Advent 2
Monday, First Week of Advent
28 November 2022
The Women Who Paved The Way
The theme for our weekly Soul Food gatherings this semester has been women in the Bible. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about their stories, many of which have been overlooked, forgotten, or even purposefully written out of history. So it makes sense that the women who came before Jesus are on my mind this Advent.
Mary seems like the logical place to start – she was, after all, the teenage, unwed mother of Jesus. An angel came to her to tell her she was pregnant with the son of God, but Mary didn’t react with terror (I know I would!). Instead, she only questioned it briefly before fully accepting her role in the path towards justice.
How could Jesus have made change – healed the sick and loved the outcasts – without Mary who came before him?
Perhaps you’ve heard of Ruth too – another woman in Jesus’ lineage. When Ruth lost her husband, she loyally followed her mother-in-law back to Bethlehem, where she would be defined solely by the label “foreigner.” She eventually took initiative to find a new husband and demand justice out of her situation. She probably never imagined that she would become an ancestor to Jesus, but God knew that making a Moabite part of Jesus’ lineage (when the Bible itself holds laws excluding foreigners) would send a powerful message.
How could Jesus have made change – cared for the poor and associated with foreigners – without Ruth who came before him?
The next woman in Jesus’ lineage you may not have heard of – I know I never learned about Tamar in Sunday School! When Tamar’s husband and then her husband’s brother (who she had married according to the laws of the time after her first husband died) were struck down by God, she became a widow. Her father-in-law, probably afraid of her at this point, refused to let her marry his youngest son. The problem was that a widow without a man to care for her in those times had no status, no hope, no anything. So Tamar took matters into her own hands by disguising herself as a prostitute, sleeping with her father-in-law, conceiving twins, and only once she was visibly pregnant revealing what she had done to gain justice for herself (I promise I’m not making this up – go read the whole story in Genesis 38!). Tamar’s action may only have been one small source of justice in a larger patriarchal system, but it turned out to be an important one. Her younger son from this encounter became an ancestor to Jesus – which I think says something about how God feels about women who challenge the patriarchy.
How could Jesus have made change – fed the hungry and empowered women – without Tamar who came before him?
I could go on. Indeed, there are two more women named in Jesus’ lineage, but there are also countless others, named and unnamed, who worked towards justice in biblical times. Some took big steps. Some took small steps. But all were important.
Maybe two thousand years later, we’re again waiting for change. In this season of Advent, we find ourselves yearning yet again for a savior, a star to guide us to new life, a leader who can bring justice.
Maybe we feel so hopeless because we imagine that the only way to fix anything is to be an impressive leader who brings justice all in one action, one person, one lifetime. We’re trying to be a Jesus, if you will.
Maybe in remembering the coming of Christ we’ve forgotten the women who came before him, acting towards justice in small ways that together led to something greater.
I certainly hope that some of us will make waves like Jesus – I think our world is in need of justice, of liberation, and of peace. But we cannot discount the Marys, the Ruths, and the Tamars among us. Creating little ripples like they did is as much a part of the larger picture as Jesus is.
Sometimes we’ll feel inadequate. I’m sure Mary, Ruth, and Tamar all did. I’m sure they all asked, “Why me? What can I possibly do?” But the answer, as we know from looking back at these stories, is together we can do quite a lot.
This Advent, may we wait for and celebrate the coming of Christ. But may we also each work towards justice in our own ways, remembering and drawing strength from the marginalized but oh so significant women who have gone before us.
Kathryn Woodruff ’25, Chapel Intern
