In my last column, Katie and I wrote about women becoming priests. My short answer was that because priests take on Christ himself, who was incarnated a male, women cannot become priests. But there is much more to say about this in order to properly establish women’s dignity.

Some have claimed that because of this incarnation as a male and other reasons, Jesus was clearly anti-woman. But the Biblical testimony shows the opposite. Jesus steps between an adulteress and those who would stone her to death (John 8); Jesus casts out demons from Mary Magdalene (Luke 8); Jesus uses some of his last precious breaths to ensure his mother Mary is cared for (John 19). These are just a few examples that show why Jesus was actually followed and supported by a number of women, Mary Magdalene chief among them (Luke 8).
Not only did women feature prominently as disciples, followers, and supporters of Christ during his earthly ministry, women were deeply involved in the ministry of the Church in the century after Christ’s Ascension. Many of these women are mentioned explicitly in St. Paul’s letters: Phoebe, a great leader of the Roman church (Romans 16); Priscilla, a teacher and catechist in Corinth and Rome (Acts 18); Nympha in Phillipi and Lydia in Corinth who opened their homes for liturgy (1Cor 11 and Acts 16).

This deep involvement by women was unique at that time – a time when in a Jew’s morning prayer there was a sentence in which a Jewish man gave thanks that God had not made him ‘a Gentile, a slave or a woman.’ In Jewish law a woman was not a person, but a thing. She had no legal rights whatsoever; she was absolutely her husband’s possession to do with as he willed. However, Christ’s actions and teachings run directly contrary to this prayer. Listen to St. Paul in Galatians 3:
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female,for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Obviously, Jesus was breaking an old mold and setting a new: a mold in which women, along with gentiles and slaves, would be raised up and highly regarded, and in some places would be the glue that held the Christian community together.

To continue the point I will make a questionable decision and quote 116 Clique from their song, “Man Up,” as they are speaking about womanhood:

“She a Queen, and scripture says that she is the weaker vessel:

She’s more like fine China — it doesn’t mean she’s any lesser!
An equal wouldn’t smash fine art to the ground

So why use your body or your words to tear her down?”
The scripture verse they are referring to is 1 Peter 3, which commands men to treat their wives with honor as they are the weaker vessel. It is true that fine China is weaker than, say, a kettle. Both are useful and powerful in their own way, but you wouldn’t want to boil tea in China or ask someone to drink straight out of a kettle. And you wouldn’t say that the kettle, being “stronger,” was somehow better than the fine China — only a fool would say that.

In conclusion, a woman’s dignity has been different since the beginning — Eve was the “crown of creation” and was above Adam in glory, though obedient to him as wife. Women allow people to see God through themselves and their actions more easily then men do because of their womanhood — and that is not to say that they are simply pretty. It is to say that women are the final touches, the most important brushstrokes in the masterpiece of creation. True Christians uphold and honor women, knowing that they bring glory to all they are involved in. As the ladies in Hercules say: “And that’s the Gospel truth!”