CHAPTER 6
John Bell cites Jesus’ inclusion of women in both his
community and his teaching as an indication that Jesus was ‘in tune with and
unashamed of his feminine side.” How does this fit with your image of Jesus?
In Chapter 3 Bell discusses how Jesus’ sexuality is not
covered by the gospel writers. Does our traditional image of Jesus as “gender
neutral” make him a safer saviour for female disciples?
Yet another interesting chapter. How could the Christian slant towards males have been interpreted from such a lot of female oriented stories? Clearly the male ego was being challenged by Jesus. The tenderness of Jesus and his respect of women’s experiences and faith certainly make me feel at home in his presence. I don’t think Jesus thought much about his feminine side. He related more to the God in women; they were humble and hard-working and faithful. Jesus was a baby, a boy, a man, and would have had the same experiences and challenges as others of his own age. But back when this was written, I suppose, men wanted to emphasize his divinity, not his humanity. Perhaps that’s also why they played down Jesus’ interactions with women. Women were “less than” men in the society of the day. Jesus wasn’t particularly noticed until he started his ministry later in life, so surmising what might have been happening in his formative years would have taken away what they thought was the important meaning of his death on a cross and his divinity. [Some verses I really never have understood were the ones in Matthew 15:21-28, specifically the verses 26-28. Don’t make sense to me! Also on page 82, Bell mentions Matthew 12:41-45 – the poor widow versus the disregarding rich men. I don’t see his reference to “poor widow versus the disregarding rich men” and I’m wondering if he put in the wrong reference here.]
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite books is Jesus According to a Woman, by Rachel Conrad Wahlberg (1975!) As a young woman, it helped me to formulate the personal connection to Jesus that popular Christianity seemed to demand - the first time it occurred to me that Jesus might have approached me as a person, not second-class. When I read it now, it's dated, but still affirming!
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