Do you see this woman?
Looking at the woman, Jesus said to Simon [the Pharisee], “Do you see this woman? Luke 7:44.
Like a dense fog, history covers the land of Judea where Jesus once walked. The wisdom of long ago beckons the weary traveler in muted tones. Occasionally the fog lifts and we see reality on a grand scale. The Gospel of Luke contains such a moment, one that compels us to pause on our journey and consider people at the periphery. This story is a surprise, a twist in time. Luke, as a physician, tends to notice details. Here he exposes a deep wound created when history fell, millennia before, into a false paradigm. He faithfully recounts Jesus’ interaction with Simon the Pharisee and an unnamed sinful woman (Luke 7:36-50).
Context: What did the original audience know and understand?
Women in the 1st century were judged to be ontologically (the nature of being) inferior. Greek thought, heavily influenced by Aristotle, believed women were imperfect men, the result of something wrong with the conception that created them. Anything less than perfect was monstrous. Therefore, a woman was a deformity. Rabbinic writing was equally derogatory in its opinion of women, “Women are responsible for sin coming into the world; daughters are a disaster; do not sit down with women; women give rise to shame and reproach” (Ben Sirach). So, without knowing anything about the woman in Luke’s narrative the original audience would expect the Pharisee to deem the woman inferior and without merit, and the woman, in turn, would bear the brunt of the man’s assessment. Traditional courtesies of the time required a kiss of greeting, and water and olive oil for the washing of hands and feet. Only then can the guests recline, and the meal begins. In the very first moments Simon the Pharisee reneges on his courtesy duty, thereby publicly insulting Jesus, prompting the unnamed woman to step out of the shadows. With great anguish she offers the requisite civilities to the one who set her free with his message of the love of God for sinners. She enters Jesus’ humiliation, kissing his feet, washing them with her tears, and drying them with her hair. She does this at great risk to herself. The rabbis of the time claimed when a woman uncovered her hair in public, she was offending God. Her hair was only to been seen by those in closest relationship to her. Ironically this woman is ministering to her creator and the Son of God who knows her intimately. By unloosing her hair, she is making some form of an ultimate pledge of loyalty to Jesus. Will he accept or reject this extraordinary act? Jesus defends the woman by charging Simon to “see this woman.” This command is shocking. As a Pharisee it is beneath Simon to look at a woman. But Jesus demands that he look at her. See her as a person. See her tear-streaked face, her rumpled robes, and her glorious hair that wipes the precious feet of her Lord. Jesus speaks to her, reassuring her that her faith is well placed. “She who loves much is forgiven much.” Her devotion is on full display and affirmed by her Lord. What about Simon? He resides at the pinnacle of Jewish culture. The Pharisees burdened the people with manmade religious laws. Jesus called them vipers and white-washed sepulchers. Their legalism blinded them, making it impossible to see God. In Simon’s arrogance he is utterly unaware of his own sins, specifically the sin of pride. From his vantage point the woman is a sinner who does not deserve to be acknowledged, much less seen. Knowing his heart, Jesus admonishes him, “He who loves little is forgiven little.”
Historical Progression: God always sees women. From the beginning the woman is God’s answer to the aloneness of man in the garden. She is his essential equal and the exquisite being who takes his breath away. It is the terrible effects of sin that destroy the harmonious relationship that once existed. In the shadow of the fall a paradigm asserts itself, centralizing power and authority in men, casting women to the margins. It is the Son of Man, Jesus, who proclaims the maxim of mutual submission, “The last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16). He affirms the personhood of women and moves them out of periphery and into focus in profound ways. He engages them, for example, as disciples (Luke 8:1-3), evangelists (John 4), and students in positions of honor at the feet of the rabbi (Luke 10:38-42 ). Biblical Scholar Kenneth Bailey notes, “There is no case of male authority over female in the Gospels.” Not on Jesus’ watch. His new creation paradigm is on display in the early church. Women are found everywhere men are, and they are welcomed and invited into leadership spaces. This partnership is indispensable in spreading the gospel throughout the Roman empire, a feat accomplished within a century. Sadly, not long after the Apostle’s deaths, the church pivoted and embraced the pagan perception of women. It was Tertullian (AD 160-225) who transitioned the church in his time from an organic community to a political body, in which only males could contribute any kind of leadership. He believed that only men are created in the image of God and that they are innocent victims of the 'wiles and evils of women'. He forbade women to teach, baptize, become priests, and/or speak in the church. Subsequent church father’s support this viewpoint, give tepid objections, or are conspicuously silent. The door of the broken paradigm slammed shut on the visible ministry of women.
A recent interview with Pastor John Piper demonstrates this viewpoint is still promoted today. It seems Piper does not support women teaching men in ministerial and theological training, but he does endorse female theologians writing, because this “puts the woman as author out of the reader’s sight and, in a sense, takes away the dimension of her female personhood.” In one brief sentence the woman is diminished based on the immutable quality of womanhood. We instinctively know this is wrongheaded. I wonder how many of God’s good gifts to the church are never opened because they are given through a woman? The scant texts used to curtail women’s ministry lack context and therefore lack consensus. But there is consensus on Christ’s view of women. As noted above, contrary to societal norms, Jesus elevated women and publicly included them in every aspect of his ministry. Piper’s perspective is a painful example of biblical interpretations, knowingly or unknowingly, that bear the fingerprints of a worldly culture saturated by longstanding assumptions about the inferiority of women. It is the height of hubris to assume to speak for God particularly in the area of the gifts given by the Holy Spirit to equip the church. History demonstrates that a woman’s opportunity to lead is directly dependent on strong men who respect her, protect her, and uplift her. Paul’s admonition on this topic is emphatic, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment” (Romans 12:3).
Conclusion: Two thousand years ago history stubbed its toe on the Cornerstone of Christ and societal norms were dislodged in the house of Simon the Pharisee. No longer in the periphery the woman is now clearly seen as Jesus publicly elevates her and reproves the proud man. I wonder if Simon experienced a jolt of conscience in the moment and wished to be invisible. It is Jesus counterculture relationships with women that inspired Dorothy Sayers to eloquently observe, “Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man— there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronized; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as "The women, God help us!" or "The ladies, God bless them!"; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unself-conscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything "funny" about woman's nature.” Paul admonished the early church to imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). The church should heed his counsel.
Sources: Tell Her Story, Nijay K. Gupta; https://bltnotjustasandwich.com/2013/04/05/john-piper-womens-books-keep-men-safe-from-their-direct-authoritative-womanhood/; Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Kenneth E Bailey; https://www.kennethbailey.net/women; How God Sees Women, Terran Williams; https://lifereconsidered.com/2020/02/12/how-some-of-the-early-church-fathers-views-on-women-affect-us-today/ ; https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/wholecounsel/2018/06/19/man-as-the-image-of-god-in-reverse/ ; Surprised By Hope, NT Wright; Two Views on Women in Ministry, James R. Beck, Stanley N. Gundry, Linda L. Belleville, Craig L. Blomberg, Craig S. Keener, Thomas R. Schreiner; https://margmowczko.com/jesus-gender-roles/