When I was twenty-one, I almost walked away from my faith. I was watching my female friends step back from their dreams of leading ministry to be pastor’s wives. I was told that even though I was the most qualified, I couldn’t lead the worship team because I was a woman. I was too loud, too outspoken, and too demanding. I remember crying in my car, thinking “why would I ever want to believe in a God who thinks I’m less-than simply because I’m a girl?” That summer my favourite Professor recommended I read Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey. In it Bessey writes, “patriarchy [was] not God’s dream for humanity.” Everything changed.
If we really want to know God’s heart for women, we don’t need to look any further than Genesis. The concept of patriarchy was first introduced as part of Adam and Eve’s punishment for disobeying God. In the beginning, God recognized “it is not good for the man to live alone,” so He decided to, “make a suitable companion to help [Adam]” (Genesis 2:18). The word ‘help’ does not denote passive existence; it is a call to action. Eve and Adam were both given dominion over all creation (Genesis 2), and as they lived together in harmony as equals, God declared “it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).
It was not until sin divided us from God that a power imbalance was introduced. But does the story end there? No! Because when Jesus came to earth he was commissioned to live the perfect life as the ultimate sacrifice upon death, and as the ultimate example to us. In the gospel of Jesus, we see patriarchy dismantled and true equality exemplified. Jesus surrounded himself with powerful women, and equipped them to preach the good news.
Dorothy Day writes, “perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this—there never has been another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronized… who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend.”
There is no question: Jesus was a feminist. Anyone who claims to love God but diminishes the value of women is a false prophet. I wish I could go back to twenty-one year old me and tell her this good news. Bessey commissions us forward, writing, “stop waiting for someone else to say that you count, that you matter, that you have worth, that you have a voice, a place, that you are called. Don't you know, darling? The One who knit you together in your mother's womb is the one singing these words over you. You are chosen.”
God bless.