Women and Children First!
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Stories
“Women and children first!” We all know the cry in an emergency. I always found that interesting when women and children don’t get much say in what’s going on. According to law and money, men get the power and the pay. Women get the responsibility of raising kids and service work. Interesting.
According to statistics, when women participate in a group, it raises the group’s IQ, it helps with the group’s interpersonal dynamics, and it increases the group’s problem-solving skills. So, why are women second class citizens in our culture?
The easy answer is, we inherited it. In the time of Jesus, women were basically property, and children weren’t considered human beings, until they were age twelve. Male children then became men and girl children then became commodities to be married off and bear more male children, if they were lucky. We see such attitudes in some communities of faith, today. Women’s rights are all but non-existent. These are modern manifestations of what held sway in the culture of Jesus.
Taking this into account, Jesus using a child to emphasize his statement to his disciples, about being servant of all and being last takes on a very different emphasis. It pointed them and points us toward a value system that rejects authority and embraces service and humility. Such a radical overturning of the paternalistic normality that surrounded him would raise more hackles that a sermon supporting Black Lives Matter.
Yet this call is not one that only applies to the time of Jesus. It demands that we as Christians not only be polite to women and be willing to be nice to kids, but that we stand with our Lord in witness in our culture that seeks to take away the rights of women and ignore the needs of children.
How would men react if laws were put on the books to take away their reproductive rights? How would men feel if they were paid less for equal work or denied access to the decision-making structures of business and government, just because they are men? Our Lord said to put ourselves in the places of the least of these. I doubt the new laws on abortion in Texas would be passed if the legislators could put themselves in the place of poor women, or victims of rape, or victims of incest. The poor, the victims the excluded, these are the people that Jesus called his disciples to minister to, to put into the center of their consciousness. Surely, the issues are complex, hard to nail down into bad or good. But legislation that removes even the option of taking the poor and the victim into account cannot be considered the way Jesus’ teaching leads us.
So, what should we do?
For one thing, pray. But not only pray for those being crushed by such a social system but pray for guidance. Let the Lord who led the disciples help you to create a church that helps anybody who needs. Let that Lord lead you. Let that Lord show you the victim in your community. Pray for help to make those, the least of these, your priority.
Pray for the people who voted for this legislation. They need help.
Pray for our nation, angry and divided as it is.
Pray not to become judgmental of those you don’t agree with. Pray to be a witness of reconciliation and humility. Pray to serve those who are trapped by their circumstances, the judgement of others, and their own prejudices.
Listen to the cries of the oppressed and marginalized.
Seek to open a dialogue between different sides in this debate.
And serve. Serve the Christ who has called you to this ministry of service and hope.
A long time ago a man named Hubert Humphrey said: “The moral test of a government is how it treats those in the dawn of life, the twilight of life, and in the shadows of life.” I’d say that would be the moral test of a culture, a people, and a church.
“Women and children first!”
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StoryShare, September 12, 2021 issue.
Copyright 2021 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
According to statistics, when women participate in a group, it raises the group’s IQ, it helps with the group’s interpersonal dynamics, and it increases the group’s problem-solving skills. So, why are women second class citizens in our culture?
The easy answer is, we inherited it. In the time of Jesus, women were basically property, and children weren’t considered human beings, until they were age twelve. Male children then became men and girl children then became commodities to be married off and bear more male children, if they were lucky. We see such attitudes in some communities of faith, today. Women’s rights are all but non-existent. These are modern manifestations of what held sway in the culture of Jesus.
Taking this into account, Jesus using a child to emphasize his statement to his disciples, about being servant of all and being last takes on a very different emphasis. It pointed them and points us toward a value system that rejects authority and embraces service and humility. Such a radical overturning of the paternalistic normality that surrounded him would raise more hackles that a sermon supporting Black Lives Matter.
Yet this call is not one that only applies to the time of Jesus. It demands that we as Christians not only be polite to women and be willing to be nice to kids, but that we stand with our Lord in witness in our culture that seeks to take away the rights of women and ignore the needs of children.
How would men react if laws were put on the books to take away their reproductive rights? How would men feel if they were paid less for equal work or denied access to the decision-making structures of business and government, just because they are men? Our Lord said to put ourselves in the places of the least of these. I doubt the new laws on abortion in Texas would be passed if the legislators could put themselves in the place of poor women, or victims of rape, or victims of incest. The poor, the victims the excluded, these are the people that Jesus called his disciples to minister to, to put into the center of their consciousness. Surely, the issues are complex, hard to nail down into bad or good. But legislation that removes even the option of taking the poor and the victim into account cannot be considered the way Jesus’ teaching leads us.
So, what should we do?
For one thing, pray. But not only pray for those being crushed by such a social system but pray for guidance. Let the Lord who led the disciples help you to create a church that helps anybody who needs. Let that Lord lead you. Let that Lord show you the victim in your community. Pray for help to make those, the least of these, your priority.
Pray for the people who voted for this legislation. They need help.
Pray for our nation, angry and divided as it is.
Pray not to become judgmental of those you don’t agree with. Pray to be a witness of reconciliation and humility. Pray to serve those who are trapped by their circumstances, the judgement of others, and their own prejudices.
Listen to the cries of the oppressed and marginalized.
Seek to open a dialogue between different sides in this debate.
And serve. Serve the Christ who has called you to this ministry of service and hope.
A long time ago a man named Hubert Humphrey said: “The moral test of a government is how it treats those in the dawn of life, the twilight of life, and in the shadows of life.” I’d say that would be the moral test of a culture, a people, and a church.
“Women and children first!”
*****************************************
StoryShare, September 12, 2021 issue.
Copyright 2021 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
