Women Who Met Jesus

But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10: 41,42)

Women were not treated with respect in Jesus’ day. The rabbis had a saying, “Talk not much with womankind.” And this statement was found in the Talmud, “It was taught: Do not speak excessively with a woman lest this ultimately lead you to adultery.” In other words, men can’t speak straight across to women as equal human beings.

Jesus broke the mold. By interacting with women the way He did He was directly violating the rules of the Pharisees. In contrast to this the Gospels, especially Luke’s Gospel, show Jesus lifting women to a place of freedom and respect that they had not known before in Judaism.

Jesus showed that He valued women when He spoke to them. This must have been shocking to those around Him. We know from John’s Gospel, for example, that even the disciples were “amazed that He had been speaking with a woman,” (John 4:27).

Jesus knew His Scriptures better than anybody. Women were created in the image of God at the same time as men (Genesis 1:27). Putting aside all of the issues in today’s “gender debate”, let us focus on how Jesus treated women. What can we learn from that?

First, let’s get a picture of the social structure in the early first century.

To start with, not every group of Jews was the same. There were urban Jews and country Jews. Some were rich but most were poor. There were elite groups – Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, and Essenes. These groups all differed from each other and each was convinced that their own teachings were the correct ones. We read more about the Pharisees and Sadducees in the Gospels than the other two groups.

The Sadducees were the wealthy class. They controlled the temple and the high priesthood. They were open to the Greek culture that was prevalent at that time. They were also supportive of the Roman government, which you may recall was in charge of much of Europe and the Middle East. The wives of the Sadducees would have been very different from those of ordinary priests who were much poorer. Probably none of the women we encounter in the Gospels were of the wealthy Sadducee sect.

Often we think of status being given to the wealthiest class, but in Jesus’ time there was already a change beginning to take place. The Pharisees were the scholars of their day. To this day the Pharisees are considered to be the religious authorities. Great honor was given to those Pharisees, such as Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), whose piety and learning made an impression on the Jewish people. The Sadducees were often forced to give way to the rulings of the Pharisees due to popular opinion. A premium was placed on scholarship in the Law rather than just wealth. Hints about the rivalry between the Pharisees and the Sadducees are all throughout the Gospels. (See Mark 12:18 for example.)

The large majority of the population, whether in Galilee or Judea or cities or rural areas were poor. Most of the men were farmers. Many worked as day laborers to supplement their income. There were fishermen, such as Peter and Andrew. There were shopkeepers and many trades-people. Joseph was a carpenter. Many wives worked along side of their husbands, as did children. The wives sometimes sat in the market places and sold the wares that were made by their husbands. The majority of women that we meet in the Gospels were among this class.

The Jews in Judea, especially around Jerusalem, were stricter in their observance of the religious rules. The Jews in Galilee were perhaps less strict because they were some distance away from Jerusalem; Samaria was in the middle geographically. A look at a map of the times is helpful in following Jesus’ journeys.

I’ve never heard a sermon on the interaction of Jesus with women. I’ve heard only a handful of sermons on any woman period. This really concerns me. At the very least it leaves the impression that women are not important. At the worst, it gives the impression that we have not learned anything from the Lord Jesus about how to treat women.

My goal over the next few weeks is to show that Jesus began to change things. He changed the way His followers should think about much of what they had been taught. Because of this, Christianity is different from all of the rest of the world’s religions.

While the leaders in Israel would cater to the rich, Jesus would go to the poor. While the Pharisees would only speak with other men, Jesus would speak with women. The leaders would emphasize the externals of religion; Jesus would emphasize the heart condition.

Jesus showed over and over again that the religious leaders did not really understand their Scriptures. One example is found in Matt. 22:29 where Jesus told the Sadducees, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures, or the power of God.” If the religious leaders were mistaken about this, is it just possible that their treatment of women was not biblical either?

I believe that Jesus wanted His followers to worship God in the way they were intended to right from creation. The Jewish leaders had strayed further and further away from true worship. Jesus would teach the right way by word and by example.

My prayer is that women will feel comforted that their Savior esteems them highly. I am not interested in the leftist version of egalitarianism; those women are not Christians. I have a sneaking hunch that they really want control not equality anyway. On the other hand there are many churches that teach that women are somehow second class Christians unable to learn or share in the ministries of the church.

Jesus did not try to replace the patriarchal system of His day; He wanted to reform it. In the course of the next few weeks I hope to show that Jesus treated women as though they could be faithful followers using their gifts and serving in the Kingdom alongside men. Jesus’ teaching is different from any other in the world. I pray that as we look at these stories, we will learn at the feet of the Master the way of true discipleship.