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In case you didn’t know March is Women’s History Month and this coming Wednesday is International Women’s Day which celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. I have been blessed with some amazing women in my life. My mom not only cared for our family when I was growing up, but she was a full-time elementary school teacher, worked part time as a secretary for a beach association, was the secretary of the teachers’ association, and served in several different leadership positions in our church. She did it all and always had time for us. She remains an amazing woman.
My Grandmother was one of the smartest people I have known. In a day and age when many women didn’t go to college, my grandmother went to Vassar college where she studied both math and horticulture. She was just smart, and she helped teach us numbers by playing cards and words by reading to us and asking for our help on crossword puzzles. We were not of any help with the crossword puzzles, but she made us think we were, and she was teaching us the entire time. My Great Grandmother also lived with us for a few summers which meant that there were 4 generations of women who surrounded me growing up and their love and support have helped make me who I am. I am grateful to them all.
My Dad was a hospital chaplain who supervised seminary students when they interned at the hospital. Through the years we saw several groups of seminary students come through our home and many of them were women. Seeing women serve as a pastor was simply part of growing up. Since it is women’s history month, let me give you a little women’s history from my childhood.
One of the students who came through the chaplains program my dad taught was Lorraine Potter who became a good friend of our family. In 1972, Lorraine applied to be a chaplain in the US Air Force but was told that the position was only open to men. After a few weeks she received another letter saying that if her church would endorse her, she could become a chaplain. Her church did endorse her and Lorraine was the first woman commissioned as a chaplain in the Air Force. When she retired from the military in 2004 she was a Major General serving as the Chief of Chaplains for the US Air Force. She was a pioneer among clergy women who wanted to serve both in the church and in the military.
I grew up seeing these kinds of women and seeing women as pastors, so I was surprised when I went to college and seminary and heard people talk about how women shouldn’t be in ministry and how in some denominations, women weren’t even allowed to teach men. It just seemed strange to me. When I was a student pastor in a small town in NC, I was surprised to see the Sunday School opening devotional time with all the men on one side and all the women on the other. They didn’t sit like that in church, so why now? For them it was mostly tradition, after all they had a woman pastor at the time, but it just seemed odd, and I always had fun sitting on both sides of the aisle.
Jesus must have also seen this as odd because while He lived during a time when women were not equal to men, He went out of His way to honor women, celebrate women, serve women, and even choose and use women in His ministry. This month we are reading through the gospel of Luke and looking at Jesus' attitude and actions towards people that most would have considered outcasts, outsiders and outlaws. Women were most definitely outsiders when it came to Jewish practices.
In Jesus’s time, women were only important if they helped and improved a man’s life. They were seen as weaker in body and mind and were not seen as worthy enough to be educated. Women could not be rabbis or teachers of men, and in some places they couldn’t even testify in court because they were not trusted to tell the truth. While all of this offends us today, this was the world in which Jesus lived and Jesus knew that the only way to change these things was to live differently, and so He did.
It is in the gospel of Luke that we find the most stories of Jesus' interaction with women. If you were with us last week, you heard how two of the first three people God chose to bring the mission of Jesus into the world were an old woman named Elizabeth, and a young girl named Mary. While we focused on their being very old and very young, let’s not forget the fact that they were women. Women who were chosen and used by God. Women whose names we know. That in itself is significant. In the Bible there are about 1700 people uniquely named and only 173 of them are women.
In Luke 2 we hear about another woman, Anna, who was in the temple when Jesus was brought in by his parents. Anna is another old woman, and she begins to tell people about who this child is. Luke begins this story of Jesus with women taking important and prominent roles, and the importance of women is clear all through his gospel.
In Luke 4, one of the first people Jesus healed was Peter’s mother-in-law who was sick with a fever. In Luke 7, Jesus met a widow whose only son had died and Jesus was so filled with compassion for this woman that He raised her son to life. The first time Jesus raised someone from the dead was because He had compassion for women in need.
In Luke 8, there are two stories of Jesus healing women. The first was a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. In many ways Jesus was her last hope, her last shot at having any kind of normal life, and so she reached out in faith to touch the hem of His garment knowing that if she could just touch Him, she would be healed. She did touch Him and she was healed, but then Jesus stopped what He was doing, found the woman and blessed her again. After years of being an outcast because of her sickness, Jesus called her a daughter of God.
Immediately after this, Jesus went to the home of a ruler whose daughter was dying. It wasn’t a son who was dying, it was a daughter and while I’m sure the man loved his daughter, she didn’t have the same value and worth as a son, and yet Jesus went to the home and raised the girl to life.
It’s in Luke’s gospel that we hear about how it was women who were last at the grave when He died and first at the grave at the resurrection. This is from Luke 23:55-56, 24:1-3
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
Luke even tells us who these women were, he names them.
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. Luke 8:1-3
So, it was women who helped provide for Jesus and the disciples. It was women who traveled with Him. Women who had been healed by Jesus and called by Him and used by Him in mission and ministry. Some of these women were the first to proclaim the good news that the tomb was empty. They were the first evangelists. While they were not able to be called disciples because of the cultural context in which they lived, they were every bit the disciples that the men were. They had been called by Jesus and were being used by Jesus in a ministry that changed the world.
