Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. Matthew 27:55 (NRSVA)
The DaVinci Code movie will be released this week. The fact that it coincides with Mother’s Day does not surprise me. Part of the conspiracy theory of author Dan Brown is that Mary Magdalene is really the founder (mother) of early Christianity, and that the early church fathers were embarrassed by female leadership, and tried to hide her influence in their community.
According to Dan Brown, there have been many co-conspirators in this plot. A Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, Leonardo DaVinci (in Brown’s book) painted the Last Supper showing a figure to Jesus’ immediate right as feminine – he holds that was Mary Magdalene, the true author of the Fourth Gospel, and the disciple Jesus loved – a name associated with the apostle John.
Here is part of the scenario according to one author:
According to the book, the Holy Grail was never a cup, it was not a chalice that Jesus passed around the table at the Last Supper nor was it the cup that caught the blood of Christ at the Cross as Grail Legend would have it. Instead, according to the DaVinci Code, the Holy Grail was a person, but not just any person, as Dan Brown notes, the Holy Grail is…
"A woman who carried with her a secret so powerful, that if revealed, it threatened to devastate the very foundation of Christianity!" 239.
…this woman was Mary Magdalene and her secret was that she and Jesus were married and had a daughter by the name of Sarah. So, the Holy Grail was not a cup that held the blood of Christ, instead it was Mary Magdalene who held the blood of Christ in the form of a baby in her womb. [1]
Now the question – was Mary really Jesus’ wife and mother of Sarah, the child Jesus supposedly fathered to establish a royal bloodline to rule the earth? The “short answer” is obviously “no”. Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world. [2] Did the early church hide the truth? What does the church REALLY think about women?
Listen to the apostle Paul. When Paul wrote to his protégé’ Timothy, he used some very clear language to tell the young pastor the kind of behavior that was expected of all believers.
Paul, the aged evangelist Bishop, was telling a young pastor how to teach the Christian lifestyle to the church…in these next few verses particularly, the women of the church.
…also that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes, 10but with good works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God. 1 Timothy 2:9-10
Our Changing Culture
We live in a volatile world. Changes are rapid and many. A book from the 70’s was entitled "Future Shock." That was the "buzz" term for what happened to people who didn’t learn to change with the changes and advances.
As the saying goes, there are three kinds of people; those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what in the world happened. I may be among the last group.
• In 1954 we had a 9" TV-screen with Uncle Miltie. It was less- than-sophisticated slapstick humor that the whole family wouldn’t miss.
• In 1954 the doors remained unlocked so our neighbor could borrow whatever he needed while we went on vacation.
• In 1954 the really bad kids were the ones who combed their hair all the time in public.
Future Shock has more than arrived.
• Uncle Miltie’s 9” screen full of static has given- way to 108" Viewing Centers, with HBO, MTV & Porn.
• Today we never unlock the bars we installed on our doors.
• Today the average schoolbag contains a 9mm semi-automatic pistol.
We’ve come a long way, baby!
If we shake our heads at the changes of just the last half-century, imagine the wild ride through the last two millennia! In the days of Paul the Apostle, women were barely acknowledged as human beings, let alone as equals. Legally, women were property, with no greater status than minors or slaves. They were abused physically, emotionally and economically.
But the culture always changes. It was inevitable that women should revolt! The revolution of the 1960’s - 1980’s wasn’t always positive, but it did force the world to adjust. A teenage boy asked his father what he did during the sexual revolution of the 60’s. The father answered, "I was captured early and spent the duration doing the dishes."
Today the church must face and address the issues that affect women. Indeed they are not exclusively women’s issues, because anything that affects 53% of the world’s population is bound to impact the other 47%! Health, abortion, abuse, rape, job discrimination, divorce, child care – these are starting points.
Believers Confronting Culture
How does one begin to confront a culture that has gotten really sick? It begins with recognition; it means we should face the music:
The Feminist movement has flopped
The feminist movement was a knee-jerk reaction that was long-overdue. The reason it has failed is that, while the idea of revolt against abusive males is proper, the goals which radical feminists chose were ungodly. Kay Ebeling was a divorced 40-something, freelance writer and mother of two when she wrote,
…feminism has backfired against women....The main message of feminism was: woman, you don’t need a man;....The reality of feminism is a lot of frenzied and overworked women dropping kids off at day-care centers. [3]
How can she say that? Kay Ebeling realized how empty radical feminism was when she joined the ranks of women who bought into the Hell-spawned lie held by the lesbian founders of radical feminism:
From "The Document, Declaration of Feminism":
Marriage has existed for the benefit of men and has been a legally sanctioned method of control over women...the end of the institution of marriage is a necessary condition for the liberation of women. Therefore, it is important for us to encourage women to leave their husbands and not to live individually with men...we must work to destroy marriage." [4]
Some feminists would be quick to point out how anti-women the Bible reads. Not so! It is true that Paul found himself in a male-oriented society, but he followed the pattern of Jesus in attempting to elevate women. Galatians 3.28 does not contain the words of a male chauvinist:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
The residual effects of our changed culture have been rather toxic, but they are not all bad. In short, darkness makes the light shine brighter. We must find new ways of confronting the darkness with light. Consider these challenges:
Challenge #1. Women are still being abused.
