Note: This is an excerpt of a paper I wrote for
my Systematic Theology II course. Citations have been removed for formatting
purposes.
What the Bible Says About Women in Ministry
The Bible says that women are not to pray or prophesy with their heads
uncovered. In addition, 1 Corinthians 14:34 reads, “Women should remain silent
in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as
the Law says” (NIV). 1 Timothy 2:11-12 reads, “A woman should learn in
quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have
authority over a man; she must be silent” (NIV). These passages are often
cross-referenced with Genesis 3:16, in which God deals with Adam and Eve after
the Fall. Genesis 3:16 reads, “To the woman he said, `I will greatly increase
your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your
desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you’” (NIV). This is
important, because when Jesus came, it became not just the law that mattered.
Paul seems to be focusing exclusively on the law. Jesus focused on grace. Where
the Old Testament forbade most of society from going beyond the curtain to
spend time with God, in the New Testament, God came and spent time with all of
society; including women.
There are five major examples of Jesus interacting with women; all five of
those women had teachable moments. The five women were the woman at the well,
the sinful woman with the alabaster jar, the woman at Bethany, also with an
alabaster jar, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, sister of Martha. The woman at the well
was a Samaritan woman, with whom the Jews never associated. Jesus spoke to her,
asking her for some water. In John 4, after He asks her for water, he witnesses
to her. He does not manifest contempt for her and the fact that she has been
married multiple times and is living in sin at the time of His encounter with
her. The law calls for Him to condemn her; grace calls for His forgiveness, as
it does for everyone. The woman then brings her people to Christ, saying,
“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.” They listened to her. They
said to her that they believe not just because of what she said, but also
because they saw for themselves. She was no longer the sole reason for their
belief, but she did get the ball rolling, so to speak. She did minister to
them, as she literally led them to Christ. She did not do what the law
commanded, which was to, as a woman, stay silent. She submitted to no one
except Jesus. What is even more significant about this has to do with what
Jesus says later in the fourth Gospel: “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray
also for those who will believe in me through their message.” The “them” refers
to the people that Jesus has sent out, and include more people than the Twelve.
The “them” refers to the Samaritan woman, among others. While Jesus did not
explicitly tell the Samaritan woman, “Go tell everyone about me,” it was
implied that she does have a missionary function. Raymond Brown makes note of
this in his article, “Roles of Women in the Fourth Gospel.” He writes that the
Samaritan woman “serves to modify the thesis that male disciples were the only
important figure in church founding.” Jesus speaks to His disciples of the
harvest, which is missionary language, as referenced in Matthew 9, in which
Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Jesus Himself
never said, “Send out male workers.” He said, “Send out workers.” The idea that
the workers had to be male was later inferred. Indeed, as Brown notes, the
first person to see Jesus after He was resurrected was Mary Magdalene. He
instructed her to go tell the disciples that He has risen. Because of this, she
“comes close to meeting the basic Pauline requirements of an apostle.” The
basic requirements were that one had to have seen Jesus and had to have been
sent to proclaim Him. Mary Magdalene fulfilled both of those requirements. Like
the Samaritan woman, she is sent out. Unlike the Samaritan woman, she is
explicitly sent out.
The other three women took the initiative and led by making their own
decisions, rather than listen to what others told them to do. In Luke 7, Jesus
is anointed by a sinful woman, much like the Samaritan woman at the well. The
woman washes His feet with her tears, wipes His feet with her hair, and then
pours an alabaster jar of perfume on His feet. The Pharisee who was hosting
Jesus looked down upon this act. He said that if Jesus were indeed a prophet,
He would know who the woman was and what she had done. Jesus did indeed know
who she was and what she had done, but she had ministered to and blessed Him
with her actions and so was forgiven. She took an initiative that the Pharisee
had not taken, which Jesus notes. She loved, and so He forgave her sins. Love
mattered here, not the law. This account is often cross-referenced with an
account in Matthew 26 with another woman and another alabaster jar of perfume.
In Matthew 26, Jesus was anointed at Bethany, in the home of Simon the Leper. A
woman came in and poured perfume on His head while he was at the table with His
disciples. They called it a waste, saying that the perfume could have been sold
and the money given to the poor. Jesus said it was a beautiful thing she did,
as she did it to prepare Him for burial. “You will always have the poor with
you, but you will not always have me,” He said. Jesus went on to say that what
the woman did will always be told wherever the Gospel is preached. Like the
sinful woman in Luke 7, she took initiative, as leaders do, and Jesus did not
look down on her for it.
The fifth woman is Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, in Matthew 10. While
Martha made the preparations for dinner, Mary sat and listened to Jesus. The
New International Version says that Martha was “distracted” (v. 40), meaning
that what Mary was doing was the right thing. Martha wanted Mary to help her,
but Mary would not help. Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it
will not be taken away from her.” Mary chose to devote her attention to Jesus
instead of following the “requirement,” which was to prepare the meal. Martha
served Jesus through deeds; but so did Mary, through faith, and she made her
own choice, instead of doing what society required of her. A leader is someone
who defies the trend.
Mitzi Smith calls it empowerment. In her article about the story of Mary and
Martha, she writes about the positioning of the story in Luke’s Gospel and its
relation to the story of the Good Samaritan, after which it is placed in the
Gospel. The story of the Good Samaritan involves a man who had fallen on the
road to Jericho. Everyone passed him by, except for a Samaritan, who took care
of him. Smith writes that the law held that women were not to have
conversations with men in public; however, Jesus may have intentionally gone to
visit with Mary and Martha, and did so in the home they shared with Lazarus.
However, even in the home, Martha did not have a conversation with Him; rather,
she prepared a meal in the kitchen. Mary, on the other hand, “has crossed the
political, religious, and domestic boundaries of her time.” She is very much
like the Good Samaritan in this respect. Martha was irritated, because she felt
Mary was doing something that women were not allowed to do at that time. She
was also irritated that Jesus did not correct Mary, for surely He must know, as
a teacher, what the role of women was at that time. Smith writes that the
actions of Mary and Jesus “serve as a model for empowering our sisters who do
not understand the position we have taken in ministry.” Their actions show that
it is okay for women to break the mold. By doing what she did, Mary taught
Martha. If she had instead listened to Martha and gone into the kitchen, Martha
would not have learned the lesson that she learned from Mary and Jesus. Martha
took a passive approach when she conformed to what society expected of her.
Mary took an active approach when she sat at the feet of Jesus. Taking that
active role was her teachable moment.
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