Jesus, The First Champion of Women

In the church we have a good appreciation of what Jesus did for us, but we don’t really understand all he did for women. If we did, you can be sure we would treat them better than we do. In my last article in this series, I introduced the idea that Jesus empowered women. In this article I want to highlight two radical things Jesus did for women: he spoke to them and he defended them. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but it should be. Men, if your mother, wife, and daughters get the respect they deserve, you can thank Jesus. Ladies, if you are treated with decency, give all credit to the Lord. Because he was the first. Jesus spoke to women When the disciples found Jesus chatting with the woman at the well, they were astonished (John 4:27). This was because in Biblical times, as in some societies today, women were not supposed to talk to men who weren’t their husbands. It was a bad look, suggestive of an inappropriate relationship. The Jewish Sages discouraged women from talking to men (“you’ll look like an adulterer”) and they discouraged men from talking to women [...]