Mutuality 26.4 | Winter 2019

Winter 2019

Men and women serving and leading as equals

R ED I S COV ER I N G M A RY The Marys of the Bible and the #MeToo Movement page 8

The Mother of God and the Female Body page 17

Mary for Teen Moms: Chosen

by God page 21

CONTENTS Behaving Like Mary: Reexamining Mary’s Encounter with Gabriel

SPECIAL FEATURE

A student of Greek looks closely at Mary’s reaction to the angel’s visit.

by Julie R. Frady

Poem and original art

by Keren Dibbens-Wyatt

The Marys of the Bible and the #MeToo Movement Uncovering the dangers of sexist stereotypes for female students.

by Boaz Johnson

3 From the Editor

A poet reflects on Mary’s sacrifice as Jesus’ mother.

by Kay Bonikowsky

27 Giving Opportunities

“My Soul Rejoices”: Empowerment, Prophecy, and Luke’s Gospel

29 Praise and Prayer

Reading Mary’s song as a prophetic speech that empowers women.

by Sarah Hardman

The Mother of God and the Female Body Mary’s physical participation in the incarnation can free us from bodily shame.

by Eliza Stiles

Saying Yes to God’s Disruptions How Mary’s openness to God teaches us to navigate tough times.

by Karley Hatter

21

DEPA RTMENTS A Chance to Learn from Mary

A Psalm for Mary

17

Mary

28 Ministry News 30 President’s Message Their Broken Bodies: Mary and Jesus

ED ITO R IAL STA FF Guest Editor: Ellen Richard Vosburg Graphic Designer: Margaret Lawrence Publisher/President: Mimi Haddad

Mary for Teen Moms: Chosen by God

Winter 2019

A pastor explores how Mary the teen mom teaches compassion for the marginalized.

by Joyce del Rosario

Men and women serving and leading as equals

Mary the Brave: Neither Meek nor Superhuman A young woman sees Mary in a new light.

by Katie McEachern Mutuality is published quarterly by CBE International, 122 W Franklin Ave, Suite 218; Minneapolis, MN 55404-2451.

We welcome your comments, article submissions, and advertisements. Visit cbe.today/mutuality.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the 2011 revision of the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

2 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

Advertising in Mutuality does not imply organizational endorsement. Please note that neither CBE International, nor the editor, nor the editorial team is responsible or legally liable for any content or any statements made by any author, but the legal responsibility is solely that author’s once an article appears in Mutuality.

CBE grants permission for any original article (not a reprint) to be photocopied for local use provided no more than 1,000 copies are made, they are distributed free, the author is acknowledged, and CBE is recognized as the source.

R ED I S COV ER I N G M A RY The Marys of the Bible and the #MeToo Movement page 8

The Mother of God and the Female Body page 17

Mary for Teen Moms: Chosen

by God page 21

Mutuality vol. 26, no. 4, Winter 2019 Cover design by Margaret Lawrence Mutuality (ISSN: 1533-2470) exists to make egalitarian theology accessible to the non-scholar and to explore its intersection with everyday life. website :

cbeinternational.org

From the Editor

by Ellen Richard Vosburg

A Chance to Learn from Mary Growing up in a run-of-the-mill Southern Baptist church, I never spent a lot of time thinking about Mary.

I had a vague sense that some Christians spent more time contemplating Mary, but for me, she only came up at Christmastime (and, perhaps, Easter). In this issue, we attempt to reexplore how we perceive Mary, especially her role in the incarnation, her prophetic song, and how we can relate to her in our own lives. You will find that a number of this issue’s contributing writers had limited understandings of Mary originally: she was meek, quiet, and obliging. I think that’s a fair summary of what I knew of Mary, too. She was Jesus’ mom, and to a little girl who grew up in church, that seemed normal (I confess, maybe even a bit boring).

Many years later, as a young adult, I began to appreciate Mary more as I grew in my understanding of the Bible and Christian theology. While in graduate school, I became a member of a liturgical church where we spent more time contemplating the depths of Mary, both who she is and why she is important. My imagination for Mary was opened through an experience with an image of the pregnant Virgin Mary consoling Eve (Virgin Mary and Eve, by Sr. Grace Remington). In this drawing, Eve stands on the left covered by her long hair, eyes downcast, and she is holding a piece of red fruit with a bite taken from it. She is facing Mary, on the right, who is great with child. Mary has placed Eve’s hand on her pregnant belly, as if showing her the Savior.

She also places a comforting hand on Eve’s cheek, as if telling her, “chin up, sister.” At their feet, a snake is wrapped around Eve’s ankles, tripping her, but Mary is symbolically crushing the snake’s head, just like the baby in her womb would do in his death on the cross.

What I love about this image is how it proclaims the good news of Jesus’ defeat of sin and death so simply, and it does so by bringing women to the forefront as the storytellers. Those women are always there in the story, but we tend to lose Mary and Eve themselves in the way we tell the story. Clearly, God’s plan for rescuing humanity and all creation from the power of sin and death includes both men and women, but we tend to

bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

turn up the volume on the men and tune out the women in our retellings. But these women are main characters, too, and they stand ready to proclaim God’s salvation.

I am glad we get to pay more attention to Mary in this month’s issue. We invite you to journey with our writers as they rediscover Mary through theology, personal reflection, and real-world experiences with those who can give us insight into Mary. We hope that through this Advent season, you are encouraged to listen to Mary and discover her anew for yourself. As our writers make evident, Mary can be understood as a prophetic bridge between the Old and New Testaments. Her understanding of what God is doing through her son, Jesus, aligns with the message brought by numerous prophets of Israel, including her namesake, Miriam.

Mary’s song sets the tone for how future preachers convey the gospel. It is also important that we pay attention to and remember the physical reality of Mary’s female body. In her female body, she bore the salvation of the world. Because we can learn to love Mary’s body, we can learn to love and value other female bodies, too.

Mary also frees us (and encourages us) to look on the most vulnerable in our society with new compassion, especially unwed, teenage mothers.

When our writers sought to look at Mary again, many of them encountered a different woman than they expected. Why? Because too often we portray Mary as a woman of few words, and then we hold this as a standard for women, which weaponizes her against other women. But that version of Mary is a falsehood.

As you read this issue, I hope you see Mary as our writers have: brave, strong, lively, prophetic.

Editor’s Note: We’ve created a playlist filled with songs about Mary for our readers to enjoy while reading this issue!

You can find our “Rediscovering Mary” playlist at cbe.today/marysongs

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 3

Behaving Like Mary: Reexamining Mary’s Encounter with Gabriel

By Julie R. Frady

I recently saw a meme of the Virgin Mary with the words “well-behaved women make history” on it. The meme was a pushback on the pithy saying, “wellbehaved women rarely make history.”

Whoever made this meme apparently wanted women to think that we can change history if we “behave” like Mary.

meek, and submissive. We do well when we are like her.

When I had to translate Luke 1:26–38 from the Greek for an exam, though, I was surprised at how differently it came across to me.

Mary was feisty.

So many times, I have heard pastors extol Mary for her meekness and submissiveness, based especially on the passage where the angel Gabriel appears to her and tells her that she will be the mother of the Messiah. And Mary submits to God’s will. The lesson seems obvious: Godly women are well-behaved,

She gave Gabriel some pushback.

And God approved.

For the exam, we were supposed to use a Greek-English dictionary to translate but no other aids. I had wondered at

4 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

first why the professor would give us that particular passage. Surely, this is one of the most well-known passages of Scripture. I could “translate” it easily from memory and my experience watching countless Christmas plays.

Wait, maybe that was the reason, I thought. He wanted to see if we would actually work through the translation process, even with a passage we thought we knew inside and out.

As I worked through the passage with my dictionary, I was stunned to discover things I had never noticed from reading any English Bible translation.

website :

cbeinternational.org

There is no indication that Gabriel appeared to Mary as an angel, at least not at first.

If he appeared to her as an ordinary man, which is not uncommon in the Bible (Heb. 13:2), then her reaction is more understandable.

Gabriel first greets Mary with “Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28, CEB). Mary’s response to this is dietarachthē, which means to be “greatly troubled,” “disturbed,” “agitated,” “perplexed,” or “confused.” And she “wonder[ed] what kind of greeting this might be” (Luke 1:29, CEB). That’s actually an odd response to an angel. We see other people in the Bible react very differently to angels (for example, Num. 22:31; Luke 2:9). They’re usually struck with reverence and awe, not confusion or agitation.

