“Power, Religion and Women”

Third Sunday of Pentecost

Sunday June 13, 2010

1 Kings 21: 1-10, 15 – 21a

Psalm 32

Galatians 2: 15-21

Over the past week, we have been invited to ponder the question about whether Muslim women should be permitted to wear the niqab and keep their faces covered during courtroom proceedings.  The case has raised a flurry of discussions about the tensions between religious freedoms, legal obligations and the challenges and complexities of life in a multicultural, multireligious community.

And yet, the issue also reminds us that the view of women in different religions has a complex and often troubling history. 

Modern critics of organized religion remind us -- with, regrettably, a great deal of evidence to support their claims -- that the religious treatment of women leaves much to be desired.  Women’s genitals are mutilated; their voices are silenced; their leadership is not supported; their insights are dismissed; their honour is linked to their marital status; their rights of legal protection, mobility in public and access to education are curtailed – and, lamentably, many of these abuses are perpetrated in the name of God.

Lest we too quickly point the finger at people of other faiths, we must remember that the largest denomination in the Christian faith – as well as certain evangelical and charismatic denominations – continue to limit the most significant positions of power and leadership to men.  Not only do those traditions place severe limitations on the role of women in church leadership, but, in some cases, the suspicion of women has even contributed to the strange notion that the purity of leadership can only be maintained by limiting the amount of intimate contact that their leaders have with women – leading to the imposition of a particularly repressive understanding of the expression of human sexuality as a prerequisite for leadership.

Again, lest we too quickly criticize those of other denominations, it should be noted that it has been less than fifty years since our own denomination made the decision to affirm the gifts that women bring to leadership in the church; and, though the ordination of women has been in place for decades, there continue to be congregations in which one’s gender continues to be either an asset -- or a liability – in positions of leadership.  

Sadly, most philosophical and political systems – even those which attack organized religion – have not demonstrated a significantly better approach to women.  If they had, one’s gender would not be an issue in positions of political leadership; but the sad reality is that there have been very few women who have occupied, or who have been seriously considered as candidates for high public office – and, sadly, some of those who have recently been considered have been so inappropriate for serious consideration that their incompetence has become the laughingstock of our modern culture.

And the exploitation of women is not confined to the public and religious realms.  I am constantly amazed that the back pages of the free weekly community newspapers that are available on almost every streetcorner in our city – called “NOW” magazine and EYE Weekly – are filled with explicit advertisements for the sex trade.  The abject hypocrisy of those newspapers, and particularly NOW magazine, is that they present themselves as progressive voices for women’s rights, social justice and a community conscience – and often make derisive, smug and cynical comments about organized religion.  Would it not be nice to think that publications dedicated to social justice, women’s issues and human rights on the streets of our city were not, themselves, beneficiaries of -- and profiting from -- the avails of prostitution?  Recent attempts to present prostitution as an expression of women’s liberation are naïve at best, and destructive at worst since the sex trade is not only psychologically damaging, but is interwoven with issues related to substance addiction, and the continued exploitation of already scarred and abused women.

In so many realms of life, we have difficulty in finding healthy ways to view the role of women.  Our attempts to redress this problem often leads us run to strange extremes – either we repress women by subsuming them to secondary roles in workplaces, families and religious communities (even to the point of blaming them for men’s lustful thoughts and requiring them to hide themselves behind thick garments under the guise of growing closer to God); or, while claiming some enlightened vision of equality, we pander to the patently ridiculous notion that simply putting women in charge of the world would automatically lead to positive changes for everyone.  What is interesting to realize is that both such repressive and such ridiculous notions about women descend to to the most debased caricatures about women – either that they are the source of all evil and temptation, or that they are the source of all progress and enlightenment.  Neither is true; and both are ultimately insulting to women because neither accepts women in the fullness of who they are.

One of the beauties of the biblical vision is that it does not stereotype or caricature women.  Women, in the Bible, are neither completely saintly, nor completely sinful; they are neither the source of all evil nor the essence of all godliness; unlike the classic artistic and psychological archetypes, they are neither entirely the virgin nor entirely the whore; they are alive, they are complex; they are human. 

So what does all of this have to do with today’s biblical readings?

The readings from the Hebrew Scriptures and from the Gospel that are suggested for this particular Sunday in the church year both focus our attention on complex female characters.  

Our reading from 1 Kings records the story of King Ahab’s desire for his neighbor Naboth’s vineyard.  Naboth’s denial reflected his understanding of his covenantal obligations to the land itself.  His words “the LORD forbid that I should give you my ancestral land” attest to the fact that Naboth would not deter from his understanding of his covenantal obligations simply to please a human king.

But King Ahab desired the land and, unsuccessful in his attempts to convince Naboth to sell it, began to sulk.  As verse 4 states, “Ahab went home resentful and sullen”. 

