We watched a strange movie the other night...'Water'. It is a story about what happens to widows in India and how they are thrown away by society because without a husband they are just a burden to society. It made me think about the state of women across the world whether it is the hidden women in Muslims societies, the arranged women in Hindu society, the beaten down women in developing societies and the surviving women in war torn societies.
A great way to measure whether a religion has any merit is to see how they treat their women. It is a good barometer. Even though Christianity has its flaws when it comes to the treatment of women, Jesus always did right by women. He trusted himself not only to the care of a women but throughout His story all sorts of marginalized women were honored. A prostitutes (Rahab), a foreigner ( Ruth), the victimized (Tamar), the barren (Elizabeth), the widow ( Anna), the young mother (Mary) were named and honored.
Maybe that is why so many women followed Jesus and follow Jesus. Even though Catholics have taken away the simplicity of Mary and relegated her to an unapproachable standard, she represents the vulnerability of what it means to be a woman. And in that vulnerability she carried and cared for Jesus.
Every year I think of her as she struggles to carry her heavy body over the rough trail to a place she did not choose. No place of her own, no clean sheets and warm water, no family...nothing easy about the journey. So similar to so many stories all over the world on this day in December.
In uturo, He made his dwelling amongst us...
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