It is important to understand that the Danvers Statement is all about keeping women under control and keeping women from leadership in the home or church. We know this because it is included in the book Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism. This book was edited by two of the founders of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, John Piper and Wayne Grudem. The CBMW was founded in order to support male headship and male authority, and women’s submission to that authority.
From the beginning of the Danvers Statement, one can see it diverging from biblical truths, based upon CBMW’s biases and interpretations. Certainly there are differences in men and women other than anatomical differences. The Bible is not concerned with masculine and feminine traits. Jesus never mentions these inborn differences. God Himself is described with both father and mother characteristics. In the New Testament, Jesus is concerned with the heart – not masculinity, not femininity, and certainly not genitalia.
Much has been written exposing the fallacies of the Danvers Statement. However, it does not take a Bible scholar to see the misogyny presented in the Danvers Statement. In reading the Concerns and Affirmations, it is clear that this is a cultural document that denies the modern age in preference to biblical times with emphasis on restrictions against women.
Scriptures have been added to the document in an attempt to justify the return of families to the First Century. A clear reading of the scriptures does not justify male domination over females as a commandment law. It cannot. Jesus made one new law and it was not about male/female leadership, but about equality in loving each other: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).
Each point in the Danvers Statement begins with their belief that women are responsible for the breakdown of family and reinforces their teaching that males were created from the beginning to dominate and lead women.
The precepts in the Danvers Statement is also leading the current government religious movement, Christian Nationalism. We see it expressing itself in the military particularly because that has made the news with the firing of women military officers, and testosterone supplied by the military for the men.
Next blog: Let’s dissect the Danvers Statement a little bit
Shirley Taylor Books (available on Amazon in print and on Kindle) The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood Women Equal: No Buts Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition From Wife to Widow: What I Know Now Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
The Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is still alive and well. It was the brainchild of Wayne Grudem, professor of theology and biblical studies. It originated from a discussion and eventually a paper he wrote in which he defined the Greek work kephale to mean having “authority over” instead of “source” as egalitarians were claiming.
That sums up the Danvers Statement very well. In Wayne Grudem’s mind and intent – based upon his own words, men having authority over women is the overriding theme. Never mind the fact that Jesus did not give males this authority or acknowledge in any way that men were superior to women. They claim that God decided at Creation that He would share His headship over women with all men.
By giving males authority based on gender and nothing else, the writers and proponents of the Danvers Statement reduce women to an inferior status by assigning specific “roles” based on gender. These assigned roles deny the power of the Holy Spirit.
Man-made roles do not allow for spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are those of natural abilities and also those of supernatural abilities (when God calls us to do something, He will equip us for that job). The Word of God did not categorize these gifts under two column headings: male and female. The Danvers Statement has categorized men and women into roles, but the scriptures do not. The scriptures they give to back up their arguments do not prove that God has given males headship or authority over females.
The Danvers Statement can be found on the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood’s website, on John Piper’s Desiring God website inside his book (recovering-biblical-manhood-and-womanhood-en.pdf,) on the website of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where you find “the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood establish the meaning of the Confession of Faith” and elsewhere, and you can purchase it. The president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary at the time was Paige Patterson who, along with his wife Dorothy Kelley Patterson, was instrumental in both the Danvers Statement and the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is the official statement of the Southern Baptist Convention seminaries, and the majority of its 47,198 churches, and it has the same language and intent as the Danvers Statement.
This means that Baptist churches have adopted the essential dogma of the Danvers Statement without realizing it. That should surprise no one given that the CBMW at one time had its headquarters in a Southern Baptist theological seminary, and is now located in the same city in Kentucky.
Shirley Taylor Books (available on Amazon in print and on Kindle) The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood Women Equal: No Buts Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition From Wife to Widow: What I Know Now Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
On July 24, 2010, I demanded an apology from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood at a Seneca 2 Falls Conference in Orlando, Florida, for their teaching against women. Got a little bit of press at the time. As most of you know, my Christian background was Baptist, and I was also employed for almost 15 years with the state organization, Baptist General Convention of Texas. The Baptist Standard is the premier Texas Baptist newspaper, and below is a link to an interview I had with them on August 3, 2020 about my demand for an apology in 2010. The Apology Demand is a relevant today as it was 16 years ago, or may be more so because of the Resolution Rev. Al Mohler introduced at the 2026 SBC meeting.
