Exploring Street Theology

Women at the heart of the community

There were 12 disciples and they were all men, right? Well no! In the patriarchal world of 1st Century and perhaps through years of male domination in the church, the place and the importance of women in the Gospel can be so easily overlooked.

In fact Jesus had female disciples according to Luke 8:1-3:

“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.”

Add to these the other Marys, his mother, the sister of Martha, and the women of Jerusalem who wept as Jesus was taken to Golgotha and crucified and you begin to get a picture of the place women had in the foundation of the church. It is perhaps important  to remember that Women were the last disciples at the cross and the first at the empty tomb. They remained integral to the work of the church in its early centuries. 

It is perhaps noteworthy the ratio of women entering ordained ministry is now greater than the number of men. Jesus came to earth not primarily as a male but as a person. He treated women not primarily as females but as human beings.” Jesus recognised women as fellow human beings.

Perhaps rather than debate the role of Male and Female we need to take the concept of New Testament teaching that there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. The New Testament word for equality is ISOS from which we get the word isosceles and hence isosceles triangle; a form that has two sides of equal length. We are back to the strength of the triangle where the two equal sides need to be founded and grounded upon a strong base of the love of God who calls us to be coworkers.

Loving Lord, we come before you to celebrate and give thanks for the achievements of women, we remember the women who have played a part in our lives. Those who have nurtured us, taught us, inspired us, loved us. Forgive us when we have limited women through inequality, by stereotype, by exclusion, through lack of opportunity. As we acknowledge the challenges women still face, we pray that all women may know equality of healthcare, of education, of wealth, of prospects.

We pray that all women may know themselves to be respected, safe, included, empowered. We ask these things in the name of Jesus in whom there is neither male nor female. Amen.