Females Are More Mature and Responsible
(page 2)


~Mother Theresa~


Women and Religion


The relative immaturity of so many adult men is reflected in the two sexes' different attitudes toward religion. Women are naturally drawn to religion because it presents itself as the guarantor of the moral order, but many men are uncomfortable with religion be cause it condemns their selfish attitudes. It is their general moral superiority which makes women more religious than men, a fact which has been observed for a long time. The famous Puritan theologian, Cotton Mather, remarked on this phenomenon in his book Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion, published in 1692. "As there were three Marys to one John, standing under the Cross of our Dying Lord," he wrote, "so still there are far more Godly Women in the World, than there are Godly Men; and our Church Communions give us a Little Demonstration of it." Today this is as true as ever; at virtually any church service you could attend there will be more women present than men.

Men and women also tend to be religious in different ways. It is usually the men who are the ones arguing about picky points of doctrine while it is the women who talk about Jesus, who is presented as our example. Women are more concerned about the relevance of religion to life than are men because they operate on a higher moral plane.

Women are more sympathetic to religion than men, but it is sometimes argued that religion treats women as inferior and is bad for them. Certainly there have been enough times when organized religion did insult women, as for example Pope Paul VI's solemn proclamation in January 1979 that women could not be priests because they "lack likeness to Christ." But was the pope right in claiming that the fact that Jesus was a man proves that women are somehow inadequate? Let's take a look.

Closely examined, the New Testament account of Jesus shows a man who deferred to women on questions of right and wrong. Since the theologians tell us that he is our example, Jesus must be saying that men today should accept the moral guidance of the women around them.

One example of this deferrence toward women comes in Matt. 15:21-28: - And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon." But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table." Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.

Here and in the parallel account in Mark 7:24-30, Jesus says that Gentiles are dogs. This is the same Jesus who said, "Do not give what is holy to dogs"(Matt 7:6). In the New Testament, calling someone a dog is extremely derogatory. Paul writes, "Look out for the dogs, look out for the evil-workers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh"(Phil. 3:2). And on its very last page, the New Testament gives us a list of those who will be excluded from heaven: "Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and every one who loves and practices falsehood" (Rev. 22:15). Some New Testament scholars have suggested in all seriousness that the word "dog" might be translated better as "bitch."

So Jesus tells this Gentile woman that he will not grant her request because Gentiles are dogs. But then she persuades him to change his attitude. She is able to do this because Jesus is willing to listen to a woman -- something that the pope never does -- and willing to let her change his mind. Here Jesus is an example for all men who earnestly wish to do right: Listen to the women around you and try to do what they tell you, and you will be a better person.

Nowhere in the New Testament are we told that Jesus ever let a man change his mind. But he let this woman do so. And the incident with the Gentile woman is not unique. Jesus also let his mother make important decisions for him.

Since Jesus was never married -- probably because he did not want to leave a widow -- we can have no accounts of how he accepted the guidance of his wife. He did, however, still have a mother, and the New Testament does indicate that he did in fact go along with what she said. In John 2:1-12, we read of the launching of his public ministry, the timing of which was determined by his mother, not himself. The occasion chosen by her is the wedding at Cana; a wedding is the founding of a new home, and the home is the foundation of morality. This is the reason that Jesus' mother decides that this is the place and time for him to reveal himself publicly: - When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Jesus addresses his own mother as "woman." In the ancient world, this term as a form of address was consistently derogatory. Some Bible commentators have lamely tried to argue that such an address could be honorific, but they never present any examples because there are none.

Why is Jesus saying this? It could not be to insult his mother; that would be too much out of character. He is saying this for our benefit, so that we may understand that he is obeying his mother because she is a woman. He is setting himself up as an example for all men to follow, that they may obey the women around them and become better persons. And in doing so, he transforms the word "woman" from a derogatory term to a term of honor. The religion of Jesus does not degrade women; it elevates them to the level of man's superior.

After Jesus calls his mother "woman," he asks, "what have you to do with me?" and claims that it is not yet time for his public ministry to begin. This question of Jesus is a Jewish expression meaning "That is your business; how am I involved?" -- he is saying that if she is concerned that the wedding is out of wine, then that is her problem, not his. Similarly, In 2 Kings 3:13 the prophet Elisha tells the king, "What have I to do with you?" -- meaning that he does not want to be bothered with the king's problems.

But Jesus' mother knows that he will have to obey her, and so she tells the servants to do what he says. And so Jesus performs the miracle, thereby launching his public career at a time that he did not expect to -- a time chosen by his mother.

