A Question of Gender

  “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 12:12

  Cynthia Westfall (Paul and Gender) says, “The Holy Spirit determines who gets what gift; a theological system that filters and restricts the gifts for a given group compromises the authority of the Holy Spirit.”

 

  Until a little over a hundred years ago a woman’s mind was considered too delicate to grasp the intricacies of politics to the point they were not allowed to vote. Not much later, when a working woman married, she had to quit her job in order to tend to the necessities of hearth and home. Even when I was in school, Home Economics was taught to girls while Shop Classes were for boys.

  I learned cooking, sewing and embroidery while the guys learned about woodworking and power tools.

  My dad was always doing home improvements. I would often help him, learning entirely by osmosis. The only time he, a child of the Great Depression, let me hold a hammer was to straighten a crooked nail so it could be reused. No, that’s not entirely true. When I was little, my brother and I would head into his shop to build boats out of scraps of wood. But once a young lady…

  On the farm, the good-ole-boy’s farmers’ club wouldn’t talk to me about caring for cows. Sheep and goats were a bit iffy but making inroads into male territory. Rabbits, poultry and vegetable gardens were far more appropriate for my feminine abilities. 

  Cows were and still are considered a man’s animal, too big and too powerful for women to handle. Yet, rather than using force, I was able to work with my Black Angus ladies and earn their trust. Kindness, calmness and plenty of shoulder scratches molded them into big pets. I was able to approach their new born calves without having to worry about mom attacking me to protect their baby. They trusted me with their most valuable treasure. I did remain vigilant and avoided coming between them but that was simply being prudent and mindful of safety.

  I will say I would prefer to attend to a laboring cow rather than dig a vegetable garden! That’s hard, hard work! Silly men. (Smile.)

  And I keep thinking about Mary (of the Lazarus story) sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus, learning, absorbing, hungering to hear everything He was saying. I keep thinking how Jesus invited Martha to do the same, breaking with the traditions of the time. He extended to women the gift of knowledge and wisdom. He extends this gift to all His followers who would soon be made of Jew and Gentile, slaves and the free…eyes and noses, hands and feet…

  Hmmm…how come I have never heard a man described as virtuous? Are gentleness and humility considered undesirable traits? I believe society has built restrictions around "manly conduct" that are just as harsh and confining as those it has built for women. They are simply different but the end result is the same: they are cages built of lies.