Women in Jesus’s Earthly Ministry

Notes
Transcript
Jesus’ respect for women is clear in how He:
saw them as equals to men,
cared for their needs,
and honored them throughout His earthly ministry.
Still, Jesus acknowledged different roles for men and women
by choosing men as apostles for preaching, teaching, and leading.
Women, however, played vital roles through prayer, financial support,
meeting physical needs,
sharing theological insights,
and even given the great privilege witnessing the resurrection.
But because of Jesus’s “pro women” stance,
many wonder if Jesus’ teachings about women fits with the rest of the Bible.
Was His message a departure from the Old Testament?
Do His views conflict with Paul’s?
And is a wife’s submission to her husband one-sided,
or does it involve mutual submission?
So first off, how were women treated back then?
Well, sadly, women in first-century Roman society and Judaism were often treated as second-class citizens.
While the Old Testament does record instances of women being treated this way,
this does not mean God endorsed such behavior.
In fact, the Bible, including the Old Testament regularly gives accounts of biblical characters and their prejudice,
as a means of showcasing how different this was from God’s will and intention.
Scripture also mentions practices like child sacrifice, polygamy, ritualistic sex, and wife abuse—none of which were ever approved by God.
For example,
God overturned the tradition of giving all inheritance rights to the firstborn by choosing Jacob over Esau, despite Esau being the elder.
Similarly, David, the youngest of his brothers, was chosen to be king over Israel,
defying the cultural preference for the eldest.
In the story of Ruth, a foreign Moabite woman,
God not only blessed her but included her in the lineage of Christ,
upending the societal prejudice against foreigners.
These examples show how God’s actions often contradicted human customs
which show us His true heart and purpose.
And this pattern of overturning immoral cultural norms is continued in the New Testament, starting with Jesus.
This is why historians often describe Jesus’s approach to women as “revolutionary”.
But as we’ll see,
Jesus’s treatment of women was perfectly in line with the Old Testament or later New Testament teachings
As we saw last week,
Women are created in the image of God just as men are,
and as image bearers, they have immense value and worth.
And because of this,
Jesus treated women, not primarily as women,
but as as human beings who are made in the image of God.
And so Jesus saw women as equals and valued them as real people.
which is why both men and women could be His disciples.
To Jesus, women were not just objects of male desire
but individuals with their own worth.
they persons to whom and for whom Christ had come to save.
And so what mattered mostly to Jesus, wasn’t their gender,
But their relationship to God as image bearers.
And there are many examples of Jesus treating women fairly and respectfully in the Gospels.
For example, Jesus often spoke directly to women in public,
which was uncommon for a man at that time (John 4:27).
In John 4, when the disciples saw Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar (John 4:7–26), they were taken back by this.
Not just because she was a Samaritan,
But because she was a woman.
He also spoke kindly to the woman caught in adultery in John 8:10–11
Luke mentions that Jesus spoke publicly to the widow of Nain (Luke 7:12–13),
to the woman with the bleeding disorder (Luke 8:48; Matthew 9:22; Mark 5:34),
who reached out and touched Him - which was a big no no as that would make Jesus ceremonially unclean,
But still, Jesus speaks to her in kindness and heals her.
He raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead by touching her - despite ritual impurity.
He also addressed a woman who had been bent over for eighteen years (Luke 13:12)
and spoke to a group of women on the way to the cross (Luke 23:27–31).
And, in His dying words,
He expresses concern for His mother by asking John to care for her.
Another way Jesus showed his respect for the intrinsic value of women is in the way He spoke to them,
as He addressed them with care and kindness.
For example, in each of the synoptic Gospels records Jesus called the woman with the bleeding disorder “daughter”
and referred to the bent-over woman as a “daughter of Abraham” (Luke 13:16).
and by calling Jewish women “daughters of Abraham” (Luke 13:16),
Jesus gave them a spiritual status equal to that of men.
With the women with the bleeding disorder, who reached out and touched Him (which was a big no no as that would make Jesus ceremonially unclean,
Jesus speaks to her in kindness and heals her.
Also, while Jesus did not overlook the sin in the lives of the women He encountered,
He held them personally accountable for their actions,
as seen in His interactions with the woman at the well (John 4:16–18),
the woman caught in adultery (John 8:10–11),
and the sinful woman who anointed His feet (Luke 7:44–50).
and in each of these situations, their sin was not condoned, but confronted,
as each woman had the personal freedom and responsibility to confront her sin, seek repentance, and experience forgiveness with God.
