(Not at Cottonwood, but a lot of other places in the past)
But, then, as I read the account of the birth of Jesus as told by Luke, the account which is most often read during the celebration of Christmas, I see the role of women as significant and meaningful.
The book opens with a priest named Zechariah.
And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Luke 1:5-7
Elizabeth is the first woman of the Christmas story. She was old, and barren. No curse was greater for a woman in the ancient world than to be barren. She was also righteous. She walked blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord. She knew the law, and obeyed it.
As Zechariah was serving, an angel appeared to him and told him that his wife would be having a baby, a son whose name would be John, a special son who would be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in the womb, and would be greatly used by God to prepare the hearts of the people for the coming of the Lord. Although Zechariah had doubts about God's ability to do this, Elizabeth conceived.
At this point, the narrative immediately goes to Mary. The angel Gabriel appears and exclaims that she is favored by God, and that she will conceive a baby by the Holy Spirit, and that baby will be the son of The Most High, the Messiah. The angel assured Mary that God was able to do this, even though she was a virgin, then he told her that her relative Elizabeth was pregnant, and Mary went to see her
As soon as Elizabeth, she knew.
"And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry,"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." Luke 1:41-45
That must have been extremely encouraging to Mary, to have confirmation of the word that God had given her.
This is the biggest news in the history of the world! And there are two people who know it, both of them are women. I am not speaking anything against men. But, I believe that maybe God was making a point here. He is showing us that things are changing in dramatic ways.
During this time in Israel, as well as the other nations, women were considered second class citizens in every way. In a trial, the testimony of a woman was not admisable evidence. Women could not own property. Most women were not educated and could not support themselves. Women were the property of men. I'm not making this up. This is well documented in the world of this time. If Mary and Elizabeth went out and told the people that Mary would give birth to the Messiah in 9 months, no one would have believed them. God could have revealed the truth to Mary's father, or to her almost husband Joseph first, and that would have been more expected, but He didn't. An angel did eventually tell Joseph, to confirm that what Mary had told him was true.
The fact that God revealed to two women that the Messiah was coming would be astounding to the people of that day.
Consider this; Mary was under the rule of her father until she married, when she would be ruled by her husband. If her husband died, she would have to go back to live with her father, unless she had a son who could take care of her. Mary could not own property. She had very few rights. YET, she could carry in her womb the tiny fetus that was God. She had the ability to nourish that baby, to protect Him, to provide for Him in every way. That is an amazing fact.
After Mary gave birth, she and Joseph took Jesus to the temple for the required offerings. A man named Simeon was there, waiting, God had told him that he would see the Messiah before he died. He knew that Jesus was the one, and blessed him. Then, a woman named Anna came.
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:36-38
First, Anna was a prophetess. There are only 4 prophetesses named before this, and the word is used so casually, without much explanation. Anna was married 7 years when her husband died. From that time she lived in the temple area, worshiping, fasting, and praying all the time. God revealed to her the reality of who Jesus was, just as he had Simeon. She gave thanks to God, and then she began to spread word. Anna is the first evangelist. She went to those she knew who were also waiting for the Messiah to come.
Jesus came as the Savior of the world. He came to save us from our sins, to restore us to be in relationship with God. He came so that we would be restored to the place of representing God on earth and bringing Him glory.
Jesus also came to sit things right. One of the aspects of the work that Jesus came to do was to bring women out of the bondage of servitude and show that God created women to be image bearers of God, nothing less; gifted, intelligent, able, faithful.
The women surrounding the birth of Jesus reveal that God loves and honors women just as he does men.
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