Sexism, Feminism & the Bible 2: New Testament

:I. Introduction
A. Last week we looked at how in the OT, men and women are equal before God, equally made in His image.
B. Today we will look at the significant changes from OT to NT.
C. Let’s first think about the world of the NT, the world into which Jesus came.
1. The male view of women in the first century was largely negative, including in Judea.
2. Women were perceived as responsible for most sin, especially for sexual temptation and sin.
3. One early Pharisaical writer (Sirach) states that “better is the wickedness of a man that a woman who does good; it is woman who brings shame and disgrace.”
4. One of the three benedictions used each day by Jewish men in prayer included giving thanks that he was not a woman.
5. Tragically, this is the pattern for most of history and in much of the world today.
D. Into this setting Jesus came, and I would argue that Jesus did more to reform social attitudes toward women than any one else in history. There was no person in history who more powerfully confronted proud, arrogant, chauvinist male attitudes than Jesus.
II. Women and redemptive history
A. In the OT there were some things which could have led some people to conclude that God preferred men over women. For instance:
1. Only men could be undergo circumcision, the sign of being in covenant with God.
2. In the architecture of the temple, the place where men worshiped was closer to the Holy of Holies than the place for the women.
B. But in Galatians 3:26–28 Paul makes clear that in Christ they are on the same level: “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
1. We saw in our series on Acts that Galatians was written to reconfirm the full acceptance of the Gentiles into the church. This is clearly why Paul makes the point that the Jew/Greek distinction is over. But then Paul goes on to include two other distinctions in his point: “there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female.”
2. It was as if Paul is saying that while we’re talking about breaking down barriers and welcoming outcasts, I want to make clear that slaves and women are also welcomed as full members of Christ. Circumcision may have been for men only, but baptism is for both men and women.
3. This same breaking down of the distinction between male and female is seen at Pentecost when Peter explains the pouring out of the Spirit by quoting Joel 2:28-29, saying, “In the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.” (Acts 2:17–18)
C. Paul is the one who is often accused of being sexist. And yet he says here that in Christ there is no distinction between male and female.
1. But Paul is just explaining what Jesus said and did, as we shall now see...
III. Jesus
A. The first thing I want to point out is the radical use of women and common things in a woman’s life in his teaching and parables. This was radical! Jewish rabbis didn’t teach women. But Jesus did:
1. The parable of the 10 virgins (Matt.25:1-13)
2. The analogy of the clean cup and plate (Matt.23:25-26)
3. The parable of the woman who lost the coin and swept out her house (Luke 15:8-10)
4. The parable of the woman who put leaven in the bread (Mt.13:33)
5. The story of the importunate widow (Luke 18:1–8)
6. The analogy of the bride as His beloved people (Eph.5:25-26; Rev.19:7; 21:2, 9)
7. All this in the midst of a culture that was antagonistic toward women!
B. Then there’s the relationship of Jesus and Mary of Bethany.
1. Luke 10:38–42 Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
a. What about a woman’s place being in the kitchen?
b. What does this say about Jesus’ attitude about women? Does Jesus put them down? Does He treat them like they exist only for serving?
c. Jesus didn’t think of the spiritual side of life as a man’s sphere while the woman was to busy herself with more practical duties. Christianity does not teach that men are supposed to do the thinking and talking about God and the women are supposed to do the housework and take care of the children.
d. Here Mary is one of His students. And when someone objected that she was in the wrong place, Jesus defended her place learning at His feet.
2. John 11:5 “Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.”
3. John 12:1–7 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. But Judas Iscariot said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.”
a. Does this not fly in the face of the impression that some have that Christianity teaches that women are only good for keeping house?
b. Does Jesus not honor and elevate women here? Does He not treat them with tenderness and affection and dignity? Does He not treat them as the equals of men in terms of their eternal value and their relationship with Him?
C. Stories where the women are the heroes and the men are the blockheads
1. The resurrection of Jesus: 13 years ago I preached a sermon on Jesus’ ministry to women. That’s when I first pondered the story of women at Jesus’ resurrection. That’s when I realized that a point was being made in the gospels about some men’s attitude toward women.
a. Luke 23:55–24:11 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. 1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
b. All four gospels make a point of saying that the resurrected Christ appeared first to the women at the tomb. All four gospels highlight the fact that the women reported it to the disciples and three report that they weren’t believed.
c. The gospels are clearly making a point about men not thinking women are reliable.
