in any sort of office within the church organisation apart from 'in a woman's place' in the kitchen making the tea and refreshments or cleaning the building ready for the next service.  I have known of people who refused to take communion because it was given by a woman vicar.  In the end she was urged to go to another church!

I love the story of Mary and Martha and many read it and are happy that Jesus says that it is better to be in His presence and not always be busy, busy, busy, running here and there.  But I think that this misses the real point of the story.  In those days it was customary for the menfolk to sit at the feet of a rabbi and learn of him and the women could not be there with the men.  In the synagogue they are kept separate.  I'm sure that when Martha was telling her sister to go and help her, the other disciples would have agreed with Martha.  They were sitting at the feet of the Rabbi and this was no place for a woman.  Jesus contradicted that thought process and said that she had chosen well.  He condoned her action, not condemned her for her forwardness.  I think that this story is more about the rightful place of women, alongside the men in God's kingdom.  He broke the conventional law of separation of the sexes in spiritual matters.

There are many instances when Jesus breaks all the taboos and talks to women.  The woman at the well and the adulteress woman are cases in point.  I always wonder in the case of the woman caught in adultery, if she was caught 'in the act' then she couldn't have been alone!  So why was she the sinner and the other person not.  I think that's why Jesus looked at the men who had brought her before Him and asked them 'Who is without sin?'  Was He saying that they are as much to blame for going with such a woman as they considered her to be?  Did they understand what He meant?  Another fact we should always remember is that the first Easter message was given by a woman - the men had all fled for their safety.

Yesterday after hearing about the PMs bad joke, I read Martin Scott's blog that I follow.  He was talking about the Virgin Birth. You can see the entire entry on http://3generations.eu/blog and click on the entry for April 27th about the Virgin Birth.  In it he said:

Maybe there is a ‘no need for help from you males’ involved in the virgin birth. That would be quite like God. Marginalise the powerful. Jesus was male, but so very different.
Not so much about the virgin birth but certainly the family line was somewhat interesting. Sexual issues there and quite a bit of racial impurity. Oh boy. God does just do things his way. Doesn’t seem he flows along too well with the religious status quo.

If Jesus came to reclaim a fallen world then through him the results of the fall should be dealt with.  The subservience of women I think is one of those issues.  I am no feminist but simply a Jesus follower trying to put into practice what He taught and how He related to others.