Jesus response to viewing women as a possession that provides a service...

This week we are answering a fundamental question that every man who desires to experience love and lasting relationships has to answer. And that question is this: how do you as a man view women? Do you view women as a possession that provides a service? Do you view women as a potential servant that meets a need? Do you view women as a commodity that decreases in value and worth over time?

Yesterday, we talked about the reality that in our culture, women are more often than not viewed as a possession that provides a service. Popular culture views women as a commodity and places enormous pressure on women to raise their value in the eyes of men by how they look and how they perform.

 

Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon; this view of women as a possession has been around for thousands of years. As a matter of fact, in the Jewish and Roman cultures of the first century, women were viewed by men in an incredibly negative manner. Women were treated as servants who were expected to obey their husbands in almost every aspect of their lives.

In the Roman culture of the 1^st century, it was not unusual for men to have multiple mistresses or for men to engage in sex with prostitutes so as to avoid the responsibility of having children or raising children. In addition, unlike today, most adoptions in Roman society did not occur when children were babies. In Roman culture, you would never adopt a baby. So, in the Roman Empire, female babies were often left on the street or taken to the garbage dump after being born to die of exposure.

And it was into the male dominated culture that treated women as possessions, and in some cases, less than human, that Jesus entered into humanity. It was into this culture that Jesus began to engage and treat women in ways that left his disciples scratching their heads. That is why when Jesus engaged in a conversation with a Samaritan woman in John chapter four, his disciples were so confused. Why would Jesus even take the time to engage a woman in such a conversation? I mean, just look at her; she’s a woman.

That is why the Jewish religious leaders were so offended when Jesus engaged a woman in Luke Chapter 7 who was caught up in a lifestyle of sin. They were offended because no self respecting man would let a woman enter into their party, especially one who was used over and over again by men as a possession. They were offended because no man would extend grace in such a way to such a woman. No self respecting man would allow a woman to provide financial support and be a part of His movement. And then Jesus called His closest followers together and said the following in John 13:34:

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

To which His Jewish disciples probably looked around and asked “what do you mean you want us to love one another as I have loved you? Does that include the women? You mean you want us to treat the women like you have treated the women? Yes, you are to treat the women just like I treated the women. Jesus, when you say all men will know, you mean just the men right? You mean the women to? Yes the women too”.

Then after Jesus died and was raised again; after the birth of the church at Pentecost, early followers of Jesus began to proclaim the claims of Christ and message of the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. As the church began to spread throughout the empire, letters were written to these early churches. In one of these letters, which is in our Bible today as the book of Ephesians, a man named Paul said the following in Ephesians 5:25:

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved

the church

To which these early followers of Jesus, who lived in a Roman culture that dominated and subjugated women probably said “wait a minute, I have a question. What do you mean that we are to love our wives as Christ loved the church? Didn’t Christ die for the church? So are you saying we have to be willing to die for our wives? I can’t treat them as a possession that provides a service? I can’t treat them like a servant that meets a need? Yep. That’s what I am saying”.

Then, Peter, who was the leader of the early followers of Jesus, wrote a letter to followers of Jesus that were scattered throughout the Roman Empire. And as part of this letter, Peter makes a statement to early followers of Jesus that best summarizes how we are to view women.

Tomorrow, we will look at this statement and the timeless answer that it provides when it comes to how men are to treat women…