So, what is the Demand for an Apology that we issued to the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood at the Seneca 2 Falls Conference in Orlando, Florida, on July 24, 2010?
Apology Demanded from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood
The following “Apology Demand”1 letter was drafted by Co-founders of the Freedom for Christian Women Coalition, Shirley Taylor, founder of bWe Baptist Women for Equality and Jocelyn Andersen, author of Woman this is WAR! Gender, Slavery and the Evangelical Caste System. It was presented live and via video at the Seneca Falls 2 Christian Women’s Rights Convention held in Orlando, Florida on July 24, 2010.
Taylor and Andersen, along with seven others, signed the Demand, and On July 26, 2010, sent it by FedEx to Dr. Randy Stinson, President Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and to Dr. J Ligon Duncan III, Chairman of the Board of the CBMW.
As of this writing, it has been 16 years since this Demand for an Apology was issued to the CBMW. The only thing we heard was Al Mohler tweeted that we were “confused,” possibly because it was written in readable English.
Directed to the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood from the Freedom for Christian Women Coalition
At a time in our church history that the main focus should be on winning lost souls and spreading the gospel to a hurting world, we fear for the future because the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood has placed a greater priority on women’s submissive roles rather than on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is with that thought in mind that we make the following statements:
1.) We are concerned that men are being taught that they are god-like in their relationship to women within the church and home. As the mothers, wives, and daughters of these men, it is our concern that this doctrine is setting them up for failure as Christian fathers, husbands, and sons.
2.) We are concerned about the sin that evangelical church leaders commit when they deny the love of Christ fully to women simply because they were born female.
3.) We are concerned about the damage this causes to families when husbands and fathers are told that they have headship over their wives and daughters.
4.) We are concerned about wife abuse, girlfriend abuse, and abuse to female children that takes place in many homes where evangelical men are taught that they have earthly and spiritual authority over women.
5.) We are concerned that the children who attend churches that have adopted the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood will grow up not knowing the full redemptive power of the blood of Jesus for both men and women.
6.) We are concerned for the mental and emotional development of the girls and boys who attend churches that teach that males have superiority over females.
7.) We are concerned that men who are taught that they have Male Headship over a home and church feel they are not accountable for abusive attitudes and actions towards women.
8.) We are concerned about the mistranslation of scriptures by complementarian translation committees and by the false teachings propagated by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
9.) We are concerned that pastors who teach and preach male domination/female subordination cannot relate in a loving, Christ-like manner to female members of their congregations because they have already judged them and found them lacking.
10). We are concerned that the issue of wifely submission, promoted by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, is more about power and control than about love or obeying the Word of God.
It is Because of These Concerns That:
1.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood acknowledge the harm that has been done to the church by the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and confess it as sin, and renounce it.
2.) We demand that denominational leaders and all churches and seminaries which have adopted the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood do the same.
3.) We demand a public apology from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and from all heads of seminaries and Bible colleges that have adopted the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood for the inestimable damage this statement has done to all Christians whose lives have been influenced by it.
4.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood begin to promote the Biblical design of functional equality for all Christians alike, both men and women.
5.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood begin to speak out against pastors who continue to demean women and oppress Christians by the use of the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
6.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood chastise pastors who claim that abuse of women is acceptable and is justified because the wife is not submitting to the husband.
7.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood make known to every boy and every girl who attends an evangelical church, that God is their head—equally, and that God has not granted males authority over females.
8.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood teach men that they share equally in the burden of society’s ills, and that all that is wrong with society today cannot be blamed on women.
9.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood do everything in their power to teach seminarians to show the love of Christ to both men and women.
10.) We demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood teach pastors to be loving towards those Christian men and women who disagree with the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
11.) And, finally, for the sake of all Christians, both men and women, we demand that the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood make a public apology for the misuse of Holy Scripture as it relates to women and cease to publish or promote the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
Shirley Taylor Books (available on Amazon in print and on Kindle) The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood Women Equal: No Buts Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition From Wife to Widow: What I Know Now Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
The headline shouted at me! Lying right there in front of me on the counter inside my bank. I shuddered, looked around me and saw two young men in front of me looking at me. I did it. I picked up that slick newsletter from a local Church of Christ church. I folded it like a letter and stuck it inside my purse. Nobody else needed to see this propaganda against women. The men were not together, but we were all standing in line with our payroll checks and our bank cards in our hands waiting our turn.
