This might shock some of you but I think that Jesus loves International Women’s Day. I imagine that he sees the sea change,this moment where the tide is beginning to turn, as a breaking in of His Kingdom here on earth. 2000+ years ago this revolution of valuing women was pioneered by Jesus. Everywhere He went He elevated the status of women from less than, to beloved. I remember when this revelation hit me for the first time some years back and instantly my reading of the gospels took on a new lens. It’s like the women appeared centre stage for the first time. They moved from the shadows – where I had placed them – into centre stage. What changed? I changed; I went to India and witnessed first hand misogyny (confession time I had to google definition first time I read the word) my friend Nina sent me a copy of Half the sky and God broke my heart with every page I read. I returned to India and on that second trip everywhere I went I was surrounded by little girls. I’m a fierce mama of 3 sons and tbh I often feel more at ease with males so I was intrigued at what the Father was doing with me. In a session that we’d planned for the women in a womens centre I ended up surrounded by little girls and as I washed their feet and prayed for them I wept deeply. In that moment I was forever changed. My life since has taken a different direction, and the Holy Spirit put a new lens in my eyes. I just don’t read the Bible differently but I see everything through my new lens; the news, conversations, non verbal communication – it all!
Jesus’ gender blindness was completely and totally counter culture. He sought out encounters with women – the Samaritan lady at the well. Jairus daughter whom he came too and healed (daughters where less than too). His close relationship with Mary & Martha. The women who were part of his close knit community. Time and time again Jesus engages with women in a way that elevates them, gives them dignity, and proves their equality without ever having to speak of it directly. I love Jesus!! He communicates time and time again most clearly with his actions. In this moment of western history it can feel like the church is trying to catchup with society but that is so upside down, the world is catching up with the gospel, the good news of Jesus.
Around the world, east, west, rich and poor. What’s good news then is good news now. What’s good news there is good news here, what’s good news for me needs to be good news to a village woman in India. To the woman covered in scars tissues and sores from setting herself on fire in slum in Bangalore. Or the story of the girl sold into temple prostitution in the place that we traveled overnight in the train too. Or the child bride married as a second wife (basically a slave for the first wife) How does the gospel of Jesus elevate them from the culture around them.
How does Jesus elevate the young girl who is feeling pressured into having sex at 14 before even going on a date, in a porn saturated Britain, where young girls as young as 11 are performing sex acts that young boys expect because that’s what they’ve seen in porn. How does the gospel lift them from that culture into a place where they value themselves and their bodies as a precious gift to be given not a commodity to be demanded. And lets be clear here the same culture is drowning our boys and men, devaluing their desires and telling them what they want, what they need and what they are entitled too from girls and women. The gospel of my Jesus lifts them and elevates them from the prevailing porn culture.
Or the single parent of 3 children of 3 different fathers left to provide for and bring up her children on benefits, living in a council estate that is a no go area after dark. Where loan sharks roam the streets and corridors sniffing the desperation in the air for their next victim. Or the drug dealers peddling a temporary escape from the despair and fear. Or the groomers stalking the area, preying on the vulnerable teenagers with only one intention to exploit their bodies for their own profits.
Or a girl trapped in a culture that insists that she is less than and that her beauty is a threat to men and she must learn to cover herself up to protect herself and to protect men from their lusts. Its her responsibility. She is the property of her father until she becomes the property of her husband, sometimes a man much older than her and an arrangement that is mutually beneficial for their families but she will not be considered, who she will not choose but who will be chosen for her, it may like many arranged marriages become one of love and commitment and respect, or it may be one of martital rape, abuse and servitude. In many countries even when the worst scenario materializes the women will have no right to divorce, no right to any justice as she is the property of her husbands and therefore he can do that he pleases to her. The gospel of Jesus must be as true to her as to me.
Or the 35 year old woman climbing the carreer ladder, pushing herself to prove that she is as talented and hard working as her male colleagues. Feeling the pressure to not only out perform them to stay in an equal footing but must look a certain way too, be perfectly groomed, slim, appropriately dressed. But in this stage of life yearning to find a partner to share her life with and maybe have children but she cant seem to find the time to do that, and how can she take maternity leave now with the prospect of the next promotion in 2 years? And if she does step out for 9 mths, she will be more than 9 mths behind her colleagues, she’ll unofficially of course be at the bottom of the pile, because everyone knows her priorities will change now she is working mother. The gospel of Jesus must break into her culture and elevate her too to be true.
It must elevate the widow in Africa who when her husband died lost the rights to the land that she and her children live on and seek their livelihood from. Who’s property was grabbed from her and she was left homeless and without an opportunity to provide for her family. Is the gospel of Jesus that we are teaching and preaching in our pulpits, in our blogs and status updates is it the same gospel that elevates and brings up to this widow?
It must be true to all these daughters of the king and all the many other lives and circumstances not told here if it is true anywhere, it must be true everywhere.
On International Women’s Day 2018 I believe more than ever that the gospel of Jesus is good news for women and men everywhere, that His Kingdom is breaking in and advancing more each day.
Michelle Scott 