We do not know the sinful woman’s backstory at all. A careful reading of her account reveals this is not the same event as when Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus at Simon the Leper’s house, and she is also not Mary of Magdala, who had been possessed by seven spirits. (An early conflation, in 591 CE, of stories about these women has since caused much confusion.) Whatever her growing up story, there must have been trauma and soul wounds. And then she met Jesus.
Jezebel: Priestess and Queen
Jezebel was a Phoenician princess, born in Tyre during the reign of King Omri of Israel. Among royalty, marriage was seldom a love match, and far more often had to do with brokering political, military, and political benefits between nations. And, it should not come as a surprise that Jezebel worshipped the premier deity of her people. But Jezebel was more than a nominal adherent. She was the high priestess.
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Virgin Mary: Mother Meek but Never Mild
We might get the impression that as a young girl, being visited by Archangel Gabriel she was soft, submissive, gentle, meek. And certainly, she had these qualities, but is it possible we’ve missed the real person underneath the patina of two thousand years’ worth of iconography?
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Elizabeth: Filled with the Spirit
Being a biblical woman, from Elizabeth’s example, means living faithfully even when it seems unrewarding, believing boldly, even when circumstances seem unlikely, speaking prophetically when filled by God’s Spirit.
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Bathsheba, A Lamb in the Lineage
Once we dispense with the popular but false paradigm so often preached, and reexamine Bathsheba’s story from God’s perspective (rather than man’s) as written in the scriptures, a very different story emerges.
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Apostle to Samaria: Woman at the Well
Like the disciples before her, and unlike Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman moved from conversation with Jesus to conversion, to co-laboring with Jesus in his ministry. Jesus came to Samaria to transform this woman at the well into a disciple and an apostle.
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Given to God: Jephthah’s Daughter
The account of Jepthah's daughter as a young woman of faith, and God's call on her life is one of the more controversial in the Bible. And yet the impact her courageous faith had on the women in her community lasted for centuries.
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Death Has No Sting: Jairus’s Daughter and the Bleeding Woman
Neither person is named, neither person had power, wealth, influence, or any other kind of leverage. Yet God considered them worthy of love, healing, and life eternal.
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Called Out of Jericho: Rahab
What does it mean to be a Biblical woman, a woman of God, a woman who fulfills the calling of God in her life? For Rahab, it meant doing whatever it took to be with God and God’s people. It meant espionage, undercover plans, danger, and the courage to stand her ground when that ground shook.
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Phoebe: Minister of the Word
What did Paul mean when he used the word for “deacon” and the word for “benefactor” but also “church official” (in the Septuagint) in association with Phoebe’s service to Paul and to the Body of Christ? What was Paul assuming his readers would already know and understand, so it went without being said?
