2.3 2.4 the life and teaching of jesus  (Page 3/5)

"Lord," she complained, "dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me."

In a reply any non-domestic female would applaud, Jesus chides: "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part....”

The course of this friendship obviously ran deep. At a time when Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha, was ill, John records simply: "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus" (John 11:5).

Some of the women mentioned in these passages, female relatives, and others composed a group that followed Jesus and his male disciples, helping to finance their ministry (Luke 8:1-3). These women were present at the crucifixion (John 19:18-27) and waited at Jesus' tomb (Matt. 27:61, Mark 15:47, Luke 23:55-56). The initial, dramatic resurrection appearance was made to Mary Magdalene as she grieved for the missing body (John 20:1-18). Two gospels claim that Mary Magdalene was accompanied by other women. See Matt. 28:1-8 and Mark 16:1-8.

Although we read little of the adult interaction between Jesus and Mary, his mother, beyond her presence at the wedding when he changed water into wine (John 2:1-11) and his asking John to care for her after his death (John 19:25-27), no catalog of gospel references to women could omit her. The passages that describe the annunciation and the birth of Jesus (Matt. 1:18-2:23; Luke 1:26-56, 2:1-39) are among the most familiar in the Bible and the oldest in the New Testament. Mary emerges as an innocent, compliant woman, reverent in her demeanor. When she felt the child move in her womb, she sang:

My soul doth magnify the Lord,

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, For he bath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden:

For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. (Luke 1:46-48.)

The references to her in Jesus' childhood conform with a traditional maternal ideal: she fulfilled religious obligations regarding him (Luke 2:21-38, 41-43), she fretted about his safety, and she noted carefully what he said and did (Luke 2:49-51). Early in his ministry she, along with his brothers, attempted to call him away from a crowd, but were rebuffed. "Who is my mother, or my brethern?" he asked, then answered himself, ". . . whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother and my sister, and mother" (Mark 3:33, 35). Later, she obviously joined the group of followers; she is listed with other women at the cross and waiting with them in Jerusalem after the ascension (Acts 1:14).

Specific teaching regarding women was scanty and their social inferiority was reflected, but they figured consistently and with some individuality throughout the life of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the gospels. Mary Daly points out that the "seeds of emancipation were present in the Christian message," but their full implications were not evident to those first-century authors. Daly, p. 80. Her "feminist postchristian introduction” to this 1975 edition asserts that no effort to reinterpret biblical texts, including her own, changes the overwhelmingly patriarchal character of the Bible. Jesus' treatment of women raised questions, even if it did not supply definite answers; and, given the dedication of at least a group of women, some of those questions were bound to arise again in the church, the institution that grew out of his message and ministry.