Second Class Citizens

“You are not second class citizens in God’s kingdom. Do you hear me? You are not second class citizens in God’s kingdom.”

Thank you Rev. Dr. John Sweetman, Principal of Malyon Theological College here in Brisbane. In our large church auditorium filled with hundreds of people, there were surely many women who needed to hear that. For some of us it was received like a sweet fragrance on a Spring breeze.

These words were addressed specifically to the women in the congregation and were delivered toward the end of a sermon concerning Deborah. If you wish to listen to the podcast, it’s available online by clicking on the Bridgeman Downs Baptist church link on this blog , accessing the sermons tab at the top of the home page and scrolling through the list to 2^nd June 2013 pm service.

Christianity affirms women in a way that no other major world religion does. The Bible contains a cast of characters, both men and women, who sought after God and served Him and were used by Him. This affirmation of women was a contributing factor to the appeal of the Gospel and the rapid growth of the early church. Many of the house churches mentioned in the New Testament bear the names of the woman of the house where the church met.

In the Old Testament we discover women of wisdom and courage and resourcefulness such as Deborah, a judge; Abigail, who prevented a conflict; Esther, who saved her people from annihilation and Ruth, the devoted daughter-in-law and wife who became the great-grandmother of David and contributed to the earthly lineage of Jesus.

In the New Testament we meet women such as Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, who was a founding member of the church in Philippi; Priscilla, who, together with her husband Aquila, worked and ministered to others with Paul; and women such as Joanna and Susanna who travelled with Jesus, learning from Him and ministering to His needs and those of the twelve disciples.

Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus reached out to women who were alienated, socially isolated, despised, sick or demon-possessed, rejected and hurting. These encounters never failed to leave them changed, healed, restored, devoted to Him, and eager to spread the gospel of His love.

In a world where women could be divorced by their husbands at will, Jesus offered the Samaritan woman at the well a relationship that would last a lifetime and beyond.

At a time when women were not able to study with men, Jesus commended Mary of Bethany for choosing to learn from Him over domestic occupation, stating publicly “Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41)

In a culture where the testimony of a woman could be disregarded, it was the women waiting at the empty tomb, and in particular Mary Magdalene, who had come there to minister to their fallen Lord, who first received the news of his resurrection and were commissioned to tell the rest of the disciples that Christ had risen from the dead.

We live in a world where often women are still regarded and treated as second-class. It’s still a too-common occurrence in some countries for infants to be killed simply for being female. Access to education, employment, health care and legal representation may be denied women in many developing countries. Even in the developed world, it’s only a little over a century since women have been able to vote and own property in their own right; whilst salary packages for women in employment continue to be lower than those of equivalent benefits for men in many industries. And even in the developed world, women still suffer in silence behind closed doors, victims of domestic abuse.

And what of the church? How do women fare in today’s church? The role of women continues to vary from church to church and denomination to denomination. Should women be ordained as ministers? Can women be deacons and elders? Should women be ministry leaders e.g. worship leaders? Who determines this? What kind of church do we want for our daughters and granddaughters? These are questions that we need to keep asking.

There’s a line in the movie “How Green Was My Valley” where the child narrator states “If my father was the head of our house, my mother was its heart.” What a beautiful image of two components of the one body, without which each would be functionless. We can debate egalitarianism and complementarianism until the cows come home, but regardless, a church which denies the interrelated giftings of both men and women is a church which will not reach its full potential or purpose in God.

To conclude with a little more from Rev Dr John Sweetman:

“Here we have Godly women- two women, a woman like Deborah who was a fantastic leader, a woman of God, faithful, committed, listening to God’s voice, speaking it out, leading at a time that was tough and difficult and impossible in so many ways and yet she said “I will do whatever God wanted me to do.” But you don’t have to lead. There’s a homemaker, Jael, that does ordinary things almost all of her life, but she’s listening to God and when God speaks, she does something impossible, because God has spoken and she obeys.”