A sober exegesis of 1 Timothy 1:8-15 makes it clear that the Bible forbids women to teach or be in authority over men in an ecclesiastical setting. Notwithstanding the ballyhoo of many feminists that this charge to Timothy was conditioned by an excessively patriarchal first-century culture, Paul, under divine inspiration, makes it clear that this prohibition is actually rooted in a culturally-transcendent condition, namely the fall of Adam and Eve. Paul gives two reasons in the passage why women are not to exercise pastoral authority: 1) because by virtue of Adam’s temporal priority he is to be the leader and 2) because Eve’s specific “contribution” to the fall was the fact that she was deceived. A thorough examination of the passage is not in order here, but suffice it to say that because Adam was formed first and because of the woman’s proclivity to deception, God has given the primary responsibility of the transmission of His truth to men, not women.
Those within our midst (even Christians) who have been influenced by the radical feminism that has plagued western civilization for several decades often chafe at such “bigoted” and “obscurantist” dogmatism. To many of this persuasion, the Bible must be rescued from those who would take Paul’s words literally and universally. On the other hand, those who uphold the authority and inerrancy of Scripture must be prepared to deal apologetically with these type of passages that so blatantly offend the humanistic sensibilities of a post-Christian culture. Additionally, church leaders must not only deal “negatively” in regards to women in leadership roles but must at the same time deal “positively” with the significant place the Scripture gives to the role of women as disciples of Christ. While women are prohibited from pastoral office, they are invited along with men to the feet of Jesus to serve the Master. As the gospel of Mark stresses the servant/discipleship theme, it is natural to find in there a sketch of the significant role women fill as followers of Christ.
Before surveying the specific examples of women disciples that Mark highlights in his gospel, we must underscore the demands that Jesus places on anyone who would follow Him. Mark records in 3:31-35 the words of Jesus that His family of disciples includes all those who do the will of God. This passage teaches that Jesus distinguished people not on the basis on skin color, nationality, or gender, but on their heart’s inclination to serve God. The demands of discipleship, likewise, are non-discriminatory: all who would follow Jesus must follow Him down the Via Dolorosa, the way of suffering that alone leads to glory. Three central passages demonstrate for both men and women the cost, the call, and the crown of discipleship.
The cost of discipleship. In Mark 8:34, Jesus tells the crowd and His disciples that “whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” This radical call is further expounded in the following verses, 35-38. The demand that one must lose his life to find it, and the threat that whoever is ashamed of Christ and His words will be rejected at the Judgment is a demand that must be soberly attended to by all who claim to follow Christ. Similarly, Jesus’ vivid warning about hell (9:42-50) is a warning to all, both men and women. Furthermore, the rich must take special care to not trust their riches, for such will by no means enter the kingdom regardless of their gender (10:23-25). Indeed, the warning about hell is only properly heeded when a man or woman receives the kingdom with the humility and trust of a little child (10:15).
The call of discipleship. The call of discipleship is a call to service. Just as the “Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (10:45),” so must the disciples do likewise. Mark records in 9:35 the teaching of Jesus that “if anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” The call is also a call to love. A man or woman who seeks to please God is commanded to love Him with an utmost love and to love their neighbor as himself or herself (12:28-31). Last, the discipleship call is one of faith and forgiveness (11:20-26).
The crown of discipleship. Jesus, as recorded in Mark 10:28-31, said that “there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time…and in the age to come, eternal life.” Though the fulness of our reward is reserved for us in heaven, we do not have to wait until then to be fruitful for the Lord. In fact, a disciple should be and will be fruitful in their work in the Lord (4:8, 20; 16:17-18).
Contrary to much of the radical feminist rhetoric, the Bible does not degrade women but in fact exalts their dignity. One fine example of this is recorded in the first two gospels. Mark, along with Matthew, records a controversy that Jesus had with the Pharisees over the issue of divorce. One first-century school of thought embraced the idea that a man could divorce his wife for practically any reason at all while a more conservative approach was that only infidelity justified divorce. The Pharisees, by this time having long since plotted together with the Herodians to destroy Jesus (3:6), were hoping to trap Jesus into taking one side or another on the divorce issue so that he would lose much of his support. 1 While the issue of divorce and an exposition of Jesus’ response is not at hand, it is significant that in the course of His reply Christ reminds his audience of the dignity of woman conferred upon her from creation. God “made them male and female,” therefore the woman is not a piece of property to be discarded when out of favor but a helpmeet to be cherished and cared for. In other words, Jesus expunges the culturally-conditioned excuses for divorce from the controversy and reveals the heart of the matter: men and women have equal worth and dignity in the eyes of God. Thus, we discover in Mark’s gospel that women have a significance in the eyes of God equal to that of men and by implication are not to be looked upon as second-class disciples just because in the Divine economy they are prohibited from pastoral ministry. (See also 1 Cor.7:14, 12:13; Gal.3:28)
We now turn to specific narratives in Mark’s gospel that illustrate the exemplary actions and attitudes of certain women. These examples are beneficial not just for women but for all disciples as they “flesh out” tangible ways that a disciple can honor and serve his or her Master.
Exemplary Service. In 1:30-31, Mark, in concert with Matthew and Luke, records the story of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law who “lay sick with a fever.” Not much detail is given in the narrative, but we are told that when Jesus had healed her of the illness, she served both Him and the disciples present with Him, namely Simon, Andrew, James, and John. This narrative takes place in the heart of the longest recorded day in Christ’s earthly ministry. As recorded in Mark, the day began in 1:16-20 with the calling of the four aforementioned disciples. In verses 21-28, Jesus models for His new disciples His authoritative teaching and power over the spiritual realm. In verses 32-34, Mark records the evening activity of Jesus as He healed all who were brought to Him. Nestled in the middle of all this activity is the service ministry of Peter’s mother-in-law. Though not explicit in the text, it seems hardly a stretch to consider that this woman’s service to Christ helped Him to regain His physical strength for the exhausting ministry that would occur later on that very evening.
