I’m introducing our sister Phoebe to you, who is a servant[a] of the church in Cenchreae. 2 Welcome her in the Lord in a way that is worthy of God’s people, and give her whatever she needs from you, because she herself has been a sponsor of many people, myself included. (CEB)
“They
Like Jesus, But Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations,” Week Four:
They Think the Church is Dominated by Males and Oppresses Females
Making
the rounds of the viral internet earlier this year was a list compiled by an
good-natured wag (who I am told is a former professor at Fuller Theological
Seminary) that was simply entitled, “Top Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not Be
Ordained to Ministry.” The title, of course, is in reference to the stances of
many, many denominations and churches that still refuse to ordain women and/or
allow them to serve in substantive leadership positions. But the list itself is pure gold. These are just a few of my favorite reasons
for why I should not be up here right now:
A man’s
place is in the army.
The
physique of men indicates that they are more suited to such tasks as chopping
down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do
ministerial tasks.
Man was
created before woman, obviously as a prototype. Thus, they represent an
experiment rather than the crowning achievement of creation.
Men are
too emotional to be priests or pastors. Their conduct at football and
basketball games demonstrates this.
The New
Testament tells us that Jesus was betrayed by a man. His lack of faith and
ensuing punishment remind us of the subordinated position that all men should
take.
Men can
still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can
sweep sidewalks, repair the church roof, and perhaps even lead the song service
on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they
can still be vitally important in the life of the church.
This
is a sermon series for us to begin the fall season here in the life of the
church, and it is a sermon series that, as it takes us now through September
and into October, I imagine will likely challenge and maybe even distress us a
bit…which I promise you is a good thing, even in the comfort zone of
church. In fact, church has become such
a comfort zone for us, and for many Christians, that an increasing number of
folks feel shut off from us because they worry that they do not speak our
language, or understand our thoughts, or follow our precepts. And that separation has not been easy on us,
as church memberships decline and the average age of remaining church members
increases. In the midst of these
sociological trends, a California pastor named Dan Kimball wrote a book
entitled, “They Like Jesus, But Not the Church,” in which he
documents—qualitatively, rather than quantitatively—the stereotypes that people
who live outside the church hold of us.
And none of those stereotypes are good.
Each week we will hear—through Dan—from a member of my generation about
how they see the church, and we’ll do so while also exploring what the Bible
has to say about it. And so we began the
series with a message with the theme of, “They think the church has a political
agenda, and “They think the church is judgmental and negative,” Last week, we
tackled “They think the church arrogantly claims that all other religions are
wrong,” and now this week, we turn to the theme of, “They think the church is
dominated by males and oppresses females.”
As
Dan Kimball describes her, Erika is a graduate student in landscape
architecture who “has a bubbly personality, and as she talked about Jesus, her
enthusiasm was evident, especially when she talked about Jesus’ teachings about
love and caring for the poor and needy.
But as she talked about the church and its leaders, her expression
changed.” This is, in part, what she has
to say:
“America was birthed primarily from a
male-dominated European society. So the
church is naturally rooted from there.
However, in our society today, there are great steps being made of
seeing females as more equal in the job market and other places. So I certainly would think that the church
would be doing the same, but it doesn’t seem to be. I have only seen and heard about churches
shooting down women who both aspire in their faith and then desire to be in
church leadership…the church has to understand the feelings of women, and not
only what it feels like to be a female in the church but a female in the job
marketplace, a female in politics, a female anywhere in a male-dominated society. I can’t imagine that Jesus would not pay a
lot of attention to this and make sure the church understands what females feel
and respects and honors them.”
This
chapter in Dan’s book was, I think, written to an audience who has needs we no
longer have—namely the need to cross the bridge into ordaining women and
allowing them to serve all of the same leadership posts as men. And so this makes today’s both the easiest
and toughest sermon to write and deliver—easy because I think we do well here
and have little need for additional teaching, tough because, well, what do I
say for 20 minutes?
But,
as ever, Scripture with its wide array of characters and personalities, heroes
and villains comes to the rescue.
Amazingly, despite the more well-known sections of Scripture that are
oft-quoted today, typically by Paul and addressing what we now call “wifely
submission,” you know, the injunctions about women remaining silent and
submissive—1 Corinthians 11, Ephesians 5, Colossians 3, and Titus 2.
So
why on earth, then, would Paul be commending a female deacon of the church—Phoebe—in
Romans 16?
The
short answer would be selfishness—as verse two would seem to indicate, Phoebe
was one of Paul’s patrons, someone who likely helped finance his extensive
ministries to the Gentiles.
But
there’s more to it than that. The Greek
word that Paul uses in verse one to describe Phoebe’s post at her church is “diakonos,”
which, if you’re wondering where the word “deacon” ever came from, there’s your
answer.
But
Biblical Greek—sort of like how, say, French or Spanish does today—differentiates
between male and female forms of words, and Paul’s “diakonos” is very much the
masculine form of the word. Paul is
commending a female deacon the same as he would a male deacon—that in Phoebe,
Paul saw no difference between her and any other male leader of a Christian
Church! In that respect, my translation
of “diakonos” as “deaconess” in the sermon title is quite incorrect.
More importantly, Paul puts to lie the very notion of segregating women off into their own spheres of ministry to be overseen by men—the portion of ministry that has been offered to women, versus what I have to believe is rightfully and Biblically theirs—that deaconess’s portion of ministry has for centuries been woefully inadequate.
For
it is not merely that, according to Scripture, women make good deacons.
Women
also make for good judges—in Judges 4, the leader of Israel at the time was a
woman named Deborah, who, Scripture says, would sit underneath a palm tree and
the people would come to her with their disputes.
Women
also make for good prophets—in 2 Kings 22, King Josiah is renovating Solomon’s
temple, and during the renovations, a Torah scroll is discovered. On orders from the king, five of his advisers
seek out Huldah in Jerusalem so that she can speak for God to them and
authenticate the Torah scroll, which she does.
Perhaps
most importantly, women make for good disciples—at the Crucifixion, when all of
Jesus’ male disciples have fled, it is the women who remain—Mary, and Martha,
and Susanna, and Joanna.
And
we haven’t even gotten to Esther, Ruth, or Rahab yet, or even how Jesus
compares Himself to a mother hen protecting her baby chicks in Matthew 23 and
Luke 13.
But
this is not meant to be simply an “Appreciate Biblical Women” token sermon—it is
meant to be a springboard for something altogether different. I did not learn about all of these women—Deborah,
and Huldah, and Phoebe—until I attended seminary. Far too often, I think, we read Scripture
selectively and sweep these amazing figures of history under the rug of
spiritual and religious selectivity.
Part
of the burden—the great, terrible, and joyous burden—of accepting the Bible as
the Word of God is recognizing that there is still so, so much of it that we
may not know exists.
And
when we shut ourselves off to half of humanity’s experience with it, and with
God, we do ourselves—and the church a grave disservice.
It
is not enough for us to ordain women, or to serve under women pastors and board
members and elders and deacons and teachers.
We should do all of these things because the church has done so, because
Scripture has done so, because God has done so.
And
let us, in the process, come and continue to grow in great and exciting ways in
our relationship with the God who, like a mother, created us and raised us.
May it be so. Amen.
May it be so. Amen.
Rev.
Eric Atcheson
Longview,
Washington
September
30, 2012
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