Learning of her husband’s displeasure, Jezebel assured him that she could arrange for Naboth’s vineyard to be acquired.  She set up a situation to frame Naboth, and had him falsely charged and put to death so that Ahab could acquire the land.

Jezebel was a woman who used her power in disturbing and destructive ways.  She was not some stereotyped caricature of feminine grace and goodness.  What she did was objectionable, it was wrong, it was murderous and, as the passages which follow this one recount, it was ultimately condemned by Elijah and judged by God.   

But lest we think that the Bible only presents women in such an unfavourable light, it is good for us to remember that the Bible is also filled with stories of heroic women as well.  Hagar, Deborah, Miriam, the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah who saved the life of young Moses, Abigail -- so many women who serve as noble examples of individuals whose lives and whose experiences stand as an eternal inspiration to all of us, men and women alike.   The second stained glass window on the east side of the upper gallery in this sanctuary is a depiction of Deborah, who was a significant leader in the history of Israel – reminding us, every time that we enter this sanctuary, to be mindful of the important role that women have played in positions of leadership in the history of faith.  Moreover, the biblical wisdom literature, and particularly the Book of Proverbs, portrays human folly and foolishness as an adulterous temptress; but it also personifies wisdom itself as a woman.

The life of Jesus offers a significant number of examples which reveal that Jesus had a very respectful view of women. Not only did God choose to enter this world and become incarnate in and through the womb of a young woman, but Jesus’ interactions with women are consistently marked by a noteworthy level of respect, even as he realized and accepted their brokenness.

Today’s Gospel reading offers a telling example of the esteem that Jesus held towards women.

The scene was set in the house of a respectable religious leader of the time – one of the Pharisees.  Jesus had been invited to dinner, and had accepted the invitation.  An unexpected and uninvited woman appeared as well.  Identified only as ‘a sinner’, she washed Jesus’ feet with costly perfume and with her tears, and dried his feet with her hair.  The details of her sins are not specified, but they were clearly known to the Pharisee, who thought that Jesus should be offended to be touched by such a woman. 

Jesus did not challenge the woman, or her actions, however.  Rather, he challenged the attitudes and actions of his host, the Pharisee named Simon.  He used the woman’s actions as an example of the nature of true devotion, but also as an opportunity to explore the nature of forgiveness.  Yes, Jesus was saying, she is not perfect; she is not angelic; she has committed sins; she is human.  But she is also loved, she is forgiven.  Her act of devotion was then honoured as a transforming example of faith.  In the presence of the religious leader and those who were gathered around, he spoke to the woman -- “your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Immediately following this scene, the Gospel writer emphasizes the role of women with Jesus and the disciples.  We read, “the twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities; Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.”  Such passages remind us that Jesus accepted women as his companions, that he and the disciples relied on the financial support of those women, that he held women up as models and examples of faithfulness.  Such passages remind us that from the earliest days of the Christian movement, women have had a place right alongside Jesus and the disciples.   

This same view and role of women is manifested in a number of places in the Gospel – and not least at the time of the resurrection.  Jesus’ first appearance after his resurrection was to the women who had come to complete the preparations for his burial, and it was women who announced, to Peter and to the rest of the disciples, that Christ had been raised from the dead.  That Jesus chose that the good news of the resurrection would be first be communicated to, and proclaimed by women clearly attests to the view that Christ had of the role that women were to play in the community of his followers.

And yet, over the course of time, this role has often been downplayed and demeaned.  As a result, in a world in which organized religion, political and public life, and even philosophical systems often seek to limit the place of women to subservient and secondary roles, it is important for us as followers of Jesus to reflect on the way that he viewed women, the ways that he honoured them, the ways that he allowed himself to be challenged and changed by them, the ways that he used them to reveal the truth of who he was and what he had accomplished.

Such reflections cannot help but lead us to realize that, for us, the full acceptance and honouring of the gifts of women as well as men is not a social issue; it is not an attempt at political correctness; it is not rooted in some desire to acquiesce to the demands of some secular notion of equality.  To the contrary, we believe that the call to fully honour the gifts of women is a call that is rooted in the life and in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Without a doubt, we are called, in obedience to the One who called us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves, to honour and respect the cultural and religious principles of others. But, as followers of the One who invited women into his presence, who defended and held up their actions as examples to be followed, even in the face of religious leaders, we must be clear and unequivocal in proclaiming that we believe that the contributions and gifts of women cannot and should not be relegated to a subservient, demeaned, oppressed, hidden or covered role. 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ requires us to honour the dignity, and the gifts that all people – men and women – have been given and have been called to use in the service of Christ and of his Church.

May God grant us the grace to respond to that good news with faithfulness, to challenge oppression in any guise, and to live towards the vision of a world in which all people are honoured, respected, and treated with the dignity that they deserve as beings created in the image of God.