Exemplary Faith. There are two outstanding examples recorded in Mark of women exercising an exemplary faith. The first, in 5:25-34, tells of a woman who, despite suffering for twelve years from not only a “flow of blood” but also the ineptitude of her attending physicians, found the strength to fight through a crowd of followers that she might simply touch the hem of Jesus’ garment and be healed. Her faith proved to be well-placed as once she touched Him “immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction” (5:29). Jesus, having recognized that “power had gone out of Him (30)” turned to discover the cause. The woman, in fear and trembling, “fell down before Jesus and told Him the whole truth (33).” But rather than condemn the woman who had “interrupted” Him on His way to heal Jarius’ daughter, Jesus commends her for her faith by which she found healing.
The second narrative is found in 7:24-30. A Syro-Phoenician woman with a demonized daughter fell at the feet of Jesus and begged for Him to heal her. Jesus, communicating the priority of bringing the blessings of the kingdom to the Jews, responds with the surprising words of refusal, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” (7:27). Not to be dissuaded, however, this Gentile woman recognized that God, though granting the Jews a prominent place in His kingdom, still loved all His creatures however undeserving they may be. Jesus responded to her great faith and conviction of the love of God by granting the humble woman’s request.
Exemplary Giving. In 12:41-44, Mark records the story of the poor widow who sacrificially gave her whole livelihood, two mites, to the treasury. Though many put in more quantitatively, none put in more qualitatively. The rich came and put in much, but it was out of their abundance. The poor widow, however, had no abundance nor a source of income and gave literally all she had. Jesus takes note of the woman as one who truly trusted in God and demonstrated that trust in her giving. This poor unnamed widow became, presumably unbeknownst to her, a testimony for the ages of the true spirit of faith-giving that God commends.
Exemplary Worship. Mark 14:3-9 records the story of a woman (unnamed in Mark but identified as Mary in a parallel passage in John 12:2-8) who, using a costly perfume, anointed Jesus for His looming death and burial. Despite the woman’s self-sacrificing devotion and worship, some hard-hearted male disciples (especially Judas – see John 12:4) chafed at this “waste” and self-righteously questioned why she did not sell the perfume to provide for the poor rather than dumping it on the head of Jesus. Their sharp criticism of her, however, drew an even sharper rebuke from Jesus who knew exactly what the woman was doing. Jesus demanded that they leave her alone and went on to declare that this sacrificial act of devotion to Him would be spoken of wherever the gospel was preached. To the disciples’ shame, their critical hypocrisy provides literary relief to highlight the exemplary worship of the faithful woman.
Exemplary Devotion. As Jesus hung on the cross, Mark records in 15:40-47 that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, Salome, and many other women, who had ministered to Him in Galilee, looked on from afar. Before we are too critical of them for keeping their distance in the time of Jesus’ greatest need, it must be remembered that several of these same women had previously been at the foot of the cross (see John 19:25-17). The women here are seen as ministering to and grieving over Jesus to His very death, even if distantly. Their unyielding devotion is further testified by the fact that after Jesus was taken down from the cross and the body granted to Joseph, the women carefully observed where He was buried, so that they could anoint His lifeless body with spices. On the other hand, save John and Joseph of Arimathea, all of Jesus’ men disciples, despite their self-proclaimed bravado (14:32), had abandoned the Lord out of fear for their own safety .
Exemplary Witness. One of the remarkable features of the gospels, Mark being no exception, is that it was women who first witnessed the risen Christ and were first commissioned to testify of His resurrection. Mark records this fact in 16:1-11. As Mary, Mary, and Salome prepared to anoint the body of Jesus on the Sunday after His crucifixion, an angel in the tomb exclaimed that Jesus had been raised from the dead and instructed them to tell the disciples the good news. Mark records explicitly in 16:9 that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, “out of whom He had cast seven demons.” She excitedly went out to proclaim His resurrection to the disciples only to be met with disbelief.
Of note is the very fact that the gospels record that women were the first witnesses to the resurrection. Christian apologist Norman Geisler observes that “in first-century Jewish culture, a writer inventing a resurrection account would never have taken this approach. A women’s testimony was not even accepted in court. Anyone faking the record would have Jesus appear first to one or more of his twelve disciples, probably a prominent one such as Peter. Instead, Jesus’ first postresurrection appearance was to Mary Magdalene.” 2 Not only does the first appearance to a woman hold great apologetic value for the authenticity of the resurrection accounts, but it further underscores the valuable place given to women as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Though Scripture makes it plain that God prohibits women from teaching and exercising authority over men, it makes it equally plain that women nonetheless occupy a significant place in the body of Christ. The revealed design and purpose in creation demonstrates that men and women are at the same time both equal and different. Men and women are created equal in their value and worth before God. Men and women are equally separated from God apart from Christ and men and women are equally justified by God when they put their faith in Christ. Likewise, men and women are equal in their potential contribution to the body of Christ. Men and women differ, however, in the respective roles assigned to them by the Creator. Though women have a subordinate role, they do not have an inferior role. That Christ greatly honored women and the significant contributions they made to His ministry is clearly demonstrated by the numerous examples given in the gospel of Mark.
FOOTNOTES
1:John MacArthur, ed., The MacArthur Study Bible (Nashville: Word Publishing, 1997), 1481.
2:Norman L. Geisler, “Resurrection, Evidence for,” in Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999), 651.