James McPolin S.J. looks at Christ’s attitude to women during the years of his public ministry. Christ certainly did not see women only to have value in relation to men, McPolin affirms.
A few years ago the bishops of Africa, in a common statement, expressed deep concern for the situation of women in Africa: ‘The Synod deplores,’ it says, ‘these African customs and practices which deprive women of their rights and the respect due to them and asks the Church on the Continent to make every effort to foster the safeguarding of these rights.’
Womens’ liberation
It also mentions the ‘liberation of women’ as an important issue. In addition, in recent years, many groups throughout the world have expressed the same concern for the rights and dignity of women. In the light of this it is helpful to reflect on the attitudes of Jesus towards women. This theme is extensive. Here for lack of space it is limited to the public ministry of Jesus, excluding the special place of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the Gospels.
Generally it is difficult to form a clear picture of women in Judaism in the time of Jesus. We do not have sufficiently clear evidence. But there can be little doubt that the family was the exclusive sphere of influence for Jewish women in the first century before Christ. This limiting of a woman’s sphere of influence was partly due to Jewish marriage customs of the day. One has to keep in mind the extraordinary power a father had over his daughter, and a husband over his wife.
Male bias
The laws of inheritance, marriage and divorce were heavily biased in the male’s favour. A woman’s security was limited by the fact that her husband could divorce her if she caused an ‘impediment’ to the marriage. He could divorce his wife without her consent, for reasons ranging from infidelity to burning a meal or to finding another woman fairer than his own wife. A wife’s security was limited by the fact that polygamy was permitted in New Testament times as it was in Old Testament times, even though monogamy, for moral and economic reasons, was the common practice. However, divorce was frowned upon by some Jewish rabbis.
In spite of these limitations it would be wrong to assume that a Jewish woman had no respect or rights in Jesus’ day. The mother is to be honoured equally with the father (Exod Ch. 20; Lev. Ch.19). In the family the wife’s duties included grinding flour, baking bread, washing clothes, breast-feeding the children for eighteen to twenty-four months, making the beds, working with wool, and washing her husband’s face, hands and feet! The extent of a wife’s household duties depended on how many servants she brought into the marriage. However, the husband had the obligation to provide for his wife and thus she was not treated as property.
Spiritual ministry
As regards spiritual ministry, a certain significance was assigned to the woman’s presence or role in the home. The Jewish rabbis’ appreciation of women’s potential spiritual influence is shown by a saying which points out that if a pious man marries a wicked woman he will become wicked, but if a wicked man marries a pious woman, she will make him pious!
It was in the home that the training began which prepared Jews to take part in the synagogue or temple service and, in the case of men, for religious leadership whether as a scribe, rabbi or priest. But it was a cause of debate whether and how much a woman should teach or be taught Jewish Law (i.e. some books of the Old Testament).
Women were limited to their own court in the temple (which was separated from the place for men). They were forbidden to act as priests because they were viewed as ‘unclean’ (Lev. Ch. 15). It seems that their participation in religious rituals was limited to the home. Though in theory women had the right to read Scripture in the synagogue even in Jesus’ day, in practice they did not do this because it was deemed improper for them to do so.
Attitude of Jesus
The most relevant points for us which emerge from the Gospels as regards Jesus’ attitudes towards women are: Jesus treats women as human beings and, as such, having value. It is not so much that he raises woman to the level of man, for he doesn’t view people as living on different levels. Rather he sees both men and women as responsible beings, as persons with individual needs, feelings and gifts.
He gives very little teaching on women as such because he never treats them as a class. In a similar way, he gives very little teaching for or about males as a class.
Respect for women
Though he does not in any way deny or diminish the distinctions between the sexes, he emphasises their partnership, their unity in marriage in his stand as regards divorce. Loyalty and commitment in marriage is a responsibility of both partners. Women are to be recognised as subjects in their own right, as human beings, not just as objects of men’s desires.
Each person, whether male or female, is seen as a sinner in need of repentance and forgiveness. Men and women alike are capable of spiritual understanding. Men and women alike could talk to Jesus, could follow him, could be friends with him, could serve him, love him. In spite of the fact that Jesus was a man, the Gospels show that even in everyday life men and women could relate to him in the same way, or rather that he related to them in the same way.
The value Jesus assigned to women is shown in the way he talked to them and about them, commending their persistent faith, liberating them from some restrictive Jewish laws or taboos and recognizing their dignity. For example, he calls a woman whom he heals a ‘daughter of Abraham’, that is, a true member of God’s people who should be treated as such (Luke Ch.13).
He shows a special compassion towards those women who were particularly underprivileged in the society of his time, that is, widows.
He breaks other conventions of his day by conversing freely with women. He touches women and lets himself be touched by them. He not only showed concern for their well-being but he also gave them their true worth and took note of their ideas and opinions.
His attitude towards them comes across in every source and form, for example, in parables, discourses and miracle stories. He related to women primarily as human beings.
He was interested in them as persons, seeing their sex as an integral part of their personality but by no means as the totality. Some of the parables, as we shall see, show that women have worth as persons – in their own right and not simply in relation to men.
Women disciples
Women are also considered to be disciples of Jesus. He opened up to them the way of discipleship, so that they left their homes and could assume roles other than the traditional domestic tasks, and could somehow participate alongside men in his ministry. Women, for example, have a very important role in the passion and resurrection narratives.
Their faithfulness to Jesus all through his passion contrasts with that of some male disciples. Looking at their value and role in the ministry of Jesus, we can say that in some respects Jesus went beyond the cultural patterns of his day and liberated women from some taboos of his society that discriminated against them.
Women and the family
Jesus reaffirms the Old Testament call to honour both father and mother. He commends the care of ageing parents (Mark Chs. 7 & 10). He criticises the Scribes because they exploited widows. As legal advisors and property managers they took more than their fair share of expenses for the task.
In fact, Jesus holds up before his disciples a woman, a poor widow, as a model of the generosity and wholehearted self-giving needed for discipleship (Mark Ch. 12).
Finally, by his teaching on divorce, Jesus gives more security to women in marriage. A Jewish woman’s security was limited by the fact that the husband had the right to divorce her if she caused an impediment in the marriage (Deut. Ch. 24). Jesus revokes that practice which had been allowed because of the hardness of heart of the people. He insists on unity in the marriage (i.e. one husband, one wife). Thus Jesus allows for more equality and mutuality in marriage than that allowed by Jewish law.
This article first appeared in
The Messenger, a publication of the Irish Jesuits.