Yes. I took it. I put it in my purse. I then got out two of my Street Evangelist for Women’s Equality cards and handed each man a card. I explained who I am and why I stole the newsletter right off the table at the bank.
As we progressed, I turned the counter corner, and by golly, there was another one! I folded that one and took it, too.
What did that newsletter say that is so offensive to me as a female Christian? This is what it said:
A summary of the gender-specific passages shows Galatians 3:28 does not include freedom for women to:
1. Publicly present the word of God to mixed audiences (meaning men and women). In worship, women are to “learn in silence.”
2. Act as a representative of the church (administer church discipline).
3. Lead prayer in the presence of men. This prohibition is not limited to formal worship assemblies. (In other words, even around the dinner table if a male is present – my interpretation).
4. Assume leadership of the assembly such as: lead singing, preside over any part of the service.
5. Be head of a marriage and home.
My mother-in-law was Church of Christ as was my next door neighbor. They both told me that women cannot attend business meetings, or have a voice in where their tithes and offerings went.
I have many friends who are Church of Christ who advocate for women’s equality in the church and in their own homes. One is a woman who is a preacher and former pastor. But they are the exception, not the rule.
Al Mohler, in his resolution against women leaders in the church, has brought to light the meanness of modern-day Christian churches that cannot accept this 21st century that we live in.
Yes, I stole the Church of Christ newsletter that bragged about its holiness in following the selected passages of the Bible, and used this means to denigrate women and puff up men. I just wonder what Christ would say about the newsletter using his name to put women down. I took it from my bank with cameras looking at me, and with people looking at me.
And I am not ashamed.
Shirley Taylor Books (available on Amazon in print and on Kindle) The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood Women Equal: No Buts. Powered by the Same Source Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition From Wife to Widow: What I Know Now Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Meanness – an old-fashioned word for a modern situation. Meanness is a word we do not use much anymore. We rarely say a person is mean, but it was a common expression many years ago. We all knew what it meant. Mean was what you were when you did something that you knew beyond a doubt that it would hurt somebody, but you did it anyway.
Al Mohler, for reasons known only to himself, decided it is time to throw rocks at women again. So he introduced the resolution at the June SBC meeting to come down hard on all women in the church. Not just one or two, but ALL. Put them back in their place. The vote passed, exposing the basic meanness of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Meanness – pure and simple.
It’s time to bring out that word again and use it against those who teach hierarchy, patriarchy, male headship, and male leadership. Those teachings are designed to denigrate women. They are also designed to puff up men.
Many years ago, everyone was concerned with WWJD – What Would Jesus Do? We asked ridiculous questions such as what kind of car Jesus would drive and numerous other trivialities. We didn’t ask if Jesus would write books promoting male leadership over women, or if He would write comments underneath blogs on the Biblical meaning of certain scriptures that would limit women using their spiritual gifts for leadership over men and women, or if he would invite a woman to preach at his weekly church.
We did not ask if Jesus would preach on Sunday morning that women had an obligation to graciously submit to their husbands because by doing so, they would be submitting to Jesus himself.
So here we are today with seminars, blogs, books, movies, sermons, discussions, Bible Studies, and the list goes on, extolling God’s so-called grand design that women are to submit to their husbands, and to all males in a church.
That is mean. That is unmitigated meanness. That is getting pleasure from hurting someone.
Today as I drove home there were two small turtles crossing the road. I pulled over to the side and let them slowly make their way across the street.
It would have been mean to have deliberately attempted to drive over those little turtles. You know it and I know it. It is not something that I would do, but throwing rocks at turtles sunning by a pond is something that was done years ago by young boys.
These boys have grown up and now they are throwing rocks at women. Just for the fun of it. They could leave us alone. They could help us across the street. They could at least pull over and allow us to cross to the other side unmolested.
But they prefer to write blogs, preach sermons, hold complementarian marriage seminars, and gig us in their meanness.
