“Why are you crying? Jesus asked her, “Who are you looking for”?
(John 20:15)
Apparently I do live under a rock. I might have been the only woman in town who had not heard about Njoki Chege and the furore she caused with a blog written castigating married (Christian) women.
Without giving any more attention to someone who definitely sought it, I think there is a lot to be said to Christian women, both married and un-married. The world has attacked womanhood in many ways. As Njoki may have alluded, womanhood (as defined by Christ) is considered too boring to even debate. I agree. The merits of Christian womanhood are not glamourous. They are GLORIOUS!
Identity : Physical Beauty Or Inner Beauty
As a woman defined by Christ, I must do my part in affirming every woman who calls Christ her Lord regardless of her waist size, hip span, complexion or hair length. Hear it loud and clear, Your Father in Heaven loves women. He is the First Lover of Woman before time began. Before man was created, He loved Female and created Her in His own image.
Its not about physical form, its about the spiritual person – that inner woman that directly reflects the very image of God that matters most. No matter how much the world tells you, you can do with a little nip, tuck, or bleach, God in heaven ordains your beauty comes from within. Anything else is a lie from the pits of hell. Fact is, ask any man; a physically beautiful woman will arrest his attention, but after a while, even Beyonce stops being Beyonce and could pass for Beatrice. You will need more than good looks to have a lasting relationship with a man.
The Inner Woman:
Christ affirms the soft, gentle heart of a woman. In a world, where the term “Bitch” almost sounds like a compliment in the Board room, women are increasingly learning to mask their feelings and emotions, cry less, lose touch with feminine sensitivities which are now viewed as a weakness and the bane of feminism. On resurrection day, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to embalm her Lord and found the tomb empty. She waited by the empty tomb and began to weep for her loss- they had taken away her savior. Our Risen Lord appears to her then.
We fail to realize the magnitude of the truth that Christ did not reveal himself to the Great Men of Faith, the Apostles, when He rose from the dead. The honors of his first visitation went to a woman ( of a questionable past) who was broken with feeling for the love and loss of her Lord. This is a very personal and affirming lesson for women everywhere that Christ responds personally and directly to our feelings and emotions and seeks us out. They are not an embarrassment or irritation to him , they are a thing of beauty to be embraced, acknowledged and shared with Him, the Lover of our souls.
Whole-ness (Inner Beauty & Outer Purpose)
Christ is the Lover of Our soul. The Physical man (Adam and his bounteous progeny) are the Lovers of our bodies. It is so because woman was physically created for man according to Genesis. Our souls, were not created for man, they were created for God’s pleasure, in His image and like-ness. That is why in Genesis 1, He created both male and female and blessed them.
To dwell too much on our physical realities is like investing good money in a business that is ultimately going to go bust. We know the end of these physical bodies is the grave and there will be old age, sickness, injury and fraility to contend with before we reach the end. The vagaries of life will not relent – not for the slim, nor the supersize. We as women have one guaranteed fate,……and its not preety.
(Pun intended)
For most men, a woman crying is a major cringe factor. For Christ, Mary Magdalene’s tears are not an awkward, childish show of emotion. They are an opportunity to relate with her and affirm His love for her soul. Unlike most men, he does not come to fix whatever is bothering her, he comes and gives her his attention and asks that question many men have been afraid to ask? “Why are you crying?” No patronizing, condescending attitude, just pure bone deep concern for her distress.
The fact that Jesus would question Mary, knowing full well what His followers have been through in the days leading up to the crucifixion, suggests that He is sending out an invitation for Mary to talk to Him. He could have said, “Mary, stop crying, I am here”. The Lover of our souls isn’t merely concerned with “fixing what’s wrong in our lives” He is deeply passionate about drawing us out into a loving relationship with Him.
Purpose: (while you await eternity…….)
Now that you know there is a Man whose attention you have so completely captured, and He desires a loving relationship with you, its worthwhile to examine what is his proposal to you?
Does the Lord Jesus Christ intend that we be in a state of waiting for heaven and be of no-good here on earth? Nothing could be further from the truth. As the Lord makes us whole, and affirms His love upon our lives, he pours out a new purpose, a new sense of worthiness here on earth. Marriage and motherhood may form a part of that mission but by no means make the complete picture of the worth Christ places on women. Mary Magdalene, was not a wife nor a mother as fas as we can tell, yet Christ directs her into a new purpose.
“Go and tell your brothers…. ” It can be said the first recipient of a divine call as far as the Great Commission and the Gospel is concerned was a WOMAN. Christ chose to appear to a woman, first and foremost, at resurrection and sent her to go tell the others He was ascending to the Father. This is such a huge paradigm shift!
In Genesis, God creates the physical man as the first human on earth to enjoy fellowship with Him. At the resurrection, God chooses a woman as the first human to enjoy fellowship with Himself. Christ commissions Mary Magdalene to go be a witness to His resurrection to the men who would later become the Fathers of the Church, because, a woman was faithful and obedient to her Lord, to bring them the Good News.
There is a Call! A mission and a purpose with your name on it. If you would allow this Man, they call Son of David, Jesus from Nazareth, to love you into whole-ness, He will propose a union between you and Him that is filled with a passionate love that will not end, an un-compromising faithfulness in spite of your esteem and self-worth issues, and an abundant life here on earth that no man, money or make-up can ever give you.
I can understand why the world says B-O-R-I-N-G. I just refuse to accept glamour in exchange for glory!