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John 4 – Jesus Was A Radical Concerning Women
Jesus was a radical; but not in the way some radicals want. Jesus has been called a liberal; but again not liberal in their liberal ways. Want an example?
Jesus valued women, their intellect, and their place in the kingdom as equal (i.e. worth) to men. He believed in educating them spiritually when culture looked down on that. Jesus spoke to that Samaritan woman (John 4), and taught Mary as she sat at his feet (Luke 10:38-42). Both publicly and privately Jesus taught women, while rabbis taught husbands should not even “salute (i.e. greet) a woman, not even his own wife, in a public place” (Aboth, I, 5). Jesus valued women, even using them in illustrations (Luke 15:8-10) showing they have a place in winning the lost. Radical!
Valuing women’s worth is unquestioned in Jesus’ ministry as it was in creation (Genesis 1:27). But where Jesus fails to be radical enough is He recognized a difference between worth (i.e. value, dignity) and work (i.e. roles). Jesus chose only men to be apostles because that was a position of authority as was man being the head of the home (Genesis 2; Ephesians 5). People wanting men and women to have exactly the same work or roles argue anything less is not recognizing the dignity of women. I suggest when God (i.e. worth) becomes flesh and male (i.e. work), and specifically one who was born among animals, washes feet, and died between thieves, that Jesus did not think subjection to His Father and serving mankind’s needs were undignified. Now that’s radical!
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