In the pagan temple of Aphrodite at Corinth there were more than 1,000 women serving as ritual prostitutes. In Ephesus where Timothy pastored there were at the temple of Diana, hundreds of priestess prostitutes.
Paul cautioned the women to decorate themselves with good works (not go over the line of decency). His description of braided hair, gaudy jewelry and seductive clothing fit the model of the erotic temple prostitutes. Clothing reveals the core of how we feel inside.
Paul is simply reminding the Christian lady that clothing shouldn’t raise a ruckus! In our day women are still depicted as sexual targets by the media. It appeals to the sheer animal lust that lurks below the surface. How can a Christian lady move and serve in a Godly way in this world if she is only viewed as a whore? Yet, this culture in which we live teaches young girls to be seductive.
Believers must confront this culture by rejecting what the world dishes-up. It is true that women are still being denigrated and abused by preoccupation with impure attitudes toward sex. Fine clothes and makeup are wonderful if they compliment your total Godly appearance.
Christian women are not moving towards Christ-likeness when they dress suggestively. Confronting the culture compels women to ask themselves the question, What am I attempting to accomplish with the way I dress? A Christian lady ought to be distinguishable from the world!
Challenge #2. Women won’t be silent!
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 1Timothy 2.11
The Greek word here translated silence is(ker’-dos) and literally means gain. To listen in gain indicates that the learning process should produce a profit to the hearer. This doesn’t mean that the women of our church are to be mute – it means that there should be no disturbance that hinders the learning process. We teach children to be quiet in church so everyone can learn.
But given the ancient custom that the women were to be mute while the men led in worship, it is safe to assume that Paul was helping the women in Ephesus recognize that learning comes before teaching. I am in the process of learning how restrictive that principle can be. As a supply pastor for a Methodist church, I have met four times with boards of ordained ministry in just the past 10 months. There is a careful restriction placed on anyone who would teach a Methodist congregation. In ancient times it was a reality that only men were educated.
Today’s educated women would not make the same errors of doctrine that the women of Paul’s day might. In any event, confronting the culture of our day means recognizing the educational contribution Godly, trained women can make to the cause of the gospel.
In a former church there was a group of mostly women Seniors who met with me for Bible Study each week. They were my Priscilla group. Often I felt like Apollos (Acts 18) when these fine Godly ladies showed me excellent things in God’s Word.
There are those (both men and women) who should indeed keep quiet in the church. This was Paul’s intention – the unlearned ones who might mislead the rest of the congregation.
Convictions For a Culture In Crisis
Men and women still need each other! The battlefield is not men against women. It isn’t competition – it is cooperation! When the world sees Christian men and women, it should be looking at love in street clothes.
Adam stayed out late one night, and Eve was giving him the third degree: Were you chasing other women? Said the man, Be reasonable, you’re the only woman in the world for me! The quarrel continued until bedtime. Somewhere in the night Adam was awakened by a sharp poke in the ribs. It was Eve. What are you doing? She replied, Counting your ribs. We do a lot better when trusting each other.
We are individually-accountable to God. God gave us different roles. There is no use for men to try having babies. (Think of the confusion at Mother-Daughter banquets). Different roles have nothing to do with different value. Part of the problem people have is equating role with value. Value is intrinsic for human beings. We are created (male and female) in God’s image. Role is that to which we’re called.
Some are called to lead, some to follow; all are valued alike by God. He is the potter; He molds us accordingly. Accept that, and you understand what the church REALLY thinks about women!
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ENDNOTES
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1] Ken Baugh, The Da Vinci Code: Who Was Mary Magdalene?, quoted on SermonCentral.com
2] John 18:33-36
3] Kay Ebeling, Newsweek, (Nov 19, 1990), 9
4] The Bible Illustrator, (Hiawatha, Iowa, Parsons Technology), 846
