Woman in the New Era
Mozhan. H AF C I AN AN: The role of woman in the Holy Bible has always been valued and highly regarded. While for centuries women have engaged in numerous struggles to reclaim their lost rights, in the Holy Bible and the New Testament, this matter has been achieved in its most beautiful form, far removed from human tensions and conflicts.
The strong hands of women from “Sarah, Ruth, and Esther” to “Martha, Susanna, and Mary” have delicately and deeply woven the thread of love. Where amidst endless inequalities, human identity, regardless of any color, gender, or race, transcends servitude and slavery to achieve glory in sonship and becomes heir to the kingdom of God—this truth is beautifully demonstrated.
And I, a woman of today, stood in the thousandth millennium, weary from the harshness of earthly laws, bearing the wounds of a thousand lashes upon my soul, having run from the faded rights of girlhood to the rights of motherhood, when tired at the well of life, with my veil drawn over my face to hide my dried tears and weary body, kind hands generously offered me the water of life, and through glad tidings, my weary soul blossomed into eternal hope.
In describing the social value of women in the New Testament, one can point to the prominent role of women during the lifetime of Jesus Christ. All earthly calculations are overturned, and women in every economic and social position are recipients of divine grace and walk this path alongside Christ’s salvific message and mission. In many events of the New Testament, the presence of women accompanying Jesus Christ is mentioned, as it is written that Joanna and Susanna and many other women served Jesus and his disciples even from their personal wealth.
When Jesus Christ gave the water of life to the Samaritan woman at the well, and that woman, without the slightest judgment of her past, became the harbinger of mercy to her people. Or the woman delivered from stoning by the law into the secure hands of love; Mary Magdalene, who received great grace from her Savior and faithfully played her role among the disciples of Jesus, courageously carrying on until the foot of the cross amidst the fear and denial of the other disciples. All of these were themselves a beautiful design of God’s plan from beginning to end, demonstrating the social role of women in God’s salvific message.
They were the first to bring the glad tidings of Christ’s resurrection to others, as it is written in Mark 16:7: “Now go and tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
In describing the social values of women in the New Testament, it is best to say that they were members alongside men in one unified body of God’s family, and there is no longer a need for them to struggle for their most basic human rights. Their presence was not in shadow but in light and complete clarity.
And this makes clear that women have played and will continue to play an important role in the mission of the salvific message, as mothers of peoples who will nurture many children in the bosom of Jesus Christ so that they may proclaim the salvific message of the Gospel with the aid of the Holy Spirit, generation after generation, until the second coming of Christ for all.