Jesus also demonstrated his belief in the equality of men and women through his teachings on divorce and lust.
In His views on divorce (Matthew 5:32; 19:9; Mark 10:11–12; Luke 16:18),
Jesus made it clear that women were not to be treated as property
but as individuals with their own rights and dignity.
Back in Jesus’s day, women could be divorced over anything - including burning their husband’s dinner.
But Jesus condemned this,
since Women are not objects to be dismissed at will.
Jesus also spoke strongly against the sin of lust,
which was counted the idea that women are merely sexual objects who exist for men’s enjoyment.
this allowed Him and His followers to have meaningful social interactions between men and women,
which was uncommon in the Jewish culture of His time.
In His sermon the mount, Jesus taught that “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
While many rabbis argued for separating men and women to avoid temptation,
Jesus had a different approach.
His mission was to seek and save all people, which included women (Luke 19:10).
And so He called His disciples to a righteousness that “surpasses that of the Pharisees” (Matthew 5:20).
Instead of seeing women as a source of sinful temptation,
Jesus “called upon His disciples to discipline their thoughts rather than avoid women.”
Jesus expected His disciples to exercise this self-control,
allowing men and women to interact and work together in harmony.
While such social contact between the sexes would have been unthinkable to first-century rabbis,
Jesus’ teaching on the sinfulness of lust helps explain how men and women related to one another in His ministry and in the early church.
In fact, as seen in the New Testament,
women worked faithfully alongside men in the early church.
Throughout Jesus’s earthly ministry He:
used women in His illustrations and teaching,
allowed women to follow Him,
and believed that women were to study theology just as men are to.
He didn’t turn them away and point them to domestic chores,
The point is,
there are no role distinctions for learning from Christ.
However, one of the biggest examples of God’s view of women is how they were given the immense privilege of being the first eye-witnesses of the resurrection.
In Christ’s day, women were not considered reliable witnesses, as they were considered to be too emotional and hysterical.
The historian Josephus wrote:
“But do not allow the testimony of women, because they are thought to be too unreliable and overly assertive for their testimony to be trusted.”
Still, despite this wrong cultural perception,
God chose to use women as His initial witnesses to His disciples.
Why?
Because He was giving them a special honor,
and because He was trying to elevate the importance of women in His new community of Christian believers.
And so, these women not only were the first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection,
but also stand perpetually as examples for all believers.
These women led the way in proclaiming the gospel
—that Christ died for our sins, was buried, but rose again for our justification the third day.
and to this day, the duty and high privilege of witnessing for Christ is still open to every believer,
without distinction as to gender.
Now, even though Christ highly elevated women, He still demonstrated a clear role distinction between men and women.
Which is important to understand, because a many theological feminists try and argue that role distinctions are only found in the writings of Paul,
who was teaching something contrary to Jesus.
But, this isn’t true, and Jesus and Paul’s writings fit together perfectly.
How so?
First off, out of all of the 12 disciples,
all of them were men.,
and the same was true of all 12 of the apostles.
And in response to this, theological feminists argue that this was a cultural and temporary thing,
and today things have changed.
But this isn’t true,
Because as we’ve discussed already,
Jesus had ZERO problems breaking social norms.
He regularly and openly criticized the religious leaders of His day in public,
and outright told them He didn’t care at all about the traditions of man that they were presenting as being teachings from God.
He healed on the sabbath,
cleansed the temple with a whip,
spoke to the Samaritan woman,
ate with tax collectors and sinners,
and even ate with unwashed hands.
The point is,
When moral issues weren’t at risk,
Jesus did not bend to cultural pressure.
So no, it was not a social custom or cultural pressure that caused Jesus to appoint an all-male group of disciples and then apostles.
If it didn’t violate God’s role distinctions,
Jesus would have had ZERO problems appointing six men and six women as apostles.
The apostles were responsible for leading the birth of the early church,
and this position was only for men,
And it was a high leadership position,
that in Revelation 21:14, we find that the 12 apostles of the lamb will have their names inscribed in the very walls of Christ’s city on earth.
And so even though women were highly valued and given a new dignity by Christ,
their roles were different from those of the men Christ selected for His top leadership positions.
Women gave to Christ, served Him, fellowshipped with Him, accompanied Him, learned from Him, prayed, and testified of their salvation and of Christ’s resurrection.
