Mary, Mary...Quite Contrary...

Ladies and gentlemen, I am tired. I am tired of listening to debate on the presence of women in the ministry of Jesus Christ. I am tired of only hearing a certain line from a certain letter, and NEVER hearing Christ cited on the matter (because yes, His actions and words reveal a great deal more on the topic).

Jesus Christ - God incarnate - is a spiritual revolutionary.

Jesus Christ revealed Himself as God first to a woman, his mother Mary. When God commissioned Mary, God asked her to do something not only seemingly impossible physically but additionally devastating socially. Imagine the impact on a young woman! Yet she consented with grace and joy. So Mary birthed Jesus and she raised Him. And then as a young man just beginning His ministry she fetched Him to help a friend out with a problem with some wine. He dissented at first but conceded. His first miracle, changing the water to wine, was to appease Mary, His mother, who obviously knew before ANY others that her son was capable of eliciting the miraculous, of circumventing the natural order, at will! What had Mary seen in all those years of raising her son? What did she know that she demanded of Him to do this beloved miracle. We can only imagine but blessed, certainly, was she.

Jesus named Himself the Messiah first in His public ministry to the Samaritan woman taking water from the well. The first time He revealed His place and sovereignty publicly, it was to a sin-seeped woman! The Gospel describes that the Disciples were surprised when they returned to find Him talking to the woman at all, but they dared not say a word. The woman went from Jesus and told what she had witnessed, calling the people of the town to Jesus. Because of her witness, Jesus stayed in the town for several days and many believed in Him. As the people came to Him, Jesus reminded the Disciples that the it was no work of theirs that had ripened that spiritual harvest!

Another wonderful illustration of Jesus' opinion of woman is the story of Martha and Mary(again with the name Mary)! As her sister rushed to tend to the housework and hosting, Mary sat and listened to Jesus' teachings. Martha appealed to Jesus to influence her sister to attend to her duties with the household chores. Rather than encouraging Mary to fulfill the role demanded of her by both her sister and her society, Jesus admonished Martha that Mary was attending to the matter of real importance in just being with Him. Focusing on Jesus was more important for a woman than satisfying social convention or gender roles.

And there are other beautiful examples of Jesus singlehandedly upsetting the gender apple cart; the adulteress that was condemned to death, the woman who perfumed his feet, the hemorrhaging woman and the woman who argued with Him and demanded that He heal her daughter. Jesus revealed Himself as 'the resurrection' to Martha, and wept with Mary before he raised Lazarus from the dead. Each of these interactions demonstrate Jesus' respect, care, and investment in the spiritual lives of these women in spite of the social conventions that demanded something far different of Him.

The most significant female interaction with Christ, however, is His appearance to Mary Magdelene at the tomb, revealing His resurrection and commissioning her to reveal it in turn to the Disciples. This instance is often used in apologetics to confirm the legitimacy of Jesus' resurrection because a woman in Jewish culture would be such a 'poor' and 'inconclusive' witness. If it was faked, scholars suggest that certainly the authors would have chosen a more credible witness, ie: a man. But it was Mary, the one from whom He cast 7 demons that He gently called to go forth and tell the good news. Jesus had His own criterion for credibility and authority, and He admonished His disciples that wanted to see for themselves rather than believe His witness that He commissioned. One would think that if Christ Himself found a woman so worthy...

Modern Christians are a hypocritical lot in choosing which rulings they adhere to. During the Sermon on the Mount, Christ specified that He was not going to abolish any of the Law...not even the smallest letter. Yet we, as modern Christians, have completely forgone the Law of Moses. We do not measure our worship spaces, select the color of our tunic or ritually sacrifice. We do not even uphold the most basic of the Law, the 10 Commandments. We covet, covet, covet and covet some more, citing economic strength and credit scores. We leave our mothers and fathers to perish in solitude in expensive facilities...and rebellion has become almost passe it has been so embraced by youth for the last several decades. And adultery? Taking the Lord's Name in Vain? Whew...Our house is indeed divided...

Most importantly of all, Jesus only cited Himself and God as authority. He did not mention the laws or dictates that were to come after. He did not even mention teachers that were to come after. He was the Way the Truth and the Light. Period. Knowledge of Him is to be found from Him and from the Comforter, the Holy Spirit that He sent to His people - nothing more is required than God!

Despite the many amazing and uplifting contributions ANYONE since Christ has made to the practice of Christianity, absolutely no one is entitled to make rulings that contradict the practices of the Christ, or limit the access of ANY to Christ, or determine in what manner Christ is allowed to commission His lambs. Regardless of circumstances, only Christ WAS the truth. And when I read contradiction, when I hear adherence to a law that was not established by God incarnate, that is selectively practiced OVER and instead of what Jesus himself advocated, I MUST reject it. I am a Christian. I follow the Christ. All other things fall aside if they stand in opposition to the lessons Jesus offers me. And as a woman, I am very deeply thankful.

A final thought to ponder: What does 'Mary' mean in Hebrew?

Rebellion.