I have heard pastors extol Mary for her meekness and submissiveness, based especially on the passage where the angel Gabriel appears to her and tells her that she will be the mother of the Messiah. And Mary submits to God’s will. The lesson seems obvious: Godly women are wellbehaved, meek, and submissive.

bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

We can make more sense of this reaction if we realize that in the Greek, there is no indication that Gabriel appeared to Mary as an angel, at least not at first. If he appeared to her as an ordinary man, which is not uncommon in the Bible (Heb. 13:2), then her reaction is more understandable.

Wouldn’t Mary just know Gabriel was an angel? Not necessarily. Many movies depict the angel appearing to her inside her home, but the text does not explicitly tell us where she was. She is obviously alone, but houses in Nazareth were small and didn’t afford much privacy. Outside her house in town would not have been very private either. My best guess is that she was in the countryside for

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 5

Mary was disturbed and wondered what kind of greeting this was because she couldn’t believe a strange man was speaking to her.

She may have been thinking, Am I giving off the wrong signal for this guy to think I’m the kind of woman he can speak to in public?

some reason, perhaps gathering berries or wood for a fire.

If Gabriel appeared to Mary as an ordinary man, this also helps to resolve some of the concern I’ve seen from some women, especially in light of the #MeToo movement, about whether Mary could have really given consent. I believe that, although God knew Mary’s heart, he still wanted her to be able to give her consent.

If Gabriel had shown up in a glorious form, Mary would have been in awe or fear. So it would have been difficult for Mary to feel like she did have a choice.

In any case, from what I see in the Greek, Mary is at first greatly troubled but not afraid. She is also confused at his greeting. Though it seems rather benign to us, when we consider the cultural background, it becomes clearer why she felt that way. In the first century context, men did not usually speak to women they did not know in public unless they thought they might be promiscuous.

(Jesus would break this cultural taboo many times, and his followers learned to do the same.) Mary was disturbed and wondered what kind of greeting this was because she couldn’t believe a strange man was speaking to her. She may have

been thinking, Am I giving off the wrong signal for this guy to think I’m the kind of woman he can speak to in public?

I remember once when I was a college student in Spain, I was in Segovia admiring the aqueduct there. A man I did not know greeted me and then asked to sleep with me. My reaction was a lot like Mary’s: I was disturbed, confused, and couldn’t believe it was happening. I briefly wondered if I had inadvertently given off the signal that I was the sort of girl he could realistically expect to be receptive to such a query. Then my feelings quickly turned to alarm, wondering if I was safe.

Mary probably felt the same. It is only after he greeted her that Gabriel uses her name and tells her not to be afraid. I’m not sure this was all that comforting to her, though. This man knows my name!

How does he know my name? she may have thought. After all, Nazareth at that time only had about 400 people in it, and I’m sure Mary was familiar with all of them.

She knew he was not from around there.

Then Gabriel goes on to say that it’s OK because she’s going to be the mother of the Messiah!

Give the Gift of Inspiration this Christmas Gift subscriptions to CBE’s award-winning journals are 25% off through December 31!

Visit cbe.today/xmas

6 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

website :

cbeinternational.org

Mary was indeed well-behaved by God’s standards, but a shy and retiring little lady she was not. She was willing to make waves, stand up for what she knew to be right, go where she believed God wanted her to go, and speak her mind. We do well when we “behave” like Mary.

OK, that’s it. Mary is done being quiet and polite now. I envision her thinking something along the lines of, I don’t know how this guy knows my name or why he thinks I’m going to hop in bed with him, but sweet-talking me into thinking that it’ ll be OK because I’ ll bear the Messiah is not going to make that happen.

I envision her putting her hands on her hips, cocking her head, narrowing her eyes, and saying, “Just how is this going to happen because I am not having sex with any man?” That’s how her question reads in the Greek to me.

Most English translations say something like, “How will this be since I am a virgin?” But Mary doesn’t use the noun parthenos (virgin). She uses the present active tense of the verb ginôskô, which is literally “to know,” but is also used figuratively to mean “to have sexual intercourse.” Our English translations water down the forcefulness of her reply, but it’s pretty stark in the Greek—“I do not have sex with men!”

This helps explain why earlier in this chapter Zechariah is rebuked when he asks, “but how is this going to happen since both my wife and I are too old?” when Gabriel appeared to him and told him he and Elizabeth would have a son (Luke 1:18–20). But Mary is not rebuked for her similar question because the circumstances were different.

Although we are not told where Mary bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

was when Gabriel appeared to her, we know exactly where Zechariah was: the Holy Place of the Temple. Since Gabriel appeared beside the altar of incense, Zechariah knew he was talking to an angel from God. His question revealed doubt, even in light of divine revelation.

Mary’s question was more, “back off, dude, I don’t do that.”

I envision Gabriel smiling in approval.

It is at this point that he gives her the assurance that it is the Holy Spirit, and not himself, that will cause her to conceive. He also lets her know that he knows details about her relative Elizabeth that an ordinary man from Galilee could not have known.

2:1–5). Mary accompanies her other sons to go “take charge” of Jesus (Mark 3:21).

She is there, with the other women, at the foot of the cross as Jesus dies (John 19:25–27), and she is with all the believers in the upper room on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:14).

Mary was indeed well-behaved by God’s standards, but a shy and retiring little lady she was not. She was willing to make waves, stand up for what she knew to be right, go where she believed God wanted her to go, and speak her mind. The maker of the meme was right after all. We do well when we “behave” like Mary.

Perhaps Gabriel showed Mary his glowing angel-self to her at this point.

Maybe the inside information about Elizabeth and the assurance that he was not looking to sleep with her helped Mary realize that he was really a messenger from God. It is only at this point that Mary’s response softens.

She gives her consent. It was not coerced.

She acquiesces to God’s will.

Looking at Mary’s encounter with Gabriel in this light aligns with how we see Mary throughout the rest of the gospels. She travels to Judea to see Elizabeth (Luke 1:39–56). We see her helping at a wedding in Cana (John

Julie R. Frady teaches Bible and preaches occasionally at her Free Methodist church in Kansas (USA). She plays saxophone, clarinet, and trumpet in the Praise Band. Julie has an M.A. in Spanish with an area of specialization in translation and is an experienced translator. She has also studied Koine Greek.

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 7

The Marys of the Bible and the #MeToo Movement

By Boaz Johnson Two years ago I took a sabbatical to write a book entitled The Marys of the Bible: The Original #MeToo Movement.

It was a book I had promised one of my female PhD students in India, with her own #MeToo story, that I would write. Her question to me was, “What does the Bible have to say to help women like me?” I promised her that I would write a book in response to her question.

About the same time I began my research on the book, millions of women across the world joined the #MeToo movement. During my research, I visited several parts of the world, like the Kakuma Refugee Camp where there are more that 800,000 refugees. I heard many #MeToo stories in these places. These stories fueled my urgency to write this book, which I published last year.

So, what does the Bible have to say in response to the issues raised by the #MeToo movement?

It seems to me that the central response to this question is the name of Jesus the Messiah’s mother—Mary. The name Mary means “one who has endured much pain and suffering.” It was a common name given to girls in the first century, especially in villages like Nazareth. The Holy Land was ruled by one invading force after another for several centuries. Each time an invading army would take control of the Holy Land, they would take away some bright boys as captives and reeducate them to be subject to the victorious king. The girls and women of the towns and villages were then raped by invading armies. Rape was a method of war and subjugation.

During the time of Jesus, the Sadducees, a political party, were in control of towns and villages. They had tax collectors who would subjugate common people to debt slavery. They then handed over girls from towns and villages to Roman soldiers as sexual slaves, to curry favor with them. Because of this horrible system, whenever a

Because of this horrible system, whenever a girl was born the parents would, in all sadness, name the baby Mary. They knew that the life of this girl would be bitter and painful. During his childhood days, Jesus would have undoubtedly seen many of the girls from Nazareth taken into sexual slavery by the Roman soldiers.

8 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

website :

cbeinternational.org

Why was Jesus’ mother called Mary? Why were all these other women called Mary? The obvious answer, which we can miss quite easily, is because another important woman in the Bible was called Mary, or Miriam, Moses’ sister. girl was born the parents would, in all sadness, name the baby Mary. They knew that the life of this girl would be bitter and painful. During his childhood days, Jesus would have undoubtedly seen many of the girls from Nazareth taken into sexual slavery by the Roman soldiers.

For this reason, during his lifetime, Jesus reached out to several women. He spoke with them. He brought healing to their deeply wounded souls.

At the end of his life, when Jesus was hanging from the cross, all his disciples, except for John the Beloved, deserted him. It is quite telling that all his closest associates, at this most crucial moment in his life—his death on the cross— were all women. They were all called Mary.

