Women & the 1^st Easter 

It has been said that "Sunday morning is the most segregated time in America." I think the same thing could be said about discrimination against women! I have no tolerance for those who exercise or allow bigotry and discrimination in churches. 

It is imperative that Christians understand the importance of equality for women, in every area and role, in the Body of Christ. Stay tuned through this four weeks series (there's a lot in the scriptures pertaining to this)!

So who were those women there in the garden on that first Easter morning? Who were those women who had followed Jesus during his ministry across Galilee and Judea? Where were they from? Why were they there? What role had they played in the development of Jesus ministry?

They were: Mary Magdalene, Mary - wife of Clopas, Salome, Joanna - wife of Cuza, Susanna, and others - "many others." 

Matthew 27:55.  Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 

This group of women were explained by Luke in his gospel:

Luke 8:1.  After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God . The Twelve were with him, 2. and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3. Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

They were the backbone of the ministry! The men had quit working, the women had "their own means." The women were paying the freight!

A lot of churches are in a similar situation. That's the memory I have of most of the churches I've been part of during the past six decades.

At least within the context of the church - the men had quit working; and as to the support of the ministries of the church...the women were supporting them "out of their own means."

Where were the men when Jesus was on the cross? Only John is mentioned as standing near. Where were the men when the women talked to the angels in the garden? Where were the men when the women visited with Jesus, mistaking Him initially for the gardener?

The men were hiding behind locked doors, scared. When the women showed up to tell them everything was okay and going to be all right - the men treated them as though they were full of nonsense.

These disciples were not a brave lot. 

Unfortunately, much of the same is still true today. In many situations it is women who have come with spiritual "eyes to see and ears to hear" while men are all too frequently hiding in their phobias and insecurities, or on their ego trips...their only response being that the women are full of nonsense.

Thank God that even if the men are physically or spiritually absent, there will be a woman, or women, who will see Jesus, see the work that needs to be done, catch the excitement of the vision of what can be...and will make certain it is funded, even if they have to do it and pay for it themselves!

One footnote: just as surely as it happened almost two thousand years ago, it will happen again next month - after the women have done what needed to be done and paid for it, the men will step forward and take credit for it and mandate that from this point onward only men will be in charge of it...