“Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use. 3 Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:1-5 CSB
In our present culture, there is much confusion about how we (especially women) are encouraged to perceive ourselves.
So many voices shouting at us …
There are the uniquely vocal ones who declare war on comparisons and anything that dares to remotely defy her confidence, yet they are plagued with competition to gain more followers, more likes, reposts, and nice comments to further their ambitions.
And then there are those among us who may appear on surface to be shy and reserved, but truly struggle with not wanting to be seen or heard in a loud and auspicious manner because they just want to avoid the attention.
Up to this point, it’s all been negative anyway.
When I read about women in the Bible whose hearts I want to embrace because I feel their pain in the loneliness and overlooked hallways, I cannot help but wonder how they survived the day-to-day life during their lifetime.
Women like Hagar, the Samaritan woman at the well, and Rahab. All three were despised by onlookers in close proximity ~ those in their own communities ~ those whose eyes they could not escape.
Hagar, often portrayed as a home-wrecker because she was brought into a household where surrogacy was seemingly a thing. Obeyed her owners only to be ostracized and banished. (Side note: Did you know that Hagar was likely an Egyptian princess of the Pharoah that seized Sarah when Abraham traveled into Egypt and lied saying that Sarah was his sister? Genesis 12 has all the details).
We know that GOD is sovereign, and His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, so He had mindful and intentional purpose for this daughter of His. As He would have it, she is the only person (and a woman, at that!) in the Bible to name GOD. And in her pain she is protected by Him and proclaims, “El Roi!” the GOD who sees (me).
Hagar receives the compassion of Yahweh.
Rahab, a Canaanite woman, right out the gate is described as a prostitute that lives within the walls of the fortified city of Jericho. Living within proximity of the ‘news wire,’ she was privy to hearing what was happening outside of those city walls.
As fate (better, faith) would have it, Rahab was piqued by all the stories she had heard of the miracles that the GOD of Israel was performing for His people: parting of the Red Sea as they exited Egypt, military victories, and the defeat, overthrow, and conquer of the Canaanite territory (remember, this is part of her heritage).
Such testaments softened Rahab’s heart towards the GOD of Israel and she willingly risked her life to collaborate with Joshua’s spies, in exchange for sparing her life and her entire household when the siege to take Jericho ensued. (Seriously, she makes James Bond moves look like child’s play. Read about it in Joshua 2).
As GOD would intentionally plan for it, Rahab is well cared for and becomes an integral part of the genealogy of our Savior Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus has Gentiles in His family tree!
The Samaritan woman at the well is not named in Scripture, but the Eastern Orthodox Church has named her as Photini (“the luminous one”). So, for simplicity’s sake, I will refer to her as such.
Photini has mistakenly been given a bad rap by many scholars who labeled her as a prostitute, simply because she had five husbands. Truth be told, the era in which Photini lived, and in the region of her birth, she would be what we would regard as severely marginalized.
Photini, by birth, was of an ethnic group that was despised by the Jews (worse than the Hatfields and McCoys ~ if you’re younger than 40, you’ll have to research that). The feud went both ways. Add to the equation that women did not have a voice and that economics fueled childhood arranged marriages, you have a history backdrop of inescapable pain and suffering.
During this time and culture setting, if a woman were a known prostitute, it’s highly unlikely that she would have been ‘marrying material’ for any other man moving forward. So, I tend to agree with the scholars who say that Photini may have been ‘casted aside’ due to possibly infertility (women were alienated if they didn’t reproduce children), or that she may have outlived her husbands (widowed), and not prostitution.
In any case, Photini is a woman whose redemption story I look forward to hearing from her mouth when I get to meet her face-to-face in glory. If Jesus felt that she was worth the walk to Jacob’s Well in Samaria in the heat of the midday sun, engaged in the longest recorded conversation with her, and if He entrusted her to spread the great news that the Messiah had already appeared on the scene (and was speaking to her), then you’ve got to know that she was no castaway in His eyes (full story in John 4).
I bring up these three women because quite frankly, we do not know who (in our midst) is going to be the next marked redeemed woman of the faith.
These women made HIS-story because of the same Sovereign GOD. His love is not beyond redeeming anyone, especially those whom pop culture says is on the outskirts of consideration or outside of His reach. Nor is it our job to determine who is fit for the Kingdom of GOD.
All humans are image bearers and all are due our respect regardless of our personal preferences and opinions.
As Christ Followers, how much more are we commissioned to embrace those who are living life on the periphery? Going back to my initial query of how we are conditioned by society to perceive ourselves (which ultimately denotes our self worth). Is it any wonder that in the presence of so much technology (with the ability to reach to the far ends of the earth in real time) that we are living in the absence of compassion and empathy and are cold and aloof to those within earshot and in greatest need of wholeness?
GOD loves His daughters. Each one is His favorite. And I’m certain it grieves His heart to hear and see how she wrestles with believing the lies of deception, telling her that she is unlovable and unwanted. That includes inside the walls of our local churches.
Ouch!
Is it any wonder that the greatest human need is to be connected, desired, invited, and belong?
As a result of sin, we all go looking for love in all the wrong places (no need to sing).
The greatest human need can only be satisfied by the One Who can fill that need: Jesus Christ.
Again, as Christ Followers, we do our (not-yet) Sisters a huge disservice by shunning her before her faith is in first gear. Trust me, she hears those whispers and gossip ~ she sees the way you look at her as though she had some contagious disease. She sees the way groups automatically form leaving her on the outside of the circles with only the option to leave the room.
Messiah Jesus came to unite His people ~ not divide them according to political affiliation, church denomination, educational achievement, public notoriety, socioeconomic status, or whether you are vegan-pescatarian-vegetarian or Keto (I had to throw that in!).
I tend to think that if Jesus were walking among us today, there would be laptops, desktops, and tablets overturning in the streets. Cell phones would be slapped right out of our pockets. The signal towers (especially those conspicuous tree-looking ones) would obliterate.
GOD wrote on stone and in the dirt. That’s a far cry from texting. Imagine having to do that without a stylus or auto correct!
All this to say that I believe it’s time to re-examine our hearts and let the Word call out what shouldn’t be there.
The next great redemption story may be just an arm’s length away. Perhaps that’s our cue to embrace the role we’ll be asked to participate in it.
I’ll be praying for you as you take that step of faith to connect with the one about to enter your path. She can’t wait to meet you!
I love you to Heaven and Back, Girlfriend ~
LindaRJohnson, TitusTwo Visionary
Titus Two 