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Side bar, just a short one I promise… (This sounds like theology 101 but fear not…it is not boring! It is absolutely fabulous for women.)

• In the recorded life of Jesus we can clearly see that he never assumes there are rules in following Him designed for women only.  Jesus treated women as unique individuals. Nowhere does he condescend to flatter women, he rather demands as much from them as from men.

You have been anointed by the Holy One and you know the Truth. 1 John 2:20

Jesus’ approach to women is revolutionary considering the cultural norm of his day. When we hear the “Woman at the Well” story in the traditional exegesis, so much is made of the fact that this woman had multiple marriages and is in quite a predicament of living with a man, even as she speaks to Jesus, who is not her husband. Not only is that issue not the focus of this conversation with Christ but he actually gives her an apostolic role: Once she believes and is made a follower of Christ (disciple) she call others as Jesus called the twelve. She says “come and see” and others believed “because of her word.”

I love this declaration of Jesus’ first “evangelist move.” It clearly frees us of any cultural or theological hang up that women are NOT messengers of “The Kingdom of Heaven” that Jesus came to establish.

“Exposure to Jesus and His Kingdom are not  related at all to being male or female. The Gospel of Jesus is about receiving the testimony of the Spirit and embracing the hope of the gospel.”  Don’t you just love that? (1 Corinthians 2:14)