Mary/Miriam, the Sister of Moses Why was Jesus’ mother called Mary? Why were all these other women called Mary?

The obvious answer, which we can miss quite easily, is because another important woman in the Bible was called Mary, or Miriam: Moses’ sister. She was called Mary because during her time the Egyptians would come into the slave dwellings of the Hebrew people and rape Hebrew girls. They would rape Hebrew girls so that their progeny would neither be accepted by the Hebrews nor by the Egyptians. Their progeny would be slaves. When boys were born to the slave women, Pharaoh ordered the boys to be killed. Pharaoh did not want a rebellion led by young men, so the women were taken as sexual slaves.

In this horrible context it is fascinating to read the account of Mary, or Miriam, the sister of Moses. She puts herself bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

in harm’s way when the daughter of Pharaoh finds the baby boy, Moses, in a basket. She offers to find a wet-nurse for the baby boy. Moses then lives with his people till he comes of age. Moses might have seen his sister experience horrible things at the hands of cruel Egyptian soldiers.

The next time we encounter Miriam is after the Hebrew slaves crossed the Red Sea. This time she is called Miriam the Prophetess (Exod. 15:20) and she leads the people in a prophetic song. It is as if she has experienced transformational healing from her horrible experiences as a slave girl. She sings, I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted.

Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.

(Exod. 15:1) The “horse and driver” are not merely animals and soldiers. This is a technical term, which refers to the Egyptian high gods, who were responsible for her people’s sexual slavery and pain. She sings with triumph that the Egyptian god Osiris, who was the lord of the seas, the underworld, and sexuality, is defeated by the “breath of YHWH” (Exod. 15:10).

The refrain of Miriam’s song (Exod. 15:11) emphasizes the majesty and power of the LORD over the Egyptian Pharaoh, who was drawn from the divine river Nile and was the highest god in the Egyptian pantheon.

Miriam proceeds to reflect on how God created a new people out of the waters of the womb of the sea. In the same womb of the sea, the enemies, the gods of Egypt, were destroyed. In many senses this song of Miriam parallels God’s act of creation at the beginning of time and history. Genesis 1:2 gives the picture of the earth being a horrible disaster. In Hebrew, the words are tohu vavohu.

There was darkness over the deep waters, just like at the bottom of the sea. Yet, above this place, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” This is a picture of the birthing waters. The Spirit of God, right in the midst of a picture of horrible darkness and destruction, gave birth to the good universe. The same Spirit of God breathed on the waters of the Red Sea and gave birth to a new people. And so Miriam sang with joy for the people, “You (O LORD) have created.” (Exod. 15:16).

Miriam goes on to prophesy regarding the future (Exod.

15:16–17). Jerusalem and the temple were the final M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 9

The next time we encounter Miriam is after the Hebrew slaves crossed the Red Sea. This time she is called Miriam the Prophetess (Exod.

15:20) and she leads the people in a prophetic song.

It is as if she has experienced transformational healing from her horrible experiences as a slave girl. paradigm of the salvation of Miriam’s people. Their hope would come from the Messiah, the One who endured so much shame and pain.

The history of the world has shown that this prophecy of Miriam had partial fulfilment in the temple that was built in Jerusalem. However, the final fulfillment of Miriam’s dream will happen when the Messiah returns. He will bring with him a new Jerusalem and a new temple (Rev. 21).

Mary, the Mother of Jesus Mary, the mother of Jesus, was born in a world very similar to the world of Miriam, the sister of Moses. This time the pain, rape, and suffering happened at the hands of the Romans. It is significant that the response of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is also found in a song very similar to the song sung by Miriam, the sister of Moses. It is called the Magnificat.

The context of this song is two women—Elizabeth and Mary—talking to each other. What were they talking about? Obviously, things that women talk about, throughout history, when they have encountered so much pain and shame. Mary knew that there was one person with whom she could share her deepest pains and struggles. Yes, she was a virgin. But, she had seen so many Marys, her friends, who had been raped by the cruel Roman soldiers. Somehow, by God’s grace, one Mary

10 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

escaped the cruelty of the Roman soldiers. Yet, the pain of her friends was her pain.

Then there was the enigma. She was miraculously pregnant by the Holy Spirit. This was God’s supernatural doing—an inexplicable miracle. So, she needed to process all this with her trusted cousin. Right in the midst of this conversation, Mary breaks out into a song: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.

His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.

(Luke 1:46–56) Just like the Miriam of Exodus, she expresses complete faith in the LORD, her savior. Just like the Miriam of old, she expresses that this God experientially knows her state of humiliation. Just like the Miriam of old, she also praises God for his victory over all the Roman divine kings. Just like Miriam of Exodus, she expresses the thought that the destitute people will be fed by the Lord. This was a promise that God made to Abraham. He fulfilled this promise during the time of Moses and Miriam.

. . . she expresses complete faith in the LORD, her savior.

website :

cbeinternational.org

Seven #MeToo Principles Here are seven principles we can draw from the parallels in the songs of Miriam, the sister of Moses, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, for the #MeToo movement:

1. The womb principle: A crucial response to the suffering of both Miriam, the sister of Moses, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, is addressed in what I call, the womb principle. Mary, the mother of Jesus, reflects on the “mercy” of God (Luke 1:50, 54).

The Hebrew word for “mercy” is racham, which literally means womb. It is clear that Mary, in her song, saw God renewing the work of the Exodus through the birthing waters of her womb.

2. The Magnificat principle: Despite the injustices of human powers over women, in the end the LORD will be magnified.

In both the poems, Miriam, the sister of Moses, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, both sing songs in the face of unimaginable suffering. Miriam and Mary praise the LORD (Exod. 15:1; Luke 1:46).

3. The Yeshua principle: Despite the injustices of human powers over women, in the end the LORD’s salvation will break through. Both express their complete hope in the yeshua, or the salvation of God (Exod. 15:2; Luke 1:47). This is quite a poignant statement in light of the name the angel of the LORD told Mary to give her son: Yeshua, salvation (Luke 1:31).

4. The hope principle: Despite the injustices of human powers over women, God will fulfill his promises. Both acknowledge the faithfulness of the promises of the LORD God. Miriam calls him, “my father’s God,” who always faithfully keeps his promises (Exod. 15:2).

Mary, the mother of Jesus, acknowledges that the LORD will keep his promises made “to Abraham and his descendants forever” (Luke 1:55).

bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

5. The strength principle: Despite the injustices of human powers, women will find strength in the LORD to overcome human evil.

Both acknowledge that their strength comes from the Lord (Exod. 15:2; Luke 1:51). In those days, as it is today, women were relegated to a place of weakness. But God always provides strength. Both songs affirm this God-given capacity among women.

6. The empowerment principle: The power of the powerful is weakened, and the weakness of the weak is empowered. Both Miriam and Mary sing about how mighty soldiers and rulers and the rich will be humbled and brought low by the LORD for their sins against the vulnerable (Exod. 15:9–10; Luke 1:52–53).

7. The resting principle: Based on the above principles, both Miriam and Mary’s songs end in a note of restfulness. Miriam’s song ends with the LORD’s eternal reign in his sanctuary with his people (Exod. 15:17–18). Mary’s song poignantly ends with a brief phrase, “Mary remained” (my own translation). It was as if Mary was unmoved and contented with the fact that God was in control.

Listen to the Marys The Marys of the world, throughout history, have endured so much pain and suffering. The Bible indeed shows the original #MeToo movement. The two songs of the two Marys—Miriam, the sister of Moses, and Mary, the mother of Jesus the Messiah—exemplify this best.

May my sisters take hope from these two songs.

May my brothers learn from the Marys of the Bible, and the Marys of the world, today.

Boaz Johnson is professor of biblical and theological studies at North Park University in Chicago. He is a board member of CBE International. Boaz has a PhD from Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL. He has taught internationally. Boaz’s wife is a clinical mental therapist. They have four grown children and seven grandchildren.

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 11

A

for

By Kay Bonikowsky

Favored is she who relies on God. She trusts without full understanding.

She expects His will to triumph.

Confident is she who knows the Lord.

She is not deceived by man nor crowd.

She walks alone.

You have made her productive.

She brings forth life.

She births.

O God, who gives birth to nations, Who births again to new life, You have shared your likeness with her.

She bears your image.

Let those who would harm her form be shamed.

As her body is broken, let them be destroyed.

As her blood is loosed, take note and serve justice.

She who suffers is not without privilege.

Her faith is not finite.

Her reward is not shared.

Her hope is not awry.

In death, she does not die.