Do they really believe the Bible teaches that men are designed to be leaders over women?
If you are tired of mean boys who have grown up and are still throwing rocks just for the fun of it, will you speak up? Will you get your head out from under your shell and demand the right to cross the street, to preach, to be who God called you to be, without rocks being thrown at you?
Shirley Taylor Books (available on Amazon in print and on Kindle) The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood Women Equal: No Buts Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition From Wife to Widow: What I Know Now Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
It was destined to be an extraordinary day at the temple. Peter had just healed an adult man who was crippled from the time he was a child. And now he and John were telling people about Jesus and his resurrection. The people assembled there were listening because of what they had seen.
Guards always get suspicious when a group of people are intently listening to one person speak, so they slipped closer to hear what was being said, and then reported back to their captain. As you can guess, the captain of the guards did not like what they were saying so he came over to have a little chat with them. They not only chatted, but the guard took them and put them in prison overnight.
“By what power are you doing these things?” they asked Peter and John the next day.
Peter looked them in the eye and said that it was by the power of Jesus Christ, who they had killed, but who had resurrected and now they were able to do this good deed in his name,.
Uh, oh.
If these unschooled and untrained men were able to do this, then what else could they do? After all, these men had been with Jesus.
So they talked, and they talked some more, and came up with the only thing they could think of: “in order that it may not be spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to any man in this name.”
Peter and John said: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge.”
Like Peter and John, we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard.
We are powered by the same Source. Like Peter we, too, have walked with Jesus. Peter and John couldn’t quit telling about Jesus. They were told to stop, but they couldn’t because they were just getting started. We, who believe in equality, can’t quit now as the battle is not yet won for women’s equality. We, too, have been with Jesus. Saved by the blood of the lamb and a witness to what he has done through his Word, and to how he has spoken to us. Powered by the same Source (Acts 3, 4:1-18)
End of Series
Shirley Taylor Books (available on Amazon in print and on Kindle) The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood Women Equal: No Buts Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition From Wife to Widow: What I Know Now Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Mary at the tomb completes the picture of Jesus and women. But the story doesn’t end there. This is where you come in. This is how I can assure you that Women are equal – No Buts.
Jesus promised an Advocate, the Holy Spirit. He told them to wait for the Holy Spirit.
Women, Jesus did not promise you a husband to lead you!He promised the Holy Spirit to lead you and advise you. Listen to what Jesus said.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.” John 14:16 (NIV)
Women, that Advocate is not your husband. It is the Holy Spirit. Jesus didn’t mention husbands, and why would he? Nowhere does Jesus tell women that they are to be ruled or lead by their husbands. In fact, these 4 women had no husbands leading them.
“Jesus is our standard, and since Jesus did not commit women to husbands, or to males, and because Jesus did not deny women anything based on their being women, then we cannot in good stewardship of the gospel, do so either.”
Scripture: Acts 2:1-21 (NIV)
2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Peter includes women as those who will prophesy
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women,I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Our next subject is: Powered by the same Source
Shirley Taylor Books (available on Amazon in print and on Kindle) The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood Women Equal: No Buts Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition From Wife to Widow: What I Know Now Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Finally, we come to the woman who is mentioned each year at Easter, and then put away until the next Easter. We hear her voice “He is risen!” and we repeat back “He is risen, indeed!”
AI says this about Mary Magdalene. She was mentioned 13-14 times in the New Testament:
Summary of Key Passages
Luke 8:2 – Introduced as a woman healed of seven demons.
Luke 8:3 – Supports Jesus’ ministry with other women.
Matthew 27:55-56 – Witnesses the crucifixion.
Mark 15:40-41 – Present at the crucifixion.
John 19:25 – Observes the crucifixion.
Matthew 28:1-10 – Visits the tomb and witnesses the resurrection.
Mark 16:9 – First to see the risen Jesus.
John 20:1-18 – Encounters Jesus and reports to the disciples. Mary Magdalene’s mentions emphasize her faithfulness, her role as a disciple, and her unique honor as the first to witness and proclaim the resurrection, making her one of the most significant female figures in the New Testament (end of AI assist)
Then she disappeared. Mary Magdalene is gone – where? Packed away to be brought out again at Easter, because there is no Easter without Mary Magdalene.
