BaptistWay: Women at the cross and the tomb

• This BaptistWay lesson for Feb. 24 focuses on Mark: 15:40-16:8

 • Download a powerpoint resource for this lesson here.

“This is a test of The Vast Need for Women in Ministry Roles in Your Church system. This is only a test” (insert that terrible noise in your mind here).

So, give it a test drive. This Sunday, proclaim it “no woman can serve in our church” Sunday. Watch what happens. Pastors will go screaming in the night, arms flailing about as they run away. Go walk the halls of children’s classes on that dreadful Sunday. There will be children running amok in every corner. And don’t even think about what would happen in the nursery and with our beloved preschoolers. It would be horrifying.

There would be few hugs at your church. It would be a cold, stale environment. There would be no coffee before Bible study started to go along with the doughnuts, doughnuts and (wait for it) doughnuts. No one would keep any records. The bathrooms would be a disaster. There would be dust in every corner and no toilet paper in the stalls.

The warm, nurturing environment of your church would be replaced with drone-like male zombies, greeting every guest with a grunt and a grumpy face. Hospitality in your church would go out the window. There would be virtually no children’s ministers at all. And I fear the nice blue pew cushions in your sanctuary would be green camouflage instead.

Yes, our churches would be messes were it not for women who perform ministry there. Come to think of it, without the teaching and practice of Jesus, all the above would be true as well. Let me explain.

Jesus and women

Jesus was a rebel on so many fronts. I’m so thankful for that. He performed a full-frontal assault on many social issues of his day, including the issue of the ontology of women.

The study of ontology is the study of being or essence. In Jesus’ day, people believed women and men were not ontologically equal. Said another way, it was believed men were of greater value than women. Hence, one could own a woman.

The same was true for children. Even the disciples believed children, in their being, were not as important as adults. It’s why we have the “let the children come to me, and do not hinder them” stories of Jesus with children. In rebuking the Twelve in these stories, and with Jesus’ unique practice of placing his hands on children and blessing them, he sends a strong ontological argument before a watching world: Children are just as valuable as adults.

As it related to women and children, this was Jesus’ message: Men are in no way superior to women and children. They are ontologically equal, all being created in the image of God. One is not created in a “higher” image of God. They all are equally valuable to God.

But as Jesus always perfectly demonstrates, he backs his teaching with actions. Think through this for a moment. Jesus had an inner circle, the 12 male disciples. However, inside that inner circle is yet another inner circle: Peter, James and John. These men are found closer to Jesus at the most important times—during special healings; the transfiguration; the garden of Gethsemane, just to name a few.

However, in a very parallel way, you also find the same with the women in our story, Mary Magdalene; Mary, the mother of James the younger; Salome; and even Mary, the mother of Jesus. These four women, along with other women, take a prominent role in Jesus ministry. According to our passage, these women “followed” Jesus (interesting choice of words), and they provided for his ministry (15:41). They supported him financially is the general belief.

When one adds to this the many one-on-one stories of Jesus with women throughout the Gospels, one can realize Jesus’ desire to ontologically raise women to their proper standing before God. Just think of the stories:

• Jesus saves the woman caught in adultery, about to be stoned. He turns to men and basically says, “Go stone yourself!”

• There is the woman at the well, late in the afternoon, not wanting to be seen by anyone else in the cool of the morning. She has the appearance of being friendless, but Jesus intersects with her on purpose, and the entire community hears the woman tell the story.

• What about the woman with the bleeding disorder? This is the famous “who-touched-me” story about Jesus. It seems Jesus could have just kept quiet about that healing, but instead, he creates a “scene” in which the woman falls at his feet in fear and trembling, yet worshipfully. Then, Jesus quickly leaves that scene and goes to raise a little girl from the dead. In Jesus’ day, being a child and a girl placed you at the bottom of society, ontologically speaking.

• And then there is Mary, the mother of Jesus, standing with John while Jesus is dying on the cross. Jesus didn’t want his mother to be alone, so he tells John to serve his mother as if she were his own mother.

• And, of course, who finds Jesus at the tomb? It’s not the 12 guys. Our story teaches it was all women. John’s Gospel says it was just Mary Magdalene.

The Proper Ontology of Women

While modernity says the Bible teaches women are inferior, I believe the reality is the opposite. Were it not for Jesus, there would be more women in captivity. Without Jesus, there would be more women as slaves, trafficked as property. No, Jesus, in his practice and with his speech, says: “Women are important. So important, that you will find them at some of the most important times of my short ministry.” He raises the ontology of women to where they belong—equal with men and created in the image of God.