Kay Bonikowsky is nearing completion of her Master of Divinity of Theological Studies at Multnomah University. She blogs on women and the Bible at kbonikowsky.com.

12  M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

website :

cbeinternational.org

MY SOUL REJOICES: Empowerment, Prophecy, and Luke’s Gospel

By Sarah Hardman The story of Jesus’ birth might be the most misquoted and misunderstood story in the gospels. Luke’s gospel account of both the annunciation and the nativity are strikingly unique, because not only does Luke meticulously detail the events but he also puts a woman, Mary, in the spotlight of the narrative—something that no other gospel writer does. Luke begins his gospel with several powerful women speaking and proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. But he notably features a lengthy monologue given by the youngest of these women: Mary, the Messiah’s own mother.

Luke 1:46–55, otherwise known as the Magnificat, is generally attributed to Mary as a song of praise. This is one of the longest monologues in the chapter and is Luke’s introduction and framework for the rest of his gospel. Sadly, many interpreters have demoted Mary’s song to just that—a song—and its significance to the structure of Luke’s gospel, as well as the nativity story, is lost. Mary’s song acts as a prophetic proclamation of God’s reversal of the curses found in Genesis 3:14–19 and the fulfillment of prophecy. More than just words of poetic praise, Mary becomes the prophetess that births God’s good works into the world through the Spirit.

In first addressing how Mary’s prophetic role influences our understanding of the importance of her gender, we must reflect on the significance of Luke choosing a bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 13

Luke begins his gospel with several powerful women speaking and proclaiming the coming of the Messiah.

But he notably features a lengthy monologue given by the youngest of these women: Mary, the Messiah’s own mother. woman to introduce the narrative. This is directly linked to Old Testament prophecies, such as Joel 2:28–32, where the Spirit is poured out on all flesh. Elizabeth and Mary have both interacted and received the Spirit in Luke’s narrative in lieu of their husbands. It is interesting to note that Luke does not mention Joseph at all—choosing to showcase the Spirit working through women in the place of the traditional patriarchal model. Mary becomes the symbol of the reversal of the patriarchal identity in Luke’s gospel. This lowly woman can bypass all her cultural bondage and be uplifted and used by God. This is essential not just for the nativity but for the rest of Luke’s gospel.

Luke utilizes verbal speech instead of action in this entire passage. Mary simply speaks. Mary takes no action— except perhaps obeying and rejoicing. Luke’s choice here emphasizes that the woman was inspired to speak in response to God’s actions and the Spirit’s prompting. Like the previous prophets of Israel, Mary is not acting herself; the actions she is speaking of are totally dependent on God. Mary’s revolution and proclamation are not inciting action or violence; rather, they encourage obedience and

patience, understanding that it is God who will right the wrongs within the world. The utilization of speech and monologue, particularly from a woman, is historically significant to Luke’s audience.

There are several things that this consideration of Mary’s song as a prophetic speech act influences about the text.

If read as just a song, we lose the significance in the mundane becoming prophetic. Mary’s speech being an act of prophecy radically changes our understanding about gender, empowerment, and worship.

The emphasis on Spirit, speech, and proclamation is not just found in Mary’s song—it is a pattern repeated

by Luke throughout Acts. In his commentary on Luke, Joseph A. Fitzmyer suggests that Mary’s song resembles the speeches in Acts more than any other kind of writing.

Peter Lang, in his book, The Magnificat within Lukan Theology, identifies and catalogues the Greek words Mary uses in her song and recognizes that Peter’s speech in Acts, Stephen’s speech, and some of Paul’s speeches are identically structured to Mary’s song. Linguistically, Lang asserts that Mary is birthing more than just the Messiah. Mary is prophesying and laying the foundation of what will be seen throughout the rest of the Luke-Acts narrative: Jesus will humble the proud (Luke 6:24), exalt the poor (Luke 6:20), and feed the hungry (Luke 9:10–17).

The Spirit is what begins the work in Mary and is active not only within her but outside of her to prompt her to proclaim God’s goodness to Elizabeth and all Israel. In this proclamation, Mary becomes the first follower of Christ through her confession.

In this passage Mary is praising God for what has occurred in her heart yet has not come to pass in the narrative, which shifts this monologue from simple praise

Mary’s proclamation is more than just a hymn of worship.

Luke’s audience would have understood the historical emphasis Mary puts on the Israelite God and her recognition of the works of Christ before they even occur.

This puts Mary into the category of the prophet speaking over the people of Israel.

14 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

website :

cbeinternational.org

to prophetic utterance. Mary’s proclamation is more than just a hymn of worship. Luke’s audience would have understood the historical emphasis Mary puts on the Israelite God and her recognition of the works of Christ before they even occur. This puts Mary into the category of the prophet speaking over the people of Israel.

It is not until Luke 4:17–21 that Christ claimed that the Old Testament scriptures had been fulfilled; yet, Mary is still speaking in terms of God having already fulfilled these things in Luke 1. Mary’s voice transcends time and speaks into the past, present, and future history of God’s people. Luke uses this to his advantage to highlight both how God is bringing about his salvation and what will come in the end times. In our present day, God has not yet made all things right; however, in Mary and in us, Christ has made things right today.

Mary gives us more than a song in Luke 1:46–55. Instead, we receive an outline to the entire work of Luke-Acts that is both prophetic and empowering. Mary is the exemplar of the modern prophetess that we have forgotten in our communities. Comparable to Peter’s sermon in Acts, the Beatitudes, and Stephen’s speech, Mary’s Magnificat is a confession of the goodness of God to humanity. This should be recognized as more than a song in our contemporary churches and should be utilized as a prophetic proclamation that tells us that God can use and empower anyone to accomplish his work—including a poor girl who considers herself a slave. The beauty in the Magnificat is that Mary can be understood as a second Hagar, a slave woman who responds to God faithfully and seeks out God’s justice.

The next time we recite or sing the annunciation, let us not see Mary simply as the submissive girl who sings of God’s goodness. Let us see her as the bold, spirit-filled prophetess, who sets up the entire framework of Luke’s gospel that is mimicked by Peter, Stephen, and Paul. This shift from song to prophecy shows Luke’s perspective on women and his emphasis on how the marginalized and oppressed have finally found their voices through Christ. Mary shows that women do have a place in the church and the gospel story—one of praise, prophecy, empowerment, and Spiritbirthing potential if only given the choice to speak.

bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

This shift from song to prophecy shows Luke’s perspective on women and his emphasis on how the marginalized and oppressed have finally found their voices through Christ. Mary shows that women do have a place in the Church and the gospel story—one of praise, prophecy, empowerment, and Spirit-birthing potential, if only given the choice to speak.

Sarah Hardman is a pastor, writer, and advocate. She pastors Third Way Church in Lakeland, Florida, with her husband, David. She is a graduate of Southeastern University and is finishing her master’s degree at Fuller Seminary. Sarah teaches Bible to special needs students at a private school. Sarah loves Old Testament gender studies and plans to pursue doctoral work in this field.

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 15

Join us in the UK for CBE’s international conference

MEN, WOMEN, AND GOD:

THEOLOGY AND ITS IMPACT JULY 30–AUGUST 1, 2020!

“Investing in . . . women’s empowerment can unlock human potential on a transformational scale.” –USAID Community development flourishes when women’s equality and equipping are at the forefront. Yet women are not free to lead in many churches and Christian NGOs. Join CBE’s 2020 international conference in the UK to learn the theological and practical tools for making this a reality in faith-based NGOs and nonprofits, in churches and seminaries, and in our daily lives.

REGISTRATION OPENS JANUARY 2020 For updates visit cbe.today/londonupdates

16 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

website :

cbeinternational.org

THE MOTHER OF GOD AND THE FEMALE BODY

By Eliza Stiles

For most of my childhood, I was given the esteemed role of playing Mary in the annual Christmas pageant at my church. I got to wear a blue veil and follow Joseph through the sanctuary on our long journey to the stable at the front of the church, where I would sneak behind the altar and retrieve the baby doll that I would finally place in the manger.

One minute Mary didn’t have Jesus, and the next she did. There he would be, sleeping peacefully in a bed of hay as the congregation sang “Joy to the World.”

This children’s rendition of the birth of Jesus summarizes well how I grew up learning about the role of Mary, but more broadly, it says something significant about how the church has often dealt with the female body.

From its earliest times, the church bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

has struggled to be a space in which women and girls can think positively about their identities as Christians and the reality of their female bodies.

When the female body makes itself too known by stepping out of hiding or out of line, the church is often quick to minimize, cover, remove, or discount.

