What Would Jesus Do with Women?
As to whether it is a good practice or not, and whether or not
rendering that judgment is left to a person’s comfort level or has consequences
beyond each individual situation, I will leave that for other
commentators. It does make me think,
though, that if we were to ask what may seem an obvious question, “what would
Jesus do,” we may arrive at a very non-obvious answer.
Religious respectability, sexual temptation, and rumors existed back in
Jesus’ day, of course. And, even if His
true identity remained elusive to the vast majority of those who interacted
with Him, surely it can be said that during his brief ministry on earth Jesus
was very much a public figure.
Many of his modern-day followers may blanch at this, but there was a
lot of whispering and murmuring about Jesus’ conduct with women. Society back then was even more sexually
segregated, with contact between men and women strictly regulated by
contemporary mores. And yet, in spite of
this, or perhaps more correctly because of this, Jesus was mindful to have (and
the gospel authors were careful to record) many interactions with women, some
of which were outright scandalous.
I am sure there are other examples, but two come to my mind right
now. One is His encounter with the Samaritan
woman at the well. Her reputation
precedes her enough in the town that she knows that it is easier for her to go for
water at an off-peak time to avoid interactions (and judgmental stares) from
others. And yet Jesus not only
orchestrates an encounter with her but engages with her, asking her for water,
offering Himself to her as Living Water, and drawing out her past and present
sexual discretions. Can you imagine a
popular pastor intentionally not only going to a place where women of ill repute
frequent but having a cozy conversation with one of them?
The other is even more shocking, which is when a sinful woman made her
way into the home of a respected religious leader’s house when Jesus was there,
and not only so but fell at His feet out of shame and then washed those feet with
her tears and her long flowing hair. The
juxtaposition of the two characters in this real-life parable could not be more
stark: the respected religious male host acting according to societal norms, versus
the disreputable and scandalous female intruder throwing all caution to the wind
and engaging in an intimate and borderline erotic act with Jesus. Again, imagine this scene played out in
modern days, and try not to blush. And
yet it is the female guest and not the male host who Jesus affirms at the
end.
I do not begrudge Billy Graham for his rule, or Mike Pence and others
for following it. But if we were to hold
ourselves and our male public figures to the standard of “what would Jesus do,”
you might be surprised and shocked. For
the One we purport to worship and follow had interactions with women that caused
much whispering and pointing. Those interactions
were ultimately transformative for those women, and continue to be instructive for
us. So what shall we do?
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