PART 2

“Perhaps it is no wonder than the women were the first at the cradle and the last at the cross. They had never known a man like this man – there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronized who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as ‘The women, God help us!’ it ‘The ladies, God bless them!’; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unselfconscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that barrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything ‘funny’ about a woman’s nature.”

Dorothy L. Sayers, Are Women Human, 1971

Dearest sisters, beloved daughters of Eve, holy women, imago dei.

I offer you my repentance and lament. For man has subjected you too much ungodliness. I offer you my praise as I sing over you what many have attempted to strip from thee.

You are not merely from man, you are from God. You are Woman, of God, and for God. You are equal and free yet beautifully other. You were made to mirror Elohim in ways a man could never.

It is no wonder that evil has made attempts at stealing your body, for it exemplifies the wonders of God! Where man has objectified, Elohim has authored his story. The first embodied temple in which Emmanuel dwelt, was in mary’s womb. The savior of the world, nursed from female breasts, humbly receiving life from that which he crafted. And surely at the foundation of the world, as Elohim formed your uterus, he knew he would one day reside behind it. And as his hands shaped your vagina, he knew he would one day be birthed from it.

What beautiful a man, that he might see the daughters of eve for who they are. That he might see women, not by their relation to men, but by their ability to be Image bearers of God. Instead of claiming superiority, he humbled himself by becoming a servant. How wonderful a savior, that instead of ignoring or invaliding women he placed dignity on them. Choosing women to be his first evangelists, his prophets, his teachers, his apostles, and his martyrs.

Oh, how I long to be like this man, and to surround myself with others like him. How beautiful is he, that he would be daring enough to challenge systems of oppression and place value on women that had been long stolen from them! My prayer is, that I would be one of many who take the life of Jesus seriously. Who follows in the footsteps of Christ to be a man who honors women. That I would see women not only as sisters, but as mothers, teachers, leaders, priests, apostles, and deacons of the living God. That I would not allow them to be silenced but would lean in to hear them. That my maleness, and all that that entails would be used not to promote myself, but to extol the daughters of eve that surround me.