Editorial: Our Women Amazed Us
In the story of the two men walking to Emmaus, there is a verse that catches my attention. The two men are joined by an unexpected visitor who, they conclude, must have been living under a rock, so little does he appear to know of the latest happenings in Jerusalem.
As they are explaining the prophetic life and controversial death of this man Jesus, they get to the part that they are still processing: the resurrection. I imagine them fully animated, hand gestures and all, recounting the story:
“…and what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said…” Luke 24:21-24 NIV.
That part: “our women amazed us.” Within his own drama, Jesus makes the women part of the story. But why? With twelve male disciples, he wasn’t lacking communicators.
I think it’s because the women had something to add. Their communicative threads, together with the disciples, wove a necessary richness into the tapestry of the story.
This isn’t about which gender is better. I take a different path: that different types of communicators are suited for different types of messaging. God needs lots of different kinds of people to play a role in this story.
Theologian Jürgen Moltmann famously says that “Without women preachers, we would have no knowledge of the resurrection.” For my own denomination, I sometimes wonder: what other wisdom might we be missing by not encouraging more women to tell God’s story?
Rebeca Barcelo
News Editor, Adventist Today
23 March 2024
ANNOUNCEMENTS & LINKS
Today’s ATSS class (1:30 PM Eastern) with Stephen Chavez: Hidden Figures in the Patriarchal Saga
One-click link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82365740453
Passcode: ABRAHAM (ALL CAPS)
ATSS on March 30: Horace Alexander
Previous weeks’ ATSS recordings can be accessed here.
Join our Weekly Update mailing list here.
Our donation page can be accessed here.