Women and prophesy
I hear of many people who say that women cannot prophesy, or carry the word of God. For Friends this has never been the case as we believe that all are equal in the eyes of God. Firstly let us look at some interactions between women and Jesus.
We all generally know that Mary, a woman, carried and gave birth to Jesus. What a start, which man could do that! A woman brings Jesus into the world so that he can do God’s work and show all of humanity “the Way” to God.
We read of an important message of moving from a formal, system based, dogmatic religion; to one which is God led and taught deep inside each and every one of us: and it is given to a woman (John 4:23-26). Why would Jesus speak at length to a woman from a people that was despised by the Jews, and announce such a momentous change to her. Then Jesus admits that he is the Messiah and lets her take the announcement to the menfolk of the city Then there is more; the men listened to her, believed her and went to find Jesus (John 4:28-30).
We see another important incident where Mary of Magdala is spoken to by Jesus and given a message to give to the disciples (John 20:16-18). Notice that in the build up to this moment there had been several opportunities for Jesus to have given that same message to one of his disciples. If a woman cannot hear and carry a message from Christ then why did Jesus the Christ choose Mary to carry the message?
When Jesus came to the disciples for the third time after his physical death he spoke to Peter and asked him (see John 21:15-17):
to feed my lambs…….meaning to feed and care for his young people
to feed my sheep…….meaning to feed the adults, both male and female
to feed my ewes………meaning to feed the young women
Notice that there is no mention of feeding Rams…….meaning feed the men only!
Now let us look at other confirmatory statements:
Joel 2:28-29 says “Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy…….. also upon the servants and upon the handmaids ……… will I pour out my spirit”
In Romans 16:1-6, Paul entrusts the care of Phebe, a sister and a deaconess, to be treated with the respect which is due saints, for she has been of help to many and me also. To salute Priscilla, the wife of Aquila, both fellow workers with Paul in Jesus Christ. They have risked their lives for Paul’s sake.
As George Fox began to preach the understandings of the faith now called “Friends” in the mid 1600’s, he converted many and we have accounts of over 60 people who travelled extensively with him, in small groups and also on their own whom he trusted to carry the faith that they had received from Christ. They are affectionately known as the “Valiant Sixty” and they put themselves in awful danger with the authorities of the time, many being gaoled, whipped and some suffered death for their adherence to God. Included in the Valiant Sixty were 13 women. It was unusual and even more dangerous for the women than for the men in those times. They were all very brave for what they had to endure.
To bring us up to date there are probably as many women involved in Friends as men and this continues today in the Friends of the Light. We can as a people confirm today that we have experienced the power of Christ in the women within this organisation to be just as strong, significant and righteous as any of the men. We are a small group and have often been moved by these women who have spoken words given to them by Christ to great effect in our community.
Do you differentiate between male and female family members when you ask/pray to God to help them when in difficulty, or to keep them safe on their travels? If you don’t why would you expect Christ, the spirit of God with no gender to differentiate?
Would you differentiate between a male or female of whatever age in helping them when in great danger? Then is it not the same for Christ?
Shajom
About The Author
General
This is the "authorship" used for general posts by the community
Comment : Christ the Spirit of God was manifest in Jesus the man and spoke through him. Christ can speak through one of his faithful friends whether male or female. Paul sees himself as one of many apostles who were preaching the gospel wherever they went. At the end of his letter to the Romans is a greeting to a female relative of his called Junia who preceded him in this work and was great among the apostles. we cannot however agree with his interpretation of the story in Genesis 2 which says that the man was created first in the image of God and that the woman was created from the man and so was an image of the man. This contradicts common sense and is demonstrably un-scientific. Taken as a whole the story can be used in different ways and Jesus referred to it to show that men and women are equal in the eyes of God. What became the traditional Christian interpretation is not really based on the text. The Serpent does not personify evil but intelligence and we know that intelligence can cause problems as well as bring benefits so that the snake has no legs. If there is an original sin it could be argued that it was when the man combined his new found intelligence with his physical strength to dominate the woman and then tried to blame her for his own weakness.