Desperate housewives….

Biblical WOMANHOOD????????????????

Correct me if I am wrong but could someone please tell me about a woman in the bible who looked like an American, fundamentalist housewife sterotype?  I can think of perhaps of two Mary the mother of Jesus and Martha.  Mary had a child out of wed lock in a culture that would stone her for it.  (um ok so maybe not like an American house wife) Jesus came to visit Martha’s family and he praised her sister Mary for not cooking dinner but sitting and talking theology with Jesus and scolded Mary for doing housework rather than learning…(not exactly a role model…)

The women that bible speaks most highly of look NOTHING like American housewives: Tamar fought domestic violence, Sarah became the mother of an entire nation/people group, Deborah was a judge and a warrior, Esther was a shrewd politician and a queen, Ruth was a caregiver and the sole  breadwinner (no pun intended) for an elderly relative (she also went and lay in a man’s bed who she was in love with to tell him her feelings for him..),  Rahab was a prostitute who descendant was Jesus,  Elizabeth proved the impossible, Mary gave birth to a child outside of marriage in a culture that would stone her for it, Joanna and Susanna ministered to Jesus, Mary (sister of Martha) listened and discussed theology with Jesus,  Mary Magdalene was a prostitute whose enduring story teaches us about grace and who also was among the only followers who were fearless enough to go to Christ’s tomb after his death, Aquila  made tents and may have been one of the first missionaries, Lydia was a wealthy, successful businesswoman who was the first European known to accept Christ she along with Phoebe were leaders in the early church….

Come to think of it maybe Paige Patterson is on to something.  The women today have indeed lost sense of biblical womanhood.  Could you imagine what the world would be like if every woman who follows Christ actually lived like these women did? (OR a if a few good men did too?)

Could you imagine a woman would shrewdly crush the head of a foreign general (either figuratively or literally, diplomatically)? Or could you imagine a woman so strong and wise that a general refuses to go to battle without her? Could you imagine if there was a woman like Esther who would go before the governments of nations where genocides, other hate crimes or gross human rights violations are happening and convince them to stop? Could you imagine if women would support their elderly, widowed family members like Ruth rather than sending them to nursing homes or griping about them?  Could you imagine if women of the world fought back against violence toward women and children like Tamar? Could you imagine if the women of the world embraced the children born unplanned or unwanted? Could you imagine if women in nations where there is no freedom of religion quietly yet openly worshiped and ministered like the women at the tomb?  Could you imagine if women stepped up as leaders yes pastors, ministers, teachers in places where there is no faith or where faith has died?

How different would our churches be?

How different would our families be?

How different would our world be?

…if every woman got up from the mud of our world that exploits women and their bodies and brushed off the  dirt of centuries of fear and ignorance  hidden in church tradition but lacking biblical substance and embraced her calling…whatever that calling may be from motherhood (yes even the stay at home kind…love ya MOM!) to ministry to beyond.

how desperate our world is for biblical womanhood….how desperate…