Actually, there was an earlier attempt by Jesus to begin his public ministry. But he did so without his mother's guidance. The story is told in the first three chapters of Mark, and it ends with his mother -- accompanied by his brothers, who have stayed obedient to their mother's authority -- coming to get him and take him home. At first Jesus tries to disown his family, but then (as it turns out) he submits to his mother's will:

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And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother."

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But this subterfuge doesn't work, and Jesus ends up going home with his mother. Bible scholars recognize that there is a break in the text at this point -- the end of the third chapter of Mark -- because Jesus' activities are completely reoriented. Up to this point his efforts had centered on the synagogue, but from now on he turns his back on the synagogue and concentrates on working mostly with small groups and often operating within people's homes. What had come in between to make Jesus change his tactics was the incident during the wedding at Cana.

Under his mother's guidance, Jesus abandoned his attempt to work through the institutions of organized religion which were dominated by men and turned his attention to the true source of morality, the home, where the woman can reign supreme. In order to do this, she chose a wedding -- the starting of a home -- as the situation where Jesus was to begin his public career.

The home is the foundation of morality, and morality is fostered when people marry. Marriage is crucial to the fostering of morality in society, but most men do not have a proper appreciation for the institution. Even those who do marry often speak of it as "getting tied down" or even being "in jail." This is because most men are immature and therefore resist assuming the responsibilities involved in being married. Once they are married, they know that they should be making some effort to grow up, but they don't want to do this.

The woman, on the other hand, is the man's moral superior, and so she welcomes marriage. Once married, she wants to see her husband become a responsible adult, and she encourages him in this. But most men resist their wives' efforts at moral guidance. That rare man who is morally earnest enough to listen to his wife's counsel gets labelled "henpecked" by other men, who laugh at him.

So Jesus was definitely swimming against the stream in letting himself be guided by women. And he distinguished himself some more in his moral teachings. When we look at his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), we find Jesus advocating distinctly feminine virtues. He says, for example, "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5). Here the Greek word translated "gentle" is praus (rhymes with house). ("Gentle" is more accurate than "meek" [Bauer et. al ., 1979]). And praus is pre-eminently a feminine virtue. In Greek mythology the word was often applied to goddesses, but it was never applied to any male god. And Plutarch repeatedly hailed it in his writings as one of the most important of a woman's virtues [Hauck and Schulz , 1968].

Greek writers also applied the word praus to men, but this usage was derogatory. Calling a man gentle back then was the same as calling a man a sissy or a wuss girl today. ("Wuss" is the conflation of the words "woman" and "pussy.") It meant that he was not really a man, that he was more like a woman.

Women are the gentle sex, and gentleness is a feminine virtue. But it is this feminine virtue that Jesus holds up as an ideal. He even applies it to himself. In Matt. 11:29 we read "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle [praus] and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Here Jesus says that men should follow his example and adopt a feminine virtue. This idea was unheard of at that time and is an important part of the uniqueness of the message of Jesus.

Women are naturally gentle, and men become gentle only through moral training. If men are to be trained in this feminine virtue, they will have to be trained under the supervision of women. This directs our attention away from the male- dominated institutions of organized religion and toward the home as the true source of morality.

Jesus makes this point himself later in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 6:1-18). Three times Jesus says it is better to be seen by God who is en krypto, usually translated "in secret" and sees in secret. In verse four, almsgiving is to be in secret, and God will see it in secret. In verse six, prayer is to be in secret, and God will see it in secret. Finally, in verses 17 and 18, fasting is to be in secret, and again God will see it in secret.

Now the expression usually translated "in secret" obviously cannot mean that. For if a man is fasting, then there is no way he can keep it from his family. It would be more accurate to translate the expression en krypto as "in private," that is, in the privacy of the home. The contrast Jesus is making is not between fasting known to others and fasting known only to oneself, but rather between a public display of fasting and private fasting at home. So "secret" is a misle ading translation.

The same point holds true for praying in private. Jesus says when you pray you should go to your room and shut the door. But even if the door is shut, what is going on behind it will be apparent to the rest of the family, at least if prayer at home becomes a regular practice. So again this is not prayer "in secret" but rather "in private."

The contrast Jesus makes about prayer is between public prayer in the synagogue or church or some other public place and private prayer at home. Jesus does not say that it would be nice if people prayed at home as well as in the synagogue; he says flatly not to pray in the synagogue because that's what the hypocrites do.

This is a direct attack on the male-dominated institutions of organized religion. Jesus holds up the alternative of praying at home where the woman is the chief moral influence. For Jesus, the center of true morality and therefore true religion is the home . And for the gentle sex to fulfill its role and provide men with moral training, it will be necessary for women to have authority over men. Therefore Jesus says "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth." Blessed are the women, for they shall inherit all power on earth.


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