IWD: 7 Ways Jesus Treats Women

I love Jesus and I love reading about how he interacted with women in the first century. Stick with me.

Here’s 7 reasons to consider Jesus and his ethic towards women this International Women’s Day.

1. How Jesus spoke with women back then was properly radical as they were considered the second class of second class citizens. Check any interaction (Luke’s eyewitness account is a good place to start) and you’ll see for yourself.

2. Jesus doesn’t shame or embarrass women and he welcomes their support, including being financed by them when he was homeless.

3. He is okay with periods and makes a point of welcoming a woman back into the community who would have otherwise likely been kept away because of her haemorrhaging. Instead he gently and publically affirms her new status.

4. He treats women as equal and to be trusted. God chooses women to witness Jesus alive again for the first time, at a point in history when women were thought of as untrustworthy in court.

5. He is a properly cool 1st century rabbi in his flawless navigation of being sobbed on by a likely former prostitute, affirming the beauty of her attitude and actions that will be remembered forever. He calls out the rude behaviour of the (male) host AND he’s not afraid to stand up to his mates as he tells them to stop bothering this woman.

6. He chose to be born into a family where everyone thought he was illegitimate when that was not the done thing… Like really. Ever wondered why the whole ‘Jesus in a manger’ was a thing? I mean they weren’t savages… but they cared so much about not having sex before marriage that they likely thought this was a prime example of adultery and so didn’t want anything to do with them. Maybe that’s why Jesus’ birth - although cute for a nativity scene of small children dressed as animals (including lobsters obvs) was actually a pretty grim way to start out in life. This may as well have been the least of his problems, however, as his family was chased out of the country by a maniac in power on a child-killing-campaign.

There’s SO much more I could say… but for now...

7. I challenge you to find someone who is recorded to have better interacted with men or women. In all of history. Ever.

~ By Rachel Redeemed