Nurturing the Nations Reclaiming the Dignity of Women in Building Healthy Cultures The Coming of the Bridegroom.

Nurturing the NationsReclaiming the Dignity of Women

in Building Healthy Cultures

The Coming of the The Coming of the BridegroomBridegroom

Sexual Immorality a Virtue

“In the Roman and Greek temples sex was a common religious activity. The pagan gods of the Romans or Greeks set no precepts with regard to moral behavior.”

Historian Alvin Schmidt

Male-Female Ratios

• Rome: 131 males / 100 females

• Roman Empire: 140 males / 100 females

Plato’s Timaeus

“[A]ll those creatures generated as men who proved themselves cowardly and spent their lives in wrong doing were transformed, at their second incarnation, into women. … In this fashion, then women and the whole female sex have come into existence.”

Aristotle

“…that the female is a ‘monstrosity,’ a ‘deformed male,’ and ‘a deformity … which occurs in the ordinary course of nature. …’ ‘The male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject.’”

Greek Dualism

Spiritual

PhysicalPhysical

The Greek Dichotomy

MindReasonSpiritSoul Ruling

BodyFleshSexReproductionDomesticity

SuperiorSuperior

InferiorInferior

SPIRITUALSPIRITUAL

PHYSICALPHYSICAL

MALEMALE

FEMALEFEMALE

Greek Dualism

MALE

FemaleFemale

Hilarion’s Letter

“Know that I am still in Alexandria. And do not worry if they all come back and I remain in Alexandria. I ask and beg you to take good care or our baby son, and as soon as I receive payment I shall send it to you. If you are delivered of a child [before I come home], if it is a boy keep it, if a girl discard it. You have sent me word, ‘Don’t forget me.’ How can I forget you. I beg you not to worry.”

Roman Law of manus

• Established the husbands’ “ownership” and absolute control of their wives

• Because she was his property, a Roman could kill his wife without punishment

Jewish Prayer

Thank you God for not making me a Gentile, a woman or a slave!

Jesus ben Sirach

• Sirach 22:3 “It is a disgrace to be the father of an undisciplined son, and the birth of a daughter is a loss.”

• Sirach 42:14 “Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good; it is woman who brings shame and disgrace.”

Rabbi Eliezer

"Rather should the words of the Torah be burned than entrusted to a woman... Whoever teaches his daughter the Torah is like one who teaches her obscenity."

Jesus the True Feminist

“A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronized; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as ‘The women, God help us!’ or ‘The ladies, God bless them!’; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; …;

Author Dorothy Sayers

Jesus the True Feminist

“… who took them as he found them and was completely unself-conscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything “funny” about women’s natures.”

Author Dorothy Sayers

The Genealogies of Jesus

• Luke gives the paternal – blood line leading to Joseph

• Matthew gives the royal – legal line of those who were or would have been the kings to sit on the throne of David

Tamar

• Matthew 1:3 • Story was told in

Genesis 38• Tamar, the daughter-

in-law of Judah, committed the sin of incest. She was the mother in the royal line of Perez

Rahab

• Matthew 1:5• Story was told in

Joshua 2• Was a prostitute who

aided the Hebrew spies. She came into the royal line becoming the wife of Salmon and the mother of Boaz

Ruth

• Matthew 1:5 • Story was told in the

book that bears her name

• Ruth entered the royal line as the wife of Boaz, the father of Obed.

Bathsheba

• Matthew 1:6• Story was told in 2

Samuel 11• Bathsheba entered

the royal harem and later became the “queen-mother” through Solomon's reign.

God Chose Women to Announce the Birth of Jesus

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” And the angel departed from her.

God Chose Women to Announce the Birth of Jesus

• Elizabeth prophesied about the birth in Luke 1:42-45

Mary “Super-sized”

“Recovering Mary of Nazareth from perpetual virginity and perfection will allow us to see the possibility that God can and does work through the ordinariness of our flesh.”

Lillian Calles

Barger

Eve’s Revenge

The Everywoman of History

“Mary of Nazareth is the Everywoman of history, ordinary and obscure. She represents what is possible for us flesh-and-blood women who yield ourselves to God. Mary recognizes her own powerlessness and has no grand vision for herself as the model of virtue that she will become…. Yet her yes provided hope that in our bodies the works of God can be wrought. In her we find a sign of God’s willingness to use the insignificant, even the vulnerable and symbolic nature of our bodies.”

Lillian Calles Barger

The Wonder of Everywoman

“ A holy God enters the bloodiness of the womb, considered unclean under Jewish law, and makes it a temple. In the womb of a woman the eternal and transcendent Word by which the worlds were created becomes flesh.”

Lillian Calles Barger

God Chose Women to Announce the Birth of Jesus

• The prophetess, Anna, announced the birth of Jesus “to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:36-38).

He Regularly Communicated with Them

• Jesus talked to the woman at the well (John 4:7-26). She was both a despised Samaritan and an adulterous.

• He spoke with the woman caught in adultery (John 8:10-11).

• As he moves towards the crucifixion, He pauses to talk with a group of women who are mourning his coming death (Luke 23:27-31).

