But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).
John 20: 11-16 NRSVue Mary Magdalene, 1st witness to the Resurrection & 1st evangelist
Women, in all their diversity, should be able to fully participate in Canada’s economic, social and political life. Gender Equality Week is an opportunity to celebrate the progress Canada has made to date in advancing gender equality, while reflecting on the work that remains.
This is a week of Weeks in Canada with recognition of trees, book banning, and gender equality -- how is that for diversity?
The Gender Equality designation intrigues me for a number of reasons, the good, the bad, and the ugly. South of the border we've seen how misogyny and inequality have taken hold with repressive laws controlling the rights of women to make their own reproductive choices and wretched comments by a vice-presidential candidate who doesn't care for "childless cat ladies."
Not suprisingly religion is not immune. The Southern Baptist Convention has doubled down on excluding women from leading congregations while offering tepid responses to the epidemic of male clergy sexual misconduct.
While this is bad and ugly there is some good news. The next president of the United States could well be a woman and this would be a first. We've seen a surge of interest in women's professional sports although a star WNBA player is making 1% of the top NBA player -- hardly equality.
In our United Church of Canada we have experienced strong leadership from moderators who are women. Several excellent books have been published exploring the role of women in the early church, often hidden in plain sight. I led a study group on Finding Phoebe: What New Testament Women Were Really Like by Susan Hylen and the discussion was excellent.
I have yet to delve into the recently purchased Women Who Do: Female Disciples in the Bible by Holly Carey but I will get there. Both of these books were published by a company that leaned to the theological right in earlier days but in the past couple of decades has expanded its outlook. I've included a quote from the book below but I'll conclude by saying that we can continue to seek gender equality in every sphere of our lives, including our Christian faith.
“A closer look reveals that in each of the four Gospels women were with Jesus all along. They followed him as he preached and taught and healed and performed miracles throughout Galilee, Judea, and the surrounding gentile regions. They functioned as his benefactresses, funding his ministry and providing for the others who were part of their community.
The Gospel writers lauded many of the women whom Jesus encountered along the way, presenting them as exemplary in their faith or for their insight into who he was or what he could do. He uses women as examples of faith in his teachings and parables. Some women went toe-to-toe with Jesus on the interpretation of the Torah and what their place should be in God's Kingdom.
And it was women who were there at the end, following the body of Jesus as he was placed in a tomb, then returning to care for it only to find that he had risen. It was these same women whom angels first commissioned with the task of “going and telling” of his resurrection to the others who followed him. Women were everywhere in Jesus's ministry.”
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