Muted Mary (Part 2)

I would like to take this opportunity once again to thank you for visiting this blogspot and for your invaluable contributions to the ongoing discussion. Our first post addressed the issue of Muting Mary (forbidding or not permitting ladies to preach at church). This post generated a number of responses but it also ignited some of your minds to ask some rather very challenging questions. Some of these questions have raised more issues which I will briefly discuss in this second article.

Relevance of this subject

One reader questioned why this subject (Gender roles in the church) is more hotly debated today than it was 2000 years ago. In my personal opinion, the answer lies so much in what I would like to call “Social Dynamics”. Even though God’s moral standards remain constant, our human social interactions and attitudes have dynamically changed over the years and, whether for better or for worse, we will not stop changing. Marriage, for example, is taken less sacredly today than it was then (especially in the West). Other practices or cultural norms currently under question include, but are not limited to, circumcision, lobola (dowry), and distribution of one’s wealth as an inheritance to children (biases between male and female children). Therefore, it is not surprising why, especially in this post-modern era, one should question the issue of Gender roles in the church or elsewhere.

Culturally Influenced Demographics?

In most cases the Bible writers include little or no details regarding the number of women and children at different settings and events. I defer from making the conclusion that this has any spiritual or religious implications but rather attribute it to the cultural setting at which our authors write. In the Jewish culture, the men were the only ones counted. But the resulting statistics somewhat served as a sample for the general population. I would like to believe that because of the huge number of women and children present, it was easier to count the men and then estimate the total number of attendees.

Ordination of Women

Modern critics, historicists and commentators may tell us that Mary Magdalene was the 13^th apostle but our Bibles tell us that only 12 (actually 11 excluding Judas) were known as the apostles. Christ had 70 disciples (Luke 10:1) and He called the 12 to become the apostles (Luke 6:13). He called 12 “Men” to become His apostles. And this has rightly become a matter of concern to most if not all of us. Was Christ’s choice based on Cultural or on Theological grounds? If cultural, then this discussion ends right here. But if theological, another question is raised and that is “Why can’t women become apostles?”

In the Old Testament we find men serving as priests. Again, was this theological or cultural? I find it hard to believe that women couldn’t have performed this priestly function considering that initially, God had called the entire nation of Israel to become His priesthood over all the earth (Ex. 19:5,6). In the end, because of their loyalty after the Golden Calf saga, the Levite men were chosen of all the 12 tribes to serve in the Sanctuary (Ex 32:26-28, Ex 38:21, Num 1:47-51). But before the Sinaitic Covenant, the entire Israel (men and women) were called to become God’s treasured priests on earth.

In the New Testament, Peter calls us God’s “royal priesthood” in 1 Pet 2:9. The question is: does this exclude women? If we insist that women cannot become priests, then Peter’s audience did not include them at all.

Another reason why I believe that women could serve as priests was the fact that they could serve as prophetesses and judges. An excellent example is Deborah (Judges 4:4). Prophets performed many priestly functions such as mediating for God’s people (Ex 32, Dan 9). The prophets and the judges would also anoint the succeeding kings and officiate in their marriage ceremonies. This is why I find it hard to understand how women cannot be theologically justified to become ordained and perform wedding services, baptism etc.

Please, feel free to share your insights and comments regarding the subject. For issues such as this, which are neither black nor white, submission or cultural conformity is the only reasonable thing to do (1 Cor 9:19-23).