But no woman in Christ’s ministry was called, commissioned, or named as an apostle,
or even performed in the role of an apostle.
These roles and functions Christ reserved for exclusively for men.
and the same holds true for the office of elder/pastor/deacon within a local church.
But wait a minute, theological feminists say:
None of the apostles were gentile,
and so by that same logic leadership in the local church should not be gentile too!
This logic can be seen in the following syllogism:
A. Jesus chose only male apostles.
B. Jesus chose only Jewish apostles.
C. Therefore, church elders must be male and Jewish.
Question:
So what should we think of this?
Is this a double standard?
Should we also believe that only Jews can be leaders in the church?
No.
Matthew 15:24 ESV
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Matthew 10:5–6 ESV
5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And, even in the early church, Paul makes it crystal clear that the gospel is for who first?
Romans 1:16 (ESV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (i.e. Gentile).
Throughout Jesus’s earthly ministry, what was He (and even John the Baptist before Him) continually preaching?
Matthew 4:17 ESV
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
And this is why it’s so important to understand what the Kingdom is.
Because Jesus offered them it,
But did they accept it?
No.
Which is why Jesus says in Matthew 23:39, not long before His crucifixion:
Matthew 23:39 ESV
39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”
And right now, because of Israel’s unbelief and rejection of their Messiah,
a partial hardening has come upon the Jewish people,
Romans 11:25 ESV
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
And at the end of the time of the gentiles what is going to occur?
Christ is going to return,
The Jewish people who are alive and remaining will look upon the one pieced and all Israel will be saved!
Romans 11:26 ESV
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
Zechariah 12:10 ESV
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
So no, it was not cultural pressure but God’s plan to bring salvation through the Jews first that led to twelve Jewish apostles.
And it was with the resurrection that Jesus’s mission then expanded to include the Gentiles.
which will conclude with the return of Christ, when He sets up His earthly Kingdom,
as then and only then,
will Israel finally: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven will be at hand,” and will arrive with Christ at His second coming.”
Ephesians 2:14–16 ESV
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
To every Jewish person’s surprise,
God began saving gentiles and placing them in local churches,
where some of them became leaders with them.
So yes, Jewish apostles were unique and foundational,
but Gentiles rapidly came to assume leadership in the church,
because of the nature of Christ’s mission.
Still, the question slightly remains,
Was maleness, like Jewishness, a temporary requirement?
Was maleness only foundational as well?
No…
because from the very start, Christ’s ministry already included both men and women…
which isn’t the case with Jew and Gentile.
Secondly,
Male leadership was clearly taught by those whom Christ initially taught, trained, and to whom He committed the future leadership of His church.
Since the book of Acts frequently highlights how Christ and the Holy Spirit guided the work of the church and its leaders,
it can be rightly assumed that leadership decisions were made with their guidance as well.
In Acts 1:15–26, we read of how they chose a replacement apostle for Judas who had hung himself.
Acts 1:15–26 (ESV)
15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “ ‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “ ‘Let another take his office.’
21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
So what are the requirements here?
Must have been a witness of Jesus’s earthly ministry
Must have been a man.
And in Acts 6, we find the same pattern when it comes to selecting deacons.
Acts 6:1–6 ESV
1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
Good reputation
Full of the Spirit - which means having spiritual maturity and discernment.
Full of wisdom
Male.
and the requirement of them being men was deliberate.
Therefore, we should conclude that in Jesus believed gender differences when it comes to leadership in the church,
and this can be seen by
His choice of 12 male apostles,
the choice of only men writing the New Testament Scriptures,
and the instructions for the church’s leaders to be men,
Even though there is a clear distinction in gender roles within Christ’s church and the home,
there should be no barriers between any believer and the Lord Jesus Christ, regardless of gender.
Jesus demonstrated the utmost respect for women in both His actions and teachings.
He recognized the intrinsic equality of men and women,
continually showing their value and dignity as individuals.
Jesus valued women’s fellowship, prayers, service, financial support, testimony, and witness.
He honored, taught, and ministered to women in meaningful and thoughtful ways.
As a result, women responded warmly to Jesus’ ministry.
Has anything changed today that would prevent us from encountering this same Jesus?
Not at all.
Modern women can experience the same deep fulfillment in serving Christ as the Marys and Marthas of Judea, or the Joannas and Susannas of Galilee did.
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