In conjunction with the culture in which the church was born, women were quickly associated with the flesh and body while men were associated with the mind and soul, with the former being minimized and the latter being elevated.1 Not only is the body—the female body in particular—minimized, but it is often associated with sin; the female body causes sin in others by the way the female body is simply present and existing in the world.

To talk about a woman in the church is to deal with the reality of her body, as if her body—her physical being—is some issue with which she must deal. Girls and women are left carrying shame and questions about the goodness of their own bodies.

Because of this, they either carry the responsibility of hiding and minimizing their bodies, or they are minimized in the retelling of their stories. For Mary, this looks like telling the story of Jesus’ birth as if Mary’s body played little to no role in the coming of Christ. One minute Mary didn’t have Jesus, and the next she did.

Yet, Mary is the highly favored one, the mother of God. She carried Jesus—God with us—in her own body. In the very body created by God, Mary carried, birthed, and

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 17

God chose Mary to be the most physical participant in Christ’s incarnate work. Mary’s body participated with God’s own creative work of forming God incarnate in her womb.

God could have chosen any way God wanted to physically enter the world. And yet, Mary. Mary was God’s choice in the fullness and entirety of her female body.

nurtured God incarnate. She felt Jesus growing within her; she pressed her hand to her belly and felt Jesus kick. Mary stretched and swelled and grew as Emmanuel was formed within her. Finally, when the time had come, the mother of God labored, bled, and finally birthed her son into the world. The early church debated about the title for Mary. Was it proper to call her the Theotokos, the God-bearer, or was she the Christotokos, the Christbearer? The importance and fullness of Mary’s participation in the incarnation cannot be minimized or understated. As was affirmed at the Council of Ephesus in 431, Mary is the Theotokos. A teenage girl is the mother of God. A teenage girl’s body was the locus of the incarnation, the meeting place of human and divine.

God chose Mary to be the most physical participant in Christ’s incarnate work. Mary’s body participated with God’s own creative work of forming God incarnate in her womb. God could have chosen any way God wanted to physically enter the world. And yet, Mary. Mary was God’s choice in the fullness and entirety of her female body. This did not require her to minimize or hide her female self or body. Through, in, and of her body, Mary participated in a miracle, and this truth speaks back to the lies of shame women experience in relation to their own bodies. God is calling us, our whole selves, to participate in miracles, too. Mary’s consent, “May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38), calls us to say yes as well to whole-self participation in the work that God is doing in and among us.

18 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

The female body is not a liability to the work of God, and the story of Mary tells us so. The shame that women carry around in relation to their bodies is layered with cross sections of shame beyond just the femaleness of their bodies, but body size, skin color, abilities and disabilities, and visible and invisible wounds as well. All of this shame deepens the lie that our bodies are sinful, or less than, or must be hidden, or are a tripping point for others seeing the goodness of God. Being ashamed, however, is not the relationship God created women to have with their bodies, nor is being less than the identity God created women to live into.

Mary’s prophetic song calls us to have hope now that God “has brought down the rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble” (Luke 1:52). God is lifting up those who are humble—or have been humbled or minimized or deemed less than—and calling us to participate in the work of bringing about a new order, a new order that was inaugurated by Jesus being born of Mary.

1. Beth Felker Jones, Marks of His Wounds: Gender Politics and Bodily Resurrection (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).

Eliza Stiles is an MA in systematic theology candidate at Wheaton College Graduate School and is the director of student ministries at Glen Ellyn Evangelical Covenant Church near Chicago, IL. She is passionate about advocating for gender equality in the church and helping middle and high school students feel at home in their church communities.

website :

cbeinternational.org

D

Saying Yes to God’s Disruptions

By Karley Hatter

isruptions are inevitable in this life. We face circumstances and events in our day-to-day lives that feel like giant mountains, road blocks, and dead ends. Bad things happen to us, our families, and the people we love. Maybe it is a disappointing diagnosis, a rejection, or the end of a job. When bad things happen, we often feel like we have no agency or choice about the matter. The surprise of some situations can feel like a direct hit, swaying us from side to side, taking our feet off the road we were traveling.

We tend to feel disruption most acutely in our spiritual lives. The word or promise that God has given us may be taking much longer to come to pass than we expected, or it might not manifest in the way we had hoped. The very nature of this ambiguity can cause confusion and doubts, and it can make us feel like our lives are fractured. Ambiguity can feel like walking into a deep fog without a light. If we aren’t in the right posture spiritually, the disruption might hinder us in our journey to follow God. Mary, the mother of Jesus, might have felt similarly disrupted and confused when she found out she would become pregnant: The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.” (Luke 1:28–31) I could only imagine how Mary felt when the angel appeared to her giving her this word, knowing how it would change her entire life. Mary was young, and I like to imagine her as vibrant, gritty, and outspoken.

Mary became a pregnant virgin—talk about entering into a fog of ambiguity! Luke describes Mary as “greatly troubled” by her visit from the angel. The angel’s announcement was surprising, confusing, and most of all, shockingly unique. So often our greatest comfort in

bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 19

circumstances comes from hearing the stories of those who have endured a similar journey. There can be a slight sigh of relief knowing you are not alone when you experience a particular season or situation. For Mary, she did not have this communal comfort, and you might feel similarly about your situation.

The way forward for Mary was not clear. Mary needed to lean in and get closer to God to see the way he was leading her. Mary’s decision to yield to God shows us how to assume a spiritual posture that invites God to lead us through the disruptions of our lives. disruptive 20 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

What is most compelling about this story and passage is Mary’s response to the angel. She says, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true” (Luke 1:38, NLT). Mary’s immediate response is to joyfully receive this word that changes everything from the angel—her response changes the course of history. I believe that Mary’s faith shows us that a life with God is made of many decisions to say yes to God’s leading along the journey. What are disruptions to us might be exactly what God plans to lead us to the next thing.

The way forward for Mary was not clear. Mary needed to lean in and get closer to God to see the way he was leading her. Mary’s decision to yield to God shows us how to assume a spiritual posture that invites God to lead us through the disruptions of our lives. In this Advent season, leaning in does not mean mustering up all the strength we think we need but posturing ourselves to keep our hearts willing and open to God. Ambiguity would want nothing more for hearts to close and our fists to tighten with the need for control.

I am grateful for Mary. She teaches us that in all the disruptions of life that we face, we must keep our hearts open and trust God with everything. When we don’t know the answer and we are aching for clarity, the very best thing we can do is spend some time with a God who knows the way forward.

Karley Hatter is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary and currently works for Fuller’s Leadership Center (De Pree Center). Karley has planned and hosted the De Pree Center’s first event for women in leadership: A Seat at the Table. She is a preacher, gatherer by nature, and coffee connoisseur.

website :

cbeinternational.org

Mary for Teen Moms: Chosen by God

By Joyce del Rosario

“They were all staring at us, with our babies on our hips.” Lisa (name has been changed) came home to tell me about their outing to McDonald’s. She and two other teen moms had decided to go out for lunch that day. They all lived at New Creation Home, the residential program for teenage mothers and their children, where I was serving as executive director.

Lisa came home distraught, feeling the weight of the stares from judgmental strangers. She felt no shame in choosing to raise her son herself, so she could give him a better life than the one she had experienced. But even with her confidence, she knew that others still judged her for being such a young mother.

bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

The young women who are served at New Creation Home are socially and economically vulnerable.

They are also resilient, strong, determined, and generous. They are excellent mothers, doing what they can with what they have for the sake of their children. They work in community with one another, sharing what they have and helping each other when they can. They influence and change not just their children, but everyone around them, too. I believe that if we empower and support them, teen moms can be agents of transformation in their communities.

Unfortunately, teen moms are often seen by Christians, and the general public, as perpetual sinners. As long

as they have a baby on their hips, they carry the evidence of their sexual misdeeds. I caution that we should not reduce the sexual activity of teen moms to a simple matter of resisting temptation. Teaching people to “just say no” or wear purity rings are reductive answers to complex questions of sexuality.

These practices also assume that all girls have enough agency to make those decisions for themselves. For low-income young women, their power to choose what happens to their bodies is often minimized by their social locations, family lives, family histories, histories of abuse, and many other factors. What would it look like if we viewed teen moms in a redemptive way that honors their choice to raise

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 21

their children and encourages them to pursue healing and growth for themselves and their families?

My work with teen moms is why I have come to love Mary in a new way. When I read about Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Luke 1, I no longer see the obedient and docile image I grew up learning about. Instead, I see a teen mom that God purposefully placed in a precarious and dangerous position to carry out God’s plans. I see a young girl who came from a poor family with little power. There was nothing immediately special about her. Before she would be known as the mother of Jesus, she was Mary without title, Mary from Nazareth, Mary who was betrothed to Joseph.

