| "Mark is quite sure that it was the Holy Spirit who drove Jesus out into the Judean wilderness for his forty-day ordeal before beginning his ministry. (Mark 1:12) And I am equally sure that it was not the Holy Spirit who drove women out into the church's wilderness, its powerless margins, for their two-millennium ordeal of having their ministries thwarted. That, I'm sad to say, was the work of men! But, praise God, Jesus envisioned a ministry in which women are not consigned to the wilderness, to the margins, of either the church or the world. And for a precious 40 years or so after the resurrection of Jesus, his vision remained largely intact, for women's gifts for leadership within the Christian community were widely acknowledged, and celebrated, and utilized. But following that initial "golden" age, men of the church yielded to the temptations of Satan and suppressed the empowerment of women-the empowerment that had been fostered by the spirit of New Creation unleashed in the ministry of Jesus. And it has been only recently that that same spirit of New Creation has once again been let loose in Christianity-albeit in only some branches of the church. The portion of Paul's Letter to the Christians in Rome that I read this morning as our Second Lesson offers us a window through which to catch a glimpse of some of those Spirit-filled women who exercised roles of leadership during the church's first several decades. Now, we're given only a glimpse, mind you, but one that must have in it some power to subvert. For even this glimpse is kept from the eyes of the overwhelming majority of Christian congregations in the world. You see, not one of the standard lectionaries that prescribe the scripture lessons used by congregations-not one includes this passage-not the Protestant, not the Anglican, not the Catholic. So very few Christians ever hear these words of Paul. And in order for me to share them with you this morning, I've had to break free from the constraints imposed by our own lectionary. So what is the subversive power that resides in this passage? For on the surface of it, this text would seem to offer little of threat, or of value, to modern Christians! In it, isn't Paul just commending and offering greetings to an excruciatingly long list of 27 specific persons we've never heard of and whose names we can't even pronounce, 27 people who are dead and long-since forgotten? Let's be honest! How many of us this morning succeeded in listening to this whole list of greetings with ears fully attentive? Anyone want to raise your hand? But here's the subversive dynamic at work in this passage. Of the 27 persons specifically listed, fully 10 of them are women-some 37%. Now in the context of the patriarchal order of things that dominatedthe ancient world, 37 is a fantastically high percentage! And when we look at Paul's list, we see that the very first person mentioned is a woman-Phoebe of Cenchreae, near Corinth, in Greece. Indeed, it is to this woman that Paul is entrusting the all-important task of carrying and delivering this crucial letter of his to the Christians in Rome, carrying it all by herself, by ship and by highway-by herself-on the long journey from Corinth, in Greece, where Paul is imprisoned. Going against patriarchal custom, Paul refrains from introducing the woman Phoebe to the Christians in Rome by linking her to a husband or father, as would have been normal. Rather, Paul depicts her as a fully independent woman and as one who is, within the Christian community, both a "deacon" and a "benefactor of many." Paul's calling her a "deacon," for that time and place, means that she is a minister, one entrusted with the tasks of preaching and tending to churches. And Paul's calling her a "benefactor of many" means that she is a person of wealth and influence who uses her gifts to provide protection, support, and well-being for many. Yet for centuries the men responsible for translating the Greek New Testament into English have denied to Phoebe accurate translations of the titles Paul uses to introduce her to Roman Christians. Most of these translators have identified her not as a "deacon" but as merely a "servant" or a "deaconness," and not as a "benefactor," but as merely a "helper." And in so doing, they have stripped Phoebe of her identity as a powerful leader in the early church. Indeed, today's best-selling modern translation among Evangelical Christians (namely, the NIV) continues to hide from its readers' eyes the strong roles of leadership that Paul attributes to Phoebe. And there's even more subversion lying just ahead in this passage. For example, after commending Phoebe, Paul next greets another woman, Prisca. She and her male partner Aquila are tentmakers, well-to-do artisans who are also missionaries for Christ. Paul gives to them the authoritative title "co-workers." Now, since their craft can be plied anywhere, they are able to move frequently from place to place for the purpose of proclaiming Christ. And they are wealthy enough to be able, wherever they go, to buy a house, where the local Christian community can gather for worship. And there's another way in which Paul here goes against patriarchal convention, for he mentions Prisca before Aquila rather than after him, thereby suggesting that it is she who is the principal partner. And after Prisca, Paul mentions Mary, who is commended for her hard work, and Tryphaena and Tryphosa, two women who were probably a female missionary team, comparable to the male missionary team of Paul and Timothy and the coed missionary team of Prisca and Aquila. A fascinating image this-two women unescorted by men and traveling together around the Roman Empire proclaiming Christ and founding Christian communities. Blessed be Tryphaena and Tryphosa! Paul next greets "beloved Persis," another missionary worker; and then the mother of Rufus, who has been like a mother to Paul; and next Julia plus the sister of Nereus, both of whom are apparently central figures in one of the house-churches located in Rome. So Phoebe, Prisca, Mary, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, Persis, the mother of Rufus, Julia, and the sister of Nereus-that's nine of the ten women mentioned in this passage. And I've saved for last perhaps the most fascinating of all, the apostle Junia-the person whose title and name have led men in the church to such fits of patriarchal contortionism that they have been willing to perform on her a sex-change operation. You see, the term "apostle" was the most authoritative title that could be conferred upon a person in the early Christian church. For an "apostle" was not only one who was deemed to be a trustworthy proclaimer and teacher of Christ to the world but also one who was recognized as having had one of the very few direct and intimate encounters with the Risen Christ. Now, in our lesson, Paul introduces us to Junia, a kinswoman of his whom he describes as "prominent among the apostles." Paul also says that Junia, along with her male apostolic partner Andronicus, had seen the Risen Christ before even Paul himself had and had also served prison time right alongside Paul. As late as the end of the 4th century, we find the theologian John Chrysostom still praising Junia as a female apostle. But shortly thereafter, men in the church performed that sex-change operation on her. They altered her name "Junia" (a common name attributed to hundreds of females in ancient inscriptions)-changing it to the masculine form "Junias" (a totally made-up, make-believe name used by absolutely no one mentioned in ancient inscriptions or literature, but masculine in form). That's right, men just up and altered the biblical text by adding an "s" to the end of her name, thereby changing her gender, at least in their minds. After all, how could anyone so authoritative as an apostle possibly have been a woman? For hadn't God intended apostleship to be an all-male club? Well, even to this day some Bible translations perpetuate the fiction that Junia was really a man named Junias. Fortunately, the best of modern translations, including the one we use, tell the truth. So here's to Phoebe, and Prisca, and Junia, and Mary, and Tryphaena and Tryphosa, and Persis, and the mother of Rufus, and Julia, and the sister of Nereus-strong leaders of Christ's earliest church, strong role models for the empowered women of today's church. For, praise God, in our congregation and in many others throughout the world, women are no longer being consigned to the wilderness, to the margins, of either the church or the world. The spirit of New Creation is, I believe, truly at work among us again, liberating both women and men from the bondage of patriarchy, freeing us all to acknowledge, and celebrate, and fully utilize women's gifts for ministry-women's gifts for ministry in the name of Christ both within the church and throughout society-at-large. Out of the wilderness and into the world, women are coming, in order to join with Jesus in proclaiming the good news of God and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the reign of God's will on earth has come near. Repent, and believe in the good news." (Mark 1:14-15) Let us pray: Amen |
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