Thinking of the coming of Christ to us is always the joy of our soul because Christ is the only Hope for us, human beings. What else? Without Jesus Christ, we end up in hell, not for a short period of time but for eternity. So, Jesus Christ is our everyday joy!
His coming, other than announcing the redemption of human race it also, announced the truth about women.
What?
Oh! Yes!
Jesus Christ is the only One who straightened up the story of women that was dashed down to dirt until Jesus came. Forget about feminism or one of those, “We women are equal with men,” kind of movements. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our Creator, creator of both men and women.
God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and – – – God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:26a-27NASB
God is the author of not only our lives but also our genders. It is God who created us male and female, man and woman. And it is only our Creator who can correctly tell us our rightful place in life and in the society.
When Jesus came, women were considered in the Jew’s society as men’s properties. Their place was much lower than a man, a little higher than animals. Women couldn’t take part in any gathering with men such as at the worship place (I guess that is how it is even today). Women had a designated place in the synagogue and couldn’t move one inch from that place because the belief was, “A woman is cursed by God because she made the innocent and sinless Adam to sin against God.” So, she’s seen as the sole cause and source of all evils and sin.
So, Other than cooking, washing and cleaning, women were sex objects and machines to bring children to this world. If a woman could not bear children, especially boys, or, if she was a widow or left by herself from a natural disaster, she was considered as a society burden. Yes, there was Jew’s Law to protect citizens but more so to protect men than women.
During that time, if, for example, a man rapes a woman, his act will be considered as a crime and he has to pay whatever price the Law imposed on him. But after he rapes a woman, he can directly go to his prayers because according to their law, “raping a woman is not a sin.” It is considered as a sin only if the woman belongs to another man. In that case, rape is considered both as a crime and a sin before God.
When it comes to marriage, forget it! A man had all the right to marry or divorce a woman but a woman, she had absolutely no right to marry or divorce a man.
During her monthly period, menstruation, a woman was considered “ceremonially unclean.” That means whatever/whoever she touches will be unclean. So, for seven days a woman gets “quarantined” until she finishes her cycle.
And hear this: No one wastes time talking to a woman or teaching her anything because her brain is considered as useful for nothing because “she was cursed by God after making the innocent Adam to sin against God.”
Then Jesus came!
Praise God!
You can find all amazing encounters Jesus had with women in your Bible and notice how Jesus handled and treated women.
For now, let me share with you few passages from the Bible;
Luke accounts a beautiful story of Jesus and the family of Martha and Mary (and their brother, Lazarus).
“Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”” Luke 10:38-42NASB
Martha was doing what was expected of her; she was running around to feed the men. On the other hand, Mary, her sister, instead of running around to serve the men, she chose to sit at the feet of Jesus.
I mean, who would think twice to choose between: To do something else or sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to His teaching, right!
Yes, Mary knew Jesus and she didn’t want to waste her opportunity to learn from Him.
Learn?
Didn’t she know that she was a woman, that education was useless for her since her brain was good for nothing after she made Adam sin against God? No! Mary knew Jesus Christ the One who treats women with dignity and respect, as bearers of God’s image!
So Mary minded her own business as she sat at Jesus’ feet to learn from Him.
Learn and do what with what she learned?
Just look at the Proverbs 31 woman and what she did with what she learned:
“Her children rise up and bless her;
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
“Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all.”
Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
Give her the product of her hands,
And let her works praise her in the gates.” Proverbs 31:28-31NASB
A woman impacts, influences and inspires generations by what she learns. Teaching a woman is like teaching a whole society!
So, Jesus affirmed Mary’s choice to do nothing but sit at His feet and learn from Him, the Son of God, by saying,
“Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Let’s see another story:
“But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”” John 8:1-11NASB
I mean, did you read that!
The men said, they caught a woman in adultery. Wow! Was a woman committing adultery by herself????
Hey! Hey! No question asked because the accused person is “just a woman.” The right thing to do in this case is “to give to the men what they are asking,” which is to stone the woman to death.
Who was this woman?
Let me interpret her story in our time.
The woman is the porn video woman that every man, young and old, sits and feeds on every time they get a chance to do so. Now this woman is caught by the men and every man is accusing her of “committing adultery.”
Wow! What about them?
Remember, the accused party is a woman. No question asked! Peace only comes when the men always get their way!
But this time, the Man they were asking to give them permission to stone a woman to death was not one of them but Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
What was Jesus’ answer for their demand to execute the woman to death for “committing adultery?” “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Verse 7
What? What is He talking about? The men didn’t ask Him about them but about this “filthy woman!” Well, none of those men said that to Jesus, right! They understood what He was saying to them clearly! “When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court.” Verse 9
Every man who was ready to stone the woman to death got convicted of his own very sin he was accusing the woman for. The only Man who had all the right to put the woman as well as all the men to death set the woman free from the clutches of those judgmental men saying,
“I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.” Verse 11
Let me share with you one more story:
“Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again. And He *said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”” Mark 10:2-12NASB
Woo! Woo! Did He say, “A woman divorces her husband?” A woman cannot marry or divorce a man. She only gets married and/or divorced by the will of a man. Yes, that was the case according to the culture and tradition of that time but not according to the Truth.
Jesus Christ explained to those men that the word of God had no double standard. What is true of men is also true of women. Eve sinned against God in the Garden, so did Adam! God cursed Eve for being deceived by the devil and ate the forbidden fruit; God cursed Adam for knowingly eat the forbidden fruit rejecting what God said to him, instead listening to Eve. Both sinned and both got cursed by God.
This was like Latin for those men. Well, it was clear for them! They weren’t challenged intellectually. Rather they were not willing to hear the truth. Their hearts rejected the truth so they would continue taking advantage of women and enjoying their sinful lifestyle.
Did they like Jesus? Are you kidding! No! They killed Him, remember?
Truth, Truth of God is not obscured or hard to understand. The Truth of God only needs “a willing heart.” That is all!
Anyways, Jesus left our planet setting the record straight about women right! Did that make woman’s life any better?
Only for few! As we speak, millions of women live in a society where they are seen as less human who can endure pain, sufferings and even death so men live “happily ever after.”
Well, guess what?
Jesus will come soon!
He comes back to take His Bride, the Church. Church means people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, people including both genders, male and female.
Is there any “male Church” that Jesus comes for?
What?
No!
Remember what the word says? “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
The Church, the Bride of Jesus, is represented as a woman since her Savior is a Man! Her Savior comes back to take and marry her. Their wedding is the end of everything! After all, all the purposes of creation of man/woman, gender and marriage will at the end be consummated by Christ’s wedding! There will only be one Marriage in heaven, between the Lamb of God and the Church.
Listen,
“Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying,
“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” Revelation 19:6-8NASB
Hmm!!!! ///