Mary was unknown.

By first-century cultural norms, Mary also had very little power.

While some feminist scholars debate whether Mary actually

It is important for us to realize that Mary was favored even before she agreed to carry the Son of God. People often think Mary was perfect, and that’s why she was chosen to be Jesus’ mother.

This idea creates a conundrum for teen moms.

Throughout the Bible, we see God’s affection for the poor, the widowed, and the orphaned.

The modern-day teen mom is often all three.

God imparts to God’s people the need to care for the vulnerable and marginalized. had a choice, Luke 1:38 recounts Mary humbly accepting the call, saying, “I am the Lord’s servant.”

I can then imagine the young Mary changing her posture as she stands taller, draws her shoulders back, and readies herself for her new future. Mary may have found a new Spirit-filled confidence as she owned her new role saying, “May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38).

God called Mary to something much greater than her social location. I find it comforting to note that she was called “highly favored” before she said yes to God. It wasn’t her obedience that made her highly favored.

Her significance was in her insignificance. Because of who she was and where she was from, she was chosen to bear God’s son.

The message God has for Mary is good news right from the start: “Mary, you’re one of my favorites!

That’s good news. It means you didn’t have to do anything special; you are just you, and that’s enough for me.” Before this announcement, we don’t know what kind of person she was, if she cleaned her room, or if she was a good daughter. But that doesn’t seem to matter. The angel didn’t say, “Mary, because you were so good and perfect and faithful to God, you are highly favored.” She

22 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

was favored before she knew what was about to be asked of her.

It is important for us to realize that Mary was favored even before she agreed to carry the Son of God. People often think Mary was perfect, and that’s why she was chosen to be Jesus’ mother.

This idea creates a conundrum for teen moms. Mary becomes the impossible standard by which many young women are held, especially Latinas and others from predominantly Catholic cultures. Mary has become the icon of the perfect mother who is paradoxically a virgin—an impossible standard for all other women, especially teen moms.

But Mary would not have been seen as the perfect pregnant woman during her time either.

If we view Mary through a firstcentury lens, we see her share a similar conundrum to teen moms today. God purposefully chose her to become pregnant by someone other than her fiancé before she was married, which could have been a punishable crime. She could have been tried as an adulterer and returned to her parents by Joseph if he thought she had become pregnant by another man. This would have caused an economic burden to her family because they would have to give back her dowry website :

cbeinternational.org

and feed and care for her again.

Mary’s optics were not good. Yet this is the miraculous way God chose to work with this vulnerable, young, brown girl.

On the day Lisa and the other girls came home feeling judged

Teen moms need a new narrative that includes them in the story of God—more specifically, the story of God in relationship to marginalized women like Mary.

Their stories need to be validated on their own terms rather than be explained and affirmed by those who have traditionally held power over the biblical narratives. at McDonald’s, they voiced their awareness of how people see them as teen moms. Like Mary, their optics were not good either. But I also believe that, like Mary, teen moms are chosen by God. Throughout the Bible, we see God’s affection for the poor, the widowed, and the orphaned. The modern-day teen mom is often all three. God imparts bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

to God’s people the need to care for the vulnerable and marginalized.

The way society looked at Mary was the same way society tends to look at teen moms. But God sees both Mary and teen moms in a different light. With Mary, God did not just care for her—God favored her. Mary’s pregnancy during her betrothal left her in a predicament very close to that of teen moms.

Equity for marginalized women, like teen moms, must be seen in light of God’s choosing a marginalized young woman, like Mary, to carry out God’s plan. In the self-emptying act of the incarnation, Jesus answers the problem of injustice to the young, marginalized teen moms.

God empties God’s self out and becomes a fragile being, at the mercy and care of young Mary. Jesus laid down power and privilege to be held and nurtured by a teen mom. Mary’s participation in the co-creation of the incarnate Christ was not a matter of Jesus needing a womb to prove his humanity. It was God’s example to humanity of what it looks like to share in abundant love, humility, and social justice to the poor and marginalized.

Teen moms need a new narrative that includes them in the story of God—more specifically, the story of God in relationship to marginalized women like Mary. Their stories need to be validated on their own terms rather than be explained and affirmed by those who have traditionally held power over the biblical narratives. The story of Mary needs to be seen through the eyes of other women who have been economically, socially, and legally vulnerable.

We need to do more than give teen moms our charity. We need to see them in a whole new way. If we viewed teen moms as more than sinners, we would see the powerful young women they are meant to become. Marginalized young women need the space to share their own stories, in their own voices.

And we need to listen respectfully.

When we do, we might even hear them sing a new song. I wonder if it might sound something like this: My soul glorifies the Lord, the God who sees me, My spirit rejoices in God who chose to enter humanity in the center of my being.

Holy is God’s name.

The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

Those holding onto white superiority will walk away empty.

Patriarchy will be dismantled.

The homeless will find refuge.

The abused and oppressed will be lifted up.

The hungry will be fed.

The orphaned will find family.

Those in pain will be healed.

The depressed will find joy.

The marginalized will be centered.

Righteousness will be restored because God chose to break into humanity through a young brown teen mom and moved into our neighborhood. Amen.

After serving over 20 years in urban youth ministry, Dr. Joyce del Rosario is now an assistant professor at the Pacific School of Religion. She was the executive director of New Creation Home Ministries, a residential and outreach program for teen moms, and an area director for Young Life where she worked with immigrant communities.

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 23

Mary the Brave:

Neither Meek nor Superhuman

By Katie McEachern One Sunday, about a year ago, I was visiting a new church. It was December, and the pastor was preaching about Mary. I was surprised by how well he positioned Mary as an equal to the congregation— neither meek nor superhuman. He presented Mary to us as if she was someone whose experience was worth trying to empathize with, whether we were male or female. As he presented Mary to us this way, I tried to put myself in Mary’s shoes, remembering what it was like to be a teenage girl. In this exercise, I realized something I never had before about Mary: she was brave.

There are differences between my experience and Mary’s that should be named, differences that go beyond the 2,000 years that separate us. I am a white woman living in the United States, the daughter of educated parents. I grew up in a mostly wealthy town. Because I am a white girl from an educated family in a wealthy town, most of the systems surrounding me as a teenager were set up to help me succeed, so long as I played by their rules. For Mary, the situation was different. Mary was a Middle Eastern Jewish girl growing up under the Roman Empire. She was not from an educated family, nor was she from a wealthy town.

Most of the systems surrounding her were not set up to help her succeed; these systems didn’t care much about non-wealthy minority women.

24 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

However, there is one distinct similarity between Mary’s experience and my own, one that I realized while sitting in that sanctuary trying to identify with this girl whose life looked little to nothing like my own. It is one, I believe, most every teen girl can relate to: getting pregnant could have serious consequences. When I was a teen, I was reminded often that if I became pregnant, few of those aforementioned systems would continue advocating for my success, and my life would become much harder.

For Mary, in her cultural and social location, getting pregnant outside of the security of marriage had even more serious consequences.

This made something about the reality of Mary’s experience clear to me: A messenger of God visited her and asked her to embrace what would have felt like a lifeshattering event to me as a teen but had the potential to be an actual life-shattering event for Mary. Have you ever listened to a sermon where the pastor points out Joseph’s goodness in Matthew 1 for wanting to divorce her quietly?

That’s because had it come out that Mary was pregnant by someone other than Joseph, Mosaic law said she could be stoned. Sure, Joseph was good, but he’s not the hero here. No, the hero is undeniably Mary, who accepted her part in bringing God to earth despite the consequences and notably before she knew how her betrothed would react. Mary knew her own time better than us; she knew what happened to teen girls who are supposed to be virgins but are suddenly pregnant. Her story, as told in Luke 1, gives us no reason to believe she was naïve about the implications of what the messenger of the Lord said.

Yes, Mary was brave.

Nothing illustrates her bravery more than the way Mary reacts to the news. Luke says that after the messenger of the Lord left, Mary immediately visited Elizabeth, her cousin. She didn’t wait in fear nor did she seem worried. As one translation puts it, Mary “got up and hurried” to Elizabeth (Luke 1:39, CEB). And Elizabeth, herself pregnant outside of the norm, welcomed her in, accepting Mary’s story without doubt or question. Do you notice that at this point in Luke’s recounting, the website :

cbeinternational.org

Mary saw this visit from God for the powerful theological statement it was. This visit upended the cultural narrative telling Mary what a devout Jewish girl looked like. It upends still today our own narrative about who God exalts and uses to bring redemption. only two people in the world who know what is about to happen are these Jewish women? They are the first ones let in on the secret that God is going to do something unprecedented. As the story goes on, how the men and wider community react to Mary’s pregnancy is of little consequence, at least as Luke tells it. What is important is the experience of Mary and Elizabeth.