Another Mary we hear about in Luke is the sister of Martha. These two sisters welcomed Jesus into their home and Martha was doing what women traditionally did, she was preparing the meal and getting ready to serve the men. Mary, on the other hand, was at the feet of Jesus listening to what He said. Mary was with the men listening, she had taken the position of a disciple, learning at the feet of the master, and Jesus doesn’t scold her, in fact He honors her choice saying, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42.
Now to be clear, we need all kinds of women and men serving in all different ways. Some will serve by meeting the needs of those around them, in fact, the story Jesus tells before going to the home of Mary and Martha is the story of the good Samaritan. The good Samaritan was the one who was willing to get his hands dirty and help a stranger in need. That kind of service, the kind of work Martha was doing, was honorable and needed, but Jesus also honors the choice Mary made. She chose to humble herself and listen. She chose to learn and maybe share what she heard with others. She took a position with the men and Jesus welcomed her. Jesus’ attitudes and actions toward women helped change society.
All through Luke we see women called by God, chosen by Jesus, and used in the mission and ministry of Jesus. In fact, women had a large and important part to play in the ministry of Jesus and we need to remember this, celebrate the radical change Jesus was bringing, and work to continue to support women who are called, chosen and used by God today in the mission and ministry of Jesus.
I want you to hear the story of two women from our congregation who have been called by God, chosen by God, and have been and are being used by God in the mission and ministry of Jesus. Tirzah Gibboney and Linda Minns share some of what it was like to be a woman called by God and how God has and is using them. Let’s listen to their stories.
God is still calling, choosing, and using women to advance the kingdom of God. Like Jesus, we need to encourage them, support them, and advocate for them in the world today. We also need to call women to positions of leadership and service the way Jesus did. In so many ways, women still struggle to be seen as equal. On average, women still earn less than men for the same job and at the national level, while we have made great strides in recent years, today only 27% of the current US congress are women.
Here are some statistics that should make us, like Jesus, want to do something to change our world. Statistics from the UN says that about 740 million women have been victims of violence during their lifetime, usually at the hands of their fathers, husbands, or boyfriends. Covid increased violence against women globally so that number just increases. In the US, 1 in 5 women will experience either completed or attempted rape, and 81% of all women in the US have experienced sexual harassment or assault. As the church, we need to speak out and find ways to change attitudes and behaviors so all women are valued and protected.
While we have come so far, we have so much farther to go before girls and women are no longer seen as outcasts or objects. The church needs to be a place where we not just celebrate the lives and faith of women, but advocate for women, work for their wellbeing, support them when others turn away and be a safe haven for them to tell their stories and find healing, hope and peace.
Certainly one great way to make a difference is to contact Tirzah and learn more about the work of Bridge of Hope. 80% of all homeless families are led by single moms who often find themselves at some point living in a car. Bridge of Hope is hosting a “Night in a Car” event in a few weeks to both raise awareness of this situation and raise funds to help women in our community. You can get more information about this event and the work of Bridge of Hope in the lobby or at the digital bulletin.
Jesus entered a world where women were seen as outcasts and outsiders. Like so many today, they were marginalized and pushed down, but throughout His life, Jesus worked to lift them up. Jesus honored women. He healed women. He welcomed women to sit at his feet and learn with the men. He called women to be the first evangelists to share the good news of His resurrection. Jesus worked to change the attitudes people had toward women so that women could experience the fullness of life. We need to continue His work.
I want to invite you to examine your own attitude toward women and see if anything needs to change. Are there subtle words or attitudes that need to change? Are there actions or behaviors that need to change? How do our eyes need to be open so that we truly see the challenges women still face in our world and the value, contributions and blessing they bring.
While a lot has changed since the days of Jesus, a lot more needs to change, and like Jesus, we need to be at the forefront making these changes happen.
Next Steps
Outcasts, Outsiders, and Outlaws - Week 2
Read the stories of Jesus’ interaction with women found in Luke’s gospel:
Luke 2:36-38
Luke 4:38-39
Luke 7:11-15
Luke 7:36-50
Luke 8:40-56
Luke 10:38-42
Luke 13:10-17
Luke 21:1-4
Luke 23:55-24:12
● How did Jesus’ interaction with women challenge the attitudes and traditions of His day?
● What does Jesus' actions tell us about how we need to see women today?
● What attitudes and actions might you need to change?
Who are the women who have made a difference in your life and faith? How can you celebrate and honor their work?
Violence against women is still a problem in our world. If you have been a victim of violence in any form and need help, please reach out to get support and counseling.
If you want to learn about the challenges women still face and the inequity that still exists, and find ways to be part of the solution, contact one of these organizations. All three groups are supported in the general budget of Faith Church.
● The Pregnancy Resource Clinic - scprc.com
● Centre Safe - centresafe.org
● Bridge of Hope - centre.bridgeofhopeinc.org
○ Bridge of Hope is looking for volunteers to assist with a widow and 4 children in the Bellefonte community. For more information contact Tirzah Gibboney at Bridge of Hope.