2. And then as I pondered this story, I realized there was also a point in the story of the crucifixion.
a. There are few facts reported in all four of the gospels. There is only one miracle of Jesus which is in all four of the gospels, for instance. The virgin birth is only in two. And yet each of the four gospels emphasizes the fact that these women were present at the tomb.
b. For instance, Mark 15:40–41 says, “There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.”
c. There is a point here as well. Men tend to think they’re the courageous ones and that women are cowardly. And yet here the women go bravely into danger by attending the crucifixion while the men hide in fear. It’s another rebuke of men who elevate themselves above women.
3. The more I thought about these stories, the more I began to realize that there are a number of stories in the gospels which fit into the same pattern. Think about the story of the children brought to Jesus in Mark 10:13–16: They were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
a. Here again is a rebuke of men who don’t think women or children are as important to Jesus as men are.
4. Then there’s the story of the woman at Simon’s house in Matthew 26:6–13 (probably the same story I mentioned earlier about Mary): Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
a. Again the men come across as sexist party-poopers and Jesus defends the woman and her demonstration of love. What a rebuke of the male tendency to look down on women!
5. Next, think about the story of the woman caught in adultery n John 8:1-11. Again it is the men who are being hard on a woman (how come they weren’t confronting the guilty man?), and even though she had sinned, Jesus scolds the men who so harshly judge her and refuses to join in the judging.
6. And how about the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4? The men (that is, the disciples) come across as out-of-it, focused on eating their lunch, and selfish. The woman, though a sinner, is the one who is seeing things clearly and is moving in the right direction.
7. And consider the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman in Matt.15:22–28. A Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
a. Even though or a time Jesus acts in a way similar to the typical dismissive male attitude toward women, in the end He praises the woman and by doing so indirectly chides the disciples for their attitude toward a needy woman.
8. The same kind of lesson can be seen from the story of the widow's mite in Mark 12:41–43 “He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box.’ ”
9. And in the parable of the importunate widow in Luke 18:1–8 “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
10. Some folks criticize modern movies which make men out to look like bumbling fools while the woman come off as competent and heroic. Well, that’s not too far from these gospel stories, is it?
11. That’s a total of nine stories. That’s a lot of stories. These stories say something about the way God thinks about male sexism.
a. He despises the thinking that women are not as reliable as men.
b. He scoffs at men who think they’re the brave ones and that women are cowards.
c. He abhors the thinking of men that they’re better than women and are quick to criticize women.
d. He chides men who quickly lose their patience with “little” people, and who think women are insignificant and unworthy.
D. And you know something, there are none of the opposite. I can’t think of one story in the gospels where the men come of looking good and the women come off negatively. Can you?
E. Jesus even talked about this specifically. He knew that people tend to take advantage of their position and abuse their authority. And so in Mark 10:42–44 Jesus warned His disciples against this worldly tendency to lord it over those you see as under you. He insisted that it can’t be that way with His followers. If we want to be great, we must serve others.
IV. Gender roles: These sermons are about sexism and feminism, not about gender roles. But before we conclude I want to say a few things about gender roles.
A. There seem to be role distinctions in the Bible between men and women in the context of marriage (e.g. Eph.5:22-33) and in the context of the church (e.g. 1Tim.2:8-15, 1Cor.14:33b-35).
B. However, no Scripture says that women shouldn’t be in positions of authority in other realms outside marriage and the church.
C. In marriage: In 1Pet.3:7 men are told how to treat a difficult wife. They are told to be understanding, to show honor to them, to remember their vulnerabilities, and to treat them as equal heirs of the grace of life. Think about how different this is from the abusive husband mentality.
D. In the church: Women in the NT have significant roles in ministry. E.g.
1. Philip’s daughters are prophetesses – Acts 21:9
2. Phoebe in Romans 16:1-2
3. Priscilla and Aquila in Romans 16:3-4 and Acts 18:24-26
4. Euodia and Syntyche in Philippians 4:2-3
5. Possibly Junia? in Rom.16:7 (This is a hard passage.)
E. And I have two points to make that pertain to gender roles in both marriage and the church:
1. Jesus was equal with the Father but subordinated to Him: Subordination does not imply inferiority.
2. The Bible makes it clear that gender roles are all about role-playing: displaying the relationship between Christ and His church, the man playing the part of Christ and the woman playing the role of the church.
V. Conclusion
A. Jesus came as a man to serve and give Himself and set an example for us.
1. His followers were supposed to serve Him! They existed to serve Him! But He came and washed their feet and said, I came not to be served but serve.
2. Dying on the cross is the ultimate display of man's calling.
B. The liberation of women — and men — comes in Jesus Christ. And I just wish that more who are absorbed with the feminist cause could become friends with some of the happiest, most liberated, most alive women on the earth, women who live humble lives in the context of Christ’s church, knowing Jesus, loving Jesus, walking with Jesus, learning from Jesus.