Perhaps grasping the magnitude of this, the text says Mary sang a song about the God who visited her. In her song she praised this One who “has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations,” “pulled the powerful down from their thrones,” and “sent the rich away emptyhanded” (Luke 1:51–53, CEB). She proclaimed that in visiting her, this One has instead “filled the hungry with good things” and “lifted up the lowly” (Luke 1:52–53, CEB). Even more remarkably, she also identified the God who visited Abraham as the same God who had visited her. You see, Mary, in addition to being brave, was also a contextual theologian. Yes, she knew that her pregnancy could cause upheaval in her family and community. But she also knew there were serious implications to God calling on her, like God called on Abraham, in order to show mercy to Israel.

Mary saw this visit from God for the powerful theological statement it was. This visit upended the cultural narrative telling Mary what a devout Jewish girl looked like. It upends still today our own narrative about who God exalts and uses to bring redemption. And Mary got that.

Why else would she sing about the Mighty One doing great things for her even as she faced social turmoil (Luke 1:49)? What else could give her the strength she needed to face her future? bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

Mary’s bravery was a result of an encounter that revealed to her, unmistakably, who God was. Her experience of God gave her the ability to believe that God, in calling on her, would also protect her. She also knew, years before Jesus preached it and decades before Paul wrote it, that God often chooses the people that the powerful overlook and underestimate.

That day in church, the image of Mary I’d unconsciously inherited—the one that held her up as meek, quiet, and submissive, the one that had made her different from me and other women—shattered. Instead, I saw Mary for who I think she was: faithfully courageous, strong, brave, but also, a human woman. Yes, Mary was right when she said, “from now on, everyone will consider me highly favored” (Luke 1:48, CEB), but let’s not allow the privilege of hindsight to overlook the grit of her lived experience. Most importantly, let us not ignore what her experience says about her and about God. Instead, let us allow Mary’s story to teach us never to twist faithful bravery from underestimated people into meekness and submission. And may her story inspire us to be faithfully brave, too.

Katie McEachern works for CBE International as executive assistant to the president. In 2018, she graduated from Fuller Seminary with a MA in theology, with the desire to help people bridge the gap between theology/biblical studies and real life. A Michigander originally, Katie currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her cousin’s cat.

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 25

COMING SOON: CBE’S NEW WEBSITE We’re putting the finishing touches on CBE’s updated website.

Here’s a sneak peek at the new cbeinternational.org.

Streamlined menu bar makes it easier to find what you’re looking for.

An attractive design highlights CBE’s ministry.

Declaring God’s design for equal partnership between men and women LE AR N M O R E

Featured Articles CBE’s latest articles clearly displayed.

Welcome to CBE’s Library

5 Strategies for Empowering Women in the Classroom Risky Business Modesty, a Fairytale Witch, and Growing Up Dangerous

The enhanced search function includes multiple variables.

Search topics are intuitive and include leadership in marriage, parenting, leadership in church/ministry, and sermons, in addition to key verses like Ephesians 5 and 1 Timothy.

26 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

website :

cbeinternational.org

Giving Opportunities

Help CBE end the year strong!

For more than 30 years, CBE has denounced patriarchal theology as a root cause of

abuse. With the tragic witness of #MeToo and #ChurchToo, the church has made strides in finally recognizing the abuse in its midst and the need to end it. But the work is far from complete. In 2020, we will continue to combat abuse by reclaiming God’s vision for mutual, thriving relationships, but we need your help.

Donate $100 or more before Christmas 2019 for an opportunity to receive an advance copy of The #MeToo Reckoning: Facing the Church’s Complicity in Sexual Abuse and Misconduct, by Ruth Everhart. This book is not available in stores until January 14, 2020, but CBE has a limited number of advance proof copies to share with supporters.

Visit cbe.today/metoo to learn more.

The #MeToo movement has revealed sexual abuse and assault in every sphere of society, including the church.

But survivors are routinely ignored by Christians who deny their accounts and fail to bring accountability to the perpetrators. All too often, churches have been complicit in protecting abusers, reinforcing patriarchal power dynamics, and creating cultures of secrecy, shame, and silence.

Pastor and survivor Ruth Everhart offers hope to survivors as she declares that God is present with the violated and stands in solidarity with survivors. Scriptural narratives like those of Tamar and Bathsheba carry powerful resonance in today’s context, as do the accounts of Jesus’ interactions with women.

“This is a book for survivors, for churches who have failed victims, for those who seek to mourn with those who mourn, and for those who love justice and endeavor to bring healing and renewal. By weaving together biblical narratives and contemporary stories with her own painful past, Ruth Everhart unflinchingly confronts the culture of silence, shame, and denial that too often characterizes a Christian response to abuse.”

—Kristin Kobes Du Mez, professor of history and gender studies at Calvin College and author of A New Gospel for Women

bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 27

Ministry News

I am capable . . .

I am [God’s] jewel.

“

“ I am loved and

In 2019, CBE began partnering with She Learns, a nonprofit organization based in Kampala, Uganda.

As stated on their website, “She Learns strives for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.” Believing that advancing equality for girls requires that girls receive education, She Learns works to keep girls in school so they are less likely to get pregnant as teens, less likely to experience sexual assault or domestic violence, and less likely to marry as children.

It is not uncommon for girls around the world to stay home from school during their period.

Sometimes this is a result of culturally-bound purity standards and social stigma, but often the problem is simply a lack of sanitary products.

When girls consistently stay home while on their period, they can miss four to seven days of school per month, on average. Depending on the length of the school year, girls can miss more than a month of school during the academic year. Some girls quit school altogether when menstruation begins.

To support She Learns’ effort to keep girls in school, CBE contributed funds to a “Sister to Sister Sewing Bee,” hosted by CBE’s Greater D.C. chapter. At this August 2019 event, members of the chapter made reusable menstrual pad kits to be distributed at She Learns’ September youth conference. During this conference, representatives from CBE’s Greater D.C. chapter gave the pad kits to more than one hundred girls. They also trained 28 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

website :

cbeinternational.org

Ministry News women to make more reusable pad kits so they can continue the project.

The conference also included seminars where the girls heard from speakers who affirmed their humanity and equality before God, learned about healthy body image, and were given exercises to help them care for their physical bodies. As a result, one attendee said that during the conference, she learned women “are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do . . . It doesn’t matter whether I am a girl.” Another conference attendee said she was inspired by one of the lectures to believe that “we have to be proud of who we are. We must be pleased with the way God made us and designed us.”

To help girls stay in school, visit cbe.today/girls

Praise and Prayer

Praise • CBE’s president, Dr. Mimi Haddad, lectured at the School of Women in Ministry, a partnership with the Baptist General Conference of Canada, BGC Women. Response was positive and students “gained a foundational vision for women’s place, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, with men in ministry.”

• Because so many young women have experienced abuse, CBE sponsored trauma healing training with our partner in Uganda, She Learns, and the Uganda Bible Society. Participants said they experienced healing themselves, as they learned how to help others.

• CBE staff were renewed and refreshed by a retreat at Saint John’s Abbey in northern Minnesota. Everyone enjoyed the beautiful location and time with Jesus.

• CBE joined other nonprofit leaders at a technology forum and learned from experts how to expand outreach through digital innovation and strategy. bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

Prayer • Created to Thrive, CBE’s church resource on preventing abuse, is in final editing and is scheduled to be published by spring 2020. Please pray that it reaches as many church leaders as possible and strengthens church cultures on behalf of women and girls.

• CBE is planning “Men, Women, and God: Theology and Its Impact,” the 2020 international conference in the UK. Please pray for connections with more Christian NGO staff and for wisdom in finalizing venue, speaker, and schedule details.

• Pray for CBE’s outreach, both in the US and internationally, to grow in vision and sustainability.

May we center on projects with the greatest potential for impact.

• CBE’s gender-accurate Bible project is well underway—please pray for clear communication and unity among the team, and for significant progress on translations.

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 29

President’s Message

by Mimi Haddad

Their Broken Bodies: Mary and Jesus In churches where men are welcomed as priests and leaders simply because they share the male body of Jesus and the twelve male disciples, we too easily assume that women’s bodies represent, by contrast, an inferiority.

