More Hope for Women Pushed Aside by Religion
More Hope for Women Pushed Aside by Religion (Matthew 1)
Disregard for Women in the Ancient/Modern World
In my previous two posts about Matthew 1, I wrote about how crazy-awesome it is that Matthew included women in the family lineage of Jesus. Reminder: Women in the ancient world were so completely disregarded that they weren’t considered reliable witnesses. Ancient people freely spoke of women as lesser forms of men. Ancient philosophers even found it “unnatural” for a man to display any qualities they considered strictly feminine. Things like emotions, empathy, compassion, romantic attachments. These “feminine qualities” were supposedly what made women unreliable.
Even though we like to believe we are much more evolved in our modern world, the sad reality is all of those philosophies are still at play. As a matter of fact, I just typed out a page and half rant of examples of ways women are still treated like second class citizens in our modern church culture. I quickly deleted my rant, because I want to focus on the positive hope Jesus modeled. If you are woman, I’m sure you are already aware that you aren’t always respected!
In the ancient culture of extreme misogyny, it is amazing to consider the women Matthew included in the royal family lineage of Jesus. The lineage Matthew shares in order to prove Jesus’s worthiness to be worshipped as the promised Messiah. Part of Matthew’s proof is how inclusive this lineage is: Women and foreigners! (Imagine Oprah interviewing Matthew about this royal family.)
To see how beautifully empowering to women this lineage is, let’s consider the remaining four women in this lineage: (for a discussion of Tamar read Hope for Women Religion Pushed Aside)
Rahab-
- Before I discuss Rahab, I have to back track a little on previous statements I made about her definitely not being a prostitute. I was probably too quick to trust some scholars. I freely admit that I am skewed in my thinking. See, there is a demeaning church tradition of painting the stories of all the female characters as either prostitutes or unachievably pure virginal timid women. No in between. No regular relatable women who found their strength from following God. Just shame-filled prostitutes and perfectly pious saints. So, when I found Bible scholars who believe that Rahab was most likely just an innkeeper, I may have been overly zealous in assuming they were absolutely correct.
The fact of the matter is, the debate over whether or not Rahab was a prostitute takes away from how absolutely amazing her story is. She definitely was not a Jew. She was a Canaanite who definitely wasn’t following the Jewish laws. But she was also a strong, savvy, industrious business woman who used her position as an innkeeper and/or prostitute to save her family. Rahab was the kind of strong woman God chose to include in working out his plan to share his love with all people of all nations.
(Read her story here)
Ruth-
Ruth got a whole book of the Bible named after her! In the ancient world! And she was a Moabite! So, we get an inclusion twofer with her. A foreigner and a woman. Her faith is incredible.
Ruth’s story starts out with a famine in Israel. Because of the famine Naomi and her husband go to Moab. While living in Moab, Naomi’s sons marry Moabite women. At some point, Naomi’s husband dies and later both of her sons die. As she is grieving, she decides to return to Israel because the famine is over. She hopes that people there will provide for her. But Naomi tells her daughters-in-law to return to Moab and their gods. Naomi tells Ruth that there is no hope for her in Israel. But somehow, Ruth is devoted to Naomi and wants to follow the God of Naomi, the God of Israel. Even though, Naomi isn’t advocating for God. Naomi lost both of her sons and her husband. Naomi was in despair and didn’t see hope for Ruth. But Ruth insisted. She stayed with Naomi and took care of her. She believed in something bigger than their current situation. She was incredibly strong from the little bit of faith she had. Her character was absolutely the kind of faith God chose to include in his plan to bring hope to all of humanity.
Bathsheba (the wife of Uriah the Hittite)-
Matthew doesn’t mention Bathsheba’s name. He calls her “the wife of Uriah the Hittite”, which is incredibly interesting to consider. For a modern American woman, this title is cringy. I mean, I can’t stand being called “Mrs. Brian Felkel” I can see a case for a common last name but we aren’t sharing a first name. But in this case, Matthew wasn’t being dismissive of Bathsheba. It is more about him bringing attention to David’s sin against her.
The story of David and Bathsheba is found in 2 Samuel 11. King David was supposed to be at war leading his troops, but he was shirking his responsibility as a king. While he was at home safe in his palace, he saw Bathsheba bathing and lusted after her. He had his servants send for her to have her brought into the palace so he could sleep with her. Then when she got pregnant, he had her husband Uriah killed. Uriah was a foreigner who was faithfully fighting for King David.
Through 40+ years of hearing people spin this story, most of them try to make David not seem so bad. Matthew didn’t leave that option for his Jewish readers. Matthew calls Bathsheba “the wife of Uriah the Hittite”, not to dismiss Bathsheba but to point out the sin committed against her and her husband.
Bathsheba was the victim of a ruthless King who knew better and turned his back on the laws God had given his people. David was not the good guy in the story. God worked through David and kept his promises despite David’s failures. Bathsheba got to be part of God’s plan because of God’s faithfulness not David’s.
Mary-
Admittedly, Matthew doesn’t focus much on the story of Mary. But what he does say points out what an amazing survivor Mary was. Mary didn’t get to walk around with a halo so that everyone knew Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. She didn’t have a pious glow that told the world she had never sinned. She was a young peasant woman in a judgmental legalistic culture whose own fiancé didn’t believe her story without miraculous intervention.
In Matthew 1:18-23, we learn that Joseph was a kind and righteous man who didn’t want to follow the full extent of the law and ruin Mary’s life by publicly disgracing her and making sure she never married. If he had done as the law allowed, he would have gotten the bride price back. Instead, he intended to privately break his contract with her. After the angel appeared to him, Joseph stayed with Mary and shared in her disgrace.
Mary’s story is a beautiful story of God at work outside of the legalistic judgmental rules of religion. Her story is often misused to condemn women who don’t measure up to the pious standards of the patriarchal religious system which controls women through shame. But Jesus doesn’t shame people. God never intended for Mary’s story to be used that way. Mary was a victim of the same type of system but she was honored by God.
(for more on her story, read my post Story of Mary and Hope for Survivors of Sexual Abuse)
My Prayer for You
If you’ve ever felt pushed aside by religion. If you’ve ever felt like you were second class because of your gender, delight in Matthew’s introduction. Read the stories of Jesus and know that shame and being pushed aside does not come from God. Following Jesus empowered Matthew to go back to the society which rejected him and boldly share stories of how God loves to accept people society overlooks. God is all about valuing the stories of women. I hope you are too! Especially your own story!
I pray you learn to push aside any message that devalues you. I promise it is not from God.
Blessings,
Cindy