One time my pastor preached on the plan of salvation and he made this remarkable statement: “There was only one plan, and after Jesus was crucified, it was up to the disciples to tell everybody about his resurrection.”
Well, not exactly, preacher. Jesus had another plan up his sleeve. “Tell a woman!”
Scriptures: Jesus reveals to Mary Magdalene that he is the resurrected Christ
John 20:11-18
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Our next subject is: The Advocate – The Holy Spirit
Shirley Taylor Books (available on Amazon in print and on Kindle) The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood Women Equal: No Buts Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition From Wife to Widow: What I Know Now Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Let’s add another woman. The Woman at the well. Jesus gave her the same kind of news that he gave the Gentile woman. She was a Samaritan and we often call her “the Samaritan woman.” Samaritans were poor Jewish cousins so to speak. Samaritans thought theirs was the true Jewish religion. They were expecting the Messiah, too. Jesus told this woman that he was the Messiah.
Jesus did not tell men this. This is big stuff! Particularly in a day where a woman could not even testify in court. This is incredibly important because these women’s words are now testimonies to the whole world.
You know what happens when you tell women anything! She tells everybody. Jesus knew women were like that. Sure enough, she throws down her water jar, and takes off running down the street. She spreads the news that she had met the Messiah. She tells men. Decent women in town wouldn’t have followed this woman. It was men she told, and it was men who believed her story, and it was men who went back to see this Messiah.
When the disciples got back to the well with food, Jesus wouldn’t eat. He said that he was not hungry. Jesus said that his body and soul were ‘filled’ because he was doing his Father’s business. There is no other story of Jesus being so touched and moved by anything else.
She, too, had chosen the ‘right thing.’
Scripture: Jesus tells Samaritan woman he is Messiah to the Samaritans
John 4:1-30
Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared,“I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
But he said to them, “I have food to eatthat you know nothing about.”
Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
Our next subject is: Mary Magdalene
Shirley Taylor Books (available on Amazon in print and on Kindle) The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood Women Equal: No Buts Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition From Wife to Widow: What I Know Now Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
Jesus, for reasons unknown, decides to take off one day and go visit a Gentile village. When he gets there, a woman comes to him and asks him to heal her daughter. We don’t know how old the daughter is. We don’t know if this mother is married, or is widow, or what.
What we do know is that the mother saw an opportunity and she took it.
Her daughter was sick. You are mothers. You know what it is like to have a sick child and no medicine. But she had heard of the Jewish Messiah who could heal her daughter. She marched right up there to Jesus even though neither Jewish nor Gentile men would normally speak to women in public.
At first Jesus said no. He said that he had been sent to the people of Israel. She pestered him. The disciples wanted to send her away, but Jesus wasn’t ready to do that. He said something about giving the food to the dogs, and she told him that the dogs got to eat the same food that the people sitting at the table ate. She said there was more than enough food for Israel. She could be given some and nobody would miss it.
Jesus healed her daughter. Those who know the Bible better than I do agree that this means that Gentiles will no longer be separated from Israel in the kingdom of God. Jesus healed other Gentiles, but Bible commentaries do not give that the same significance to those encounters.
There is a common theme whenever women talk with Jesus. They argue! They talk back! They ask questions. But most importantly, they don’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
A friend told me that one Sunday in his church, a little 11-year old girl asked her mother if she could hand out the registration books in church. Her mother said that she could not do that. She asked her mother why and the mother told her they would talk about it when they got home.
Somebody show me where it says in the Bible that girls can’t hand out registration books! We start limiting women when they are still little girls.
This has got to stop. It is not what Jesus intended. It wasn’t the daughter who asked for healing. It was her mother who asked for healing for her daughter.
That is what I want you to do. I want you to stand up and speak up! I want you to not give up. Don’t take ‘no’ for answer. There is a healing that needs to take place for yourselves, and your daughters, your daughters-in-law, your sisters. You are equal! No buts!
Scripture: Jesus tells Gentile woman he is Messiah of the Gentiles also
Matthew 15:21-28
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Our next subject is: The Woman at the Well
Shirley Taylor Books (available on Amazon in print and on Kindle) The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood Women Equal: No Buts Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition From Wife to Widow: What I Know Now Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