Because of this, girls and women have for centuries been regarded as inferiors to boys and men and denied leadership in the church, home, and world. Girls and women are not only viewed as lesser humans, they are also treated as less and endure abuse more often. While Scripture consistently supports the shared dignity, value, and equal authority of women and men, even so, devaluing ideas lead to devaluing actions, which the world’s women have experienced for too long. For this reason, we should amplify the bodily similarities between Mary—the mother of Christ—and Jesus.

While Christ’s maleness is elevated (and has been for centuries) as the standard for leadership in the church and the home, the most common name describing Jesus in the New Testament is “Son of Humankind” (anthropos)—a term consistently used by Jesus himself.

The “Son of Humanity” aligns Jesus not with his maleness but with his humanness! While Paul speaks of our newness of life as being “clothed in Jesus,” he illustrates our spiritual rebirth not as a physical alteration but a spiritual one (Gal. 3:27–28). Our new life in Christ changes not our gender but our status with God and others. Redeemed before God, we no longer dominate but serve one another sacrificially, as Mary and Jesus did. And both were essential in God’s redemptive plan.

Mary’s role in our salvation is foreshadowed beside Eve’s failures in Genesis 3:15. Complicit in sin, woman (Mary) will give birth to our Savior. Theologians throughout history observe, as Sojourner Truth did, that Christ came from God and a woman, and man had nothing to do with it. Genesis 3:15–16 links the suffering of women in childbirth with the child (Jesus) who will crush evil.

bodily agony to birth new life. Both suffered cultural shame associated with the means of their bodily affliction. Jesus—the sinless Messiah—was unjustly condemned beside two criminals and his flesh was torn on a Roman cross. Pregnant and unmarried, Mary’s body brought shame to her life. Her discomfort and humiliation were worsened by her lengthy journey to Bethlehem, only to deliver her child in a stable. In a vulnerable wilderness, Jesus and Mary ruptured and bled. Yet, only the shedding of blood and rending of flesh leads to birth—Christ’s physical birth and our spiritual rebirth.

At communion we rehearse the greatest moment in human history: Christ’s body broken for us. Christ’s blood spilled for us. Our redemption was made possible

by Christ’s torture on Calvary. Christ’s body was born

by Mary’s blood spilled in a stable. Fully human and fully divine, Christ took on human flesh through Mary’s agony. Christ represented all humanity at Calvary because Mary birthed a child that could suffer and die as the Son of Humanity. Both Mary and Jesus welcomed their shameful affliction with courage and a humble faith. Jesus said, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant . . . May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38).

In celebrating Christ’s birth this Christmas, we honor Mary’s sacrificial role in our own redemption. Through her disgrace and anguish she birthed a Savior whose body was torn on a shameful Roman cross. Both were part of God’s redemptive path for humankind. Through their humiliation and affliction, Mary and Jesus also share in solidarity the disgrace and abuse of the world’s vulnerable, declaring that God will make all things new.

God will bring down the powerful and lift up the lowly.

God will be merciful and faithful to humankind.

The flesh of Mary and Jesus both are torn in God’s redemptive process. Both bled and endured prolonged 30 M U T U A L I T Y | Winter 2019

website :

cbeinternational.org

CBE INTERNATIONAL

CBE SUBSCRIPTION / MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

Mission Statement CBE exists to promote the biblical message that God calls women and men of all cultures, races, and classes to share authority equally in service and leadership in the home, church, and world. CBE’s mission is to eliminate the power imbalance between men and women resulting from theological patriarchy.

Statement of Faith • We believe in one God, creator and sustainer of the universe, eternally existing as three persons equal in power and glory.

• We believe in the full deity and the full humanity of Jesus Christ.

• We believe that eternal salvation and restored relationships are only possible through faith in Jesus Christ who died for us, rose from the dead, and is coming again. This salvation is offered to all people.

• We believe the Holy Spirit equips us for service and sanctifies us from sin.

• We believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, is reliable, and is the final authority for faith and practice.

• We believe that women and men are equally created in God’s image and given equal authority and stewardship of God’s creation.

• We believe that men and women are equally responsible for and distorted by sin, resulting in shattered relationships with God, self, and others.

Core Values • Scripture is our authoritative guide for faith, life, and practice.

• Patriarchy (male dominance) is not a biblical ideal but a result of sin.

• Patriarchy is an abuse of power, taking from females what God has given them: their dignity, and freedom, their leadership, and often their very lives.

• While the Bible reflects patriarchal culture, the Bible does not teach patriarchy in human relationships.

• Christ’s redemptive work frees all people from patriarchy, calling women and men to share authority equally in service and leadership.

• God’s design for relationships includes faithful marriage between a man and a woman, celibate singleness and mutual submission in Christian community.

• The unrestricted use of women’s gifts is integral to the work of the Holy Spirit and essential for the advancement of the gospel in the world.

• Followers of Christ are to oppose injustice and patriarchal teachings and practices that marginalize and abuse females and males.

To learn more about CBE’s values, history, and ministry, visit cbe.today/info.

CONNECT WITH CBE Connect with CBE online to learn more about us, enjoy the resources we offer, and take part in our ministry.

Visit our website, cbeinternational.org, to find thousands of free resources—articles, book reviews, and video and audio recordings.

Follow our blog (cbe.today/blog ).

Follow us on Twitter @CBEInt (twitter.com/cbeint).

Find us on Facebook (facebook.com/cbeint).

bookstore :

cbebookstore.org

________________________________________________ name

_____________________________________________________________ street address _____________________________________________________________ city _________________________________________ __________________ state / province / country zip / postal code _____________________________ phone

_____________________________ email address

Subscription / Membership Fees (US dollars) Print Subscriptions CBE Journals (incl. Mutuality, Priscilla Papers) Mutuality Subscription Priscilla Papers Subscription

US � $50

Int’l � $61

� $22 � $33

� $33 � $44

Church and Organization Membership Membership includes journal subscriptions, conference discounts, and more. Visit cbe.today/orgrenew for more details.

1–100 people 101–500 people 501–1000 people 1001–2000 people 2001–5000 people 5001+ people

� $66 � $105 � $165 � $259 � $358 � $462 Additional Contribution $ _______ TOTAL $ _______

CBE is an exempt organization as described in IRC Sec. 501(c)3 and as such donations qualify as charitable contributions where allowed by law.

Payment Method � Check/Money Order (payable to CBE International) � Visa � MasterCard � Discover � American Express ________________________________________ __________________ account number expiration date _________________ verification code (the four digits on the top right corner of American Express cards or final three digits found on the back of other cards) _____________________________________________________________ signature

Please mail or fax this form to:

CBE International

122 W Franklin Ave, Suite 218, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2451 Phone: (612) 872-6898 | Fax: (612) 872-6891 Email: cbe@cbeinternational.org Web: cbeinternational.org

M U T U A L I T Y | ”Rediscovering Mary” 31

CBE International 122 West Franklin Ave, Suite 218 Minneapolis, MN 55404-2451

Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Jefferson City, MO Permit No. 210

Forwarding Service Requested

cbeBookstore providing quality resources on biblical gender equality

For m

ore r e CBE sources ,b Boo ksto rowse Visi re. t cbe boo ksto re.o rg

Recommended Resources from CBE!

The Marys of the Bible The Original #MeToo Movement, Boaz Johnson The #MeToo movement is a global phenomenon. This book is a biblical response to issues raised by the #MeToo movement and the global horror of sexual trafficking of girls and women. Women experienced these abuses in ancient societies in very heinous ways. Johnson argues that the Bible sets out to counter attitudes and religious practices of sexual abuse against women. The Bible is the original #MeToo movement.

Underdogs and Outsiders A Bible Study on the Untold Stories of Advent Tom Fuerst Matthew names five women in the family tree of Jesus.

This Advent study explores the stories of each woman, showing they played a pivotal role in God’s purposes. Through the Old Testament stories the Gospel draws upon, Matthew reminds us to look for God in unexpected places during this Advent season.

Raised from Obscurity A Narratival and Theological Study of the Characterization of Women in Luke-Acts, Greg W. Forbes and Scott D. Harrower In Luke-Acts, women followers of Jesus are fully-fledged disciples who prove to be reliable and insightful, participating in God’s mission at all levels. They act as interpreters of salvation history, God’s prophetic mouthpieces, witnesses to the resurrection, proclaimers and teachers of the gospel, and patrons and leaders of the early church.

The Real Mary Why Protestant Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus, Scot McKnight Dismantling the myths, McKnight explores the contours of Mary’s life from the moment she learned of God’s plan for the Messiah to the culmination of Christ’s ministry. The real Mary was an unmarried, pregnant teenage girl in first-century Palestine. She was a woman of courage, humility, spirit, and resolve, and her response to the angel Gabriel shifted the tectonic plates of history.