No Double Standard

• Read:– Matthew 5:28– John 8:3-11– Mark 10:5-9

• Questions:– What three areas of double standards did

Jesus address?– How did He address them?

He Treated Women as Human Beings

• “Daughter” – to the woman with a bleeding disorder (Luke 8:48)

• “My child” – to Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8:54)

• “Daughter of Abraham” – to the woman who was crippled (Luke 13:16)

He Treated Women as Free and Responsible Agents

• He did not wink at their sin, but lovingly confronted it:– The adulterous Samaritan woman (John

4:7-26)– The woman caught in adultery (John 8:3-11)– The woman who washed Jesus’ feet (Luke

7:44-48)

Heroines in His Stories

• Set # 1: Matthew 25:1-3f; Luke 18:2-8

• Set # 2: Matthew 12:42; 15:28; Luke 4:26

• Set # 3: Mark 12:41-44; Luke 15:8f

• Questions:– Who were these heroines?– What virtues did their lives illustrate?

Women were the Heroines in His Stories

• The ten virgins – virtue of readiness (Matt. 25:1-3)

• The widow’s plea – perseverance (Luke 18:2-8)

• The Canaanite mother’s faith (Matt. 15:28)

• The widow’s mite – generosity (Mark 12:41-44)

Women were the Heroines in His Stories

• The queen of the south – virtue in the seeking of wisdom (Matt. 12:42)

• The Widow of Zarephath – the virtue of the blessing of service (Luke 4:26)

• The parable of the lost coin – virtue of diligence (Luke 15:8f)

He Allowed Women to Touch Him

• Breaking all social custom, He allowed women to touch Him– A ceremonially unclean woman (Mark 5:25-

34)– The woman who washed Jesus’ feet (Luke

7:44-48)

He Ministered to Women

• Set # 1: Matthew 15:22-28; Luke 7:11-15

• Set # 2: Luke 8:43-48; 8:49-56; 10:38-42

• Set # 3: John 4:7-26; 19:25-27

• Questions:– Who were the women?– What were their circumstances?– How did Jesus minister to them?

He Ministered to Women

• The woman at the well (John 4:7-26) addressing her inner healing

• The woman who had a bleeding condition for 12 years (Luke 8:43-48)

• He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Luke 8:49-56)

• The woman who had been crippled for 18 years (Luke 13:10-13)

He Ministered to Women

• Healing the Canaanite’s daughter of demon possession (Matthew 15:22-28)

• He cared for widows and called for people to support widows (Luke 7:11-15)

• He instructed women like the Samaritan woman at the well and Mary the sister of Martha (Luke 10:38-42)

• On the cross, Jesus provided for His mother’s care (John 19:25-27)

He Called Women into His Kingdom Taskforce

• Women were first at the cradle (Elizabeth, Luke 1:39-44) and the last at the cross (Luke 23:27)

• Women were part of His traveling team and they cared for Jesus’ needs. Some helped to financially support the ministry team (Matt. 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41; Luke 8:1-3)

Jesus’ Kingdom Mission Team

“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, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.”

Women Ministered to Jesus

• They did not abandon Him at the cross

• They came to care for His body in the tomb

• They announced His resurrection

The Announcement

“From this new beginning God continues the legacy of using women as instruments of grace. Instead of appearing to the powerful Pilate or the Sanhedrin, Jesus appears first to those of lowest status. Instead of calling a press conference, he sends discredited women as messengers into a culture that does not easily believe them. In this way Jesus continues to overturn the power paradigms of the world and establish his true justice.”

The Company of Jesus

• Jesus has many akoloutheo – followers, “to follow one who precedes, join him as his attendant, accompany him.”

• Many of these followers are also his mathetes – disciples, pupils, learners.

• It is from among these disciples that Jesus will choose those who will have special authority to represent him, the apostles - “a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders.”

The Choosing of the Apostles

• Read Luke 6:12-16

• Questions:– What was Jesus doing?– What did Jesus do before He choose the 12?– From whom did He select?– Jesus was a revolutionary. He could have

chosen women! Why do you think He did not?

The Process

• He spent the night in prayer seeking the Father’s guidance (Luke 6:12).

• In the morning He called His mathetes to Him and from that group He chose 12 for the office of apostles.

• Of those who were His followers and disciples (both men and women) He chose 12 men to be His apostles.

Restoring the Order

• Jesus replaced the counterfeit Sexist order of Baalism

• But not with Monism’s Feminist order

• Jesus called for the restoration of the Trinitarian order: Men and women equal in being but with equally glorious and different functions.

The City of God

• Read Revelation 21:1-4, 10-14

• Questions:– How is the Holy City described?– What is passing away and what is dawning?– What do the foundations of the city represent?– What do the gates of the city represent?

Masculine Representation

• The 12 gates of the city are named with the twelve sons of Jacob, the twelve tribes of Israel

• The wall of the city had twelve foundations. Each foundation was inscribed with the names of the “twelve apostles of the Lamb.”

Feminine Representation

• As a bride beautifully dressed for her husband

• It shone with the glory of God

• Its brilliance, like a sapphire