Abstract
M.A.
Jesus' world was hostile towards women, domestically, socially,
economically and religiously. Jesus' sympathetic attitude was
a deliberate act by Him, in His attempt to correct the wrong
views held by men about women. Luke presents this attitude in
C three different approaches. Firstly, Luke pinpoints areas where
Jesus went out of His way to show acts of mercy towards women,
something which was not common in His days. When men were
condemning a woman who was brought to Jesus because she was found
committing adultery, Jesus forgave her. Secondly, Luke used the
parallelism style to clarify the attitude of Jesus towards women.
On this one Luke makes sure that everytime he records something
done by or towards a man, he will immediately record a similar thing done by or towards a woman. For example, at the very early
stage of Luke's book Jesus is recorded to have delivered a demon
possessed man at a synagogue, and immediately after that he
healed Peter's mother-in-law from fever. What is good for the
goose is good for the gender type of approach. Luke's final
approach as he attempts to reveal Jesus' sympathetic attitude
towards women is a contrast approach.
It is through this'approach that women are portrayed as being
better than good religious Jewish men. A good example of this
will be the story of a progressive Pharisee who invited Jesus for
a dinner, and a sinful woman who joined them without an invitation.
A woman ends up being the hero, doing all the things which Simon
has failed to do to Jesus. Simon is put in a position of having
to learn from the woman. This does not mean that women are
superior than men; but that they are as good as men. It is just
the focus is on them. Their case is over-emphasised to bring
about equality.
John on the other hand had some other things in mind than the
gender issue when he wrote, however he could not fully reveal
the identity of Jesus without touching on the role and status of
women. It is in the book of John that we are introduced to the
great women Of the Bible such as Mary the mother of Jesus, the
Samaritan woman, the woman caught in adultery, Martha and Mary
the sisters of Lazarus, Mary Magdeline and the Mary who anointed
Jesus in preparation for His burial. This paper will therefore
attempt to correct the misconception which is still prevailing
on the status of women. It will orientate the reader by dealing with the historical development on this issue starting from
ancient Israel to the situation of women today. The creation
approach, the curse approach and the eschatological redemptive
approach will all be dealt with. We will note how from one
approach to the other women were kept in and out of the circle
and how more and more the world became a man's world. And
finally the tension between the approaches which is believed to
have resulted in our modern extreme feminism.
Men and women are equally created in the image of God. They are
equally given the task of ruling over God's creation. They are
different but equal. The only reason for their difference is for
complementing one another. That is what God intended when He
created man and woman. And that was destroyed by sin and made
worse by our cultures and traditions which are self-centred and
male-dominated. Jesus came, lived and taught about the gender
equality. It is only when women are free, that men will be fully
free.