How did Jesus treat women?
October 9, 2018
Bill Stevens
Jesus is The Gold Standard how women should be treated.
Why? He is the Creator who stepped out of Heaven (John 1:10) to dwell on Earth for a while to help reconcile us to God the Father. If anyone should know how the masculine should treat the feminine, it would be the Creator, Christ Jesus.
But women in the times of Christ were treated horribly.
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Women in the time of Christ were treated as chattel, a possession, and an object to be used as one wants. One rabbi said a man could divorce his wife is she burnt his toast, thus leaving the divorced woman as a single woman unable to remarry and if she did she would be considered an adulteress.
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Women were not allowed to talk to men in public. If they did, they were considered prostitutes.
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Women were not allowed to sit and learn under a Rabbi (scholars of the day). No university for you girls – get married, stay home, and make babies. There is no career advancement for you outside of the house.
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Women were relegated to degraded servanthood for the most part.
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Imagine how that went over in the marriage relationship. Imagine being married to someone who thought or even thinks like that today. And unfortunately, there are plenty.
We are talking a messed-up view of women and toxic masculinity at its apex.
And this is one reason why Christ came to help us understand how He made us, how He expects us to treat one another, and empower us personally to see others as He does.
A medical doctor at the time of Christ researched/documented his life and those he impacted, and wrote a detailed account of it. Look at this connection he describes that Jesus had with some women.
“Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, 2 along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.” Luke 8:1-3 (NLT).
Jesus had chosen 12 disciples and there were other men who followed along as well, but there were also numerous women who followed Jesus as a Rabbi. They would sit at his feet as He taught the men and Jesus welcomed these women. Liberal heresy is what some of the religious scholars of the day said! But Jesus values everyone. Everyone is gifted uniquely and has special gifts and talents. He made us that way and wants us to use them in a way that honors Him.
Notice some of these women were on the outside of cultural acceptability in the respectable religious circles.
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Women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Many of these were outcast and not even allowed in the city because of their conditions.
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Mary Magdalene – considered a demon possessed prostitute at one time, now a free and forgiven lady sitting at the feet of Jesus learning of Him and His ways. She was clearly a non-traditional student!
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Joanna the wife of King Herod’s business manager. King Herod was a detestable toxic-masculine politician (Mark 6:17-29) who after watching his adopted daughter perform a “pole dance”, he agreed to give her anything she wanted, so she asked for John the Baptist’s head on a silver platter. Joanna was married into the political establishment and was following Jesus.
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Susanne, whom we don’t know much about, but she was clearly was in business of some kind, and helped support the work of Christ’s ministry. Most of His meals and the disciples meals were through those who supported them, and imagine how the multitudes of poor people they helped with financial needs. A woman in industry at the time of Christ was not a common occurrence nor socially accepted practice. Susanne exhibited such a lifestyle of servant leadership that God honored her in His Word!
There are so many other references to Jesus and women. These are just a few of them.
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John 4:1-26 – Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman alone. Jews didn’t speak to the biracial Samaritans much less a man speaking to a woman in public. The Jews of that day disdained them as “half-breeds.” But not only did He speak to her, He forgave her of a lot of regrets, then spent a few days with the village.
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John 8 – Jesus forgives a woman caught in the act of adultery. According to their law, she should have been stoned to death, but Jesus in His love stood between her guilt/shame and her condemners. We need more of that today.
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Luke 7:11-17 – Jesus raises a widow’s only son from the dead. He was her joy but also her source of support. Jesus cares about widows and single-moms.
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Luke 7:36-50 – A prostitute comes in at dinner at begins washing Jesus’ feet with her hair and puts oil on them as a moisturizer, and a sign of affection and blessing. Others stood around gawking, but He saw it as a sign of thankfulness for all the love and forgiveness He had shown her.
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Luke 13:1-17 – Jesus heals a disabled woman. Why? Because she needed help and couldn’t work! So many women are crippled financially and need someone to help them today, not take advantage of them.