WOMEN OF FAITH RISE
Amy Acton, Rosa Parks and women at first Easter are proof
Across the globe today more than 2.17 billion Christians are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
For most of the church, Gospel reading for this Easter comes from Mark 16:1-8. Mark 16:8 ends with these words, “The women fled from the tomb and said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.”
In “The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language” by Eugene Peterson it is rephrased this way: “They got out as fast as they could, beside themselves, their heads swimming. Stunned, they said nothing to anyone.”
The women of faith I know
Running for their lives. Beside themselves. Heads swimming. Stunned. Fearful. Silent. Frankly, this does not sound at all like the women who followed Jesus and showed up Easter morning to anoint his body – and found the tomb empty. Moreover, it does not sound like women of faith anywhere, anytime.
The women of faith I know are fearless witnesses to love and justice. They do not run away. They step up and lead when others flee from difficulties and the terrors of our times. They come beside and stand with people in their time of great need.
I believe this Easter story in St. Mark’s gospel was recorded by men who did not know what to do with their own fears and silence. In their insecurity, they twisted the story to shame women for the faith and truth the women boldly embodied.
Shaming women is nothing new still women rise
Men twisting truth and shaming women is a horrible tale as old as time. I see it played out in our times. When women seek equal pay for equal work, men create ways to keep the pay structures separate and unequal. When women seek to lead in the church, walls are constructed that keep women out of leadership and away from the pulpit and communion table. When women demand reproductive rights for themselves and their daughters, men create laws that take those rights away. The list goes on.
Faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, women rise.
I think of Catherine of Siena, saint and doctor of the Church. When confronting the pope about injustice in church and society she told others: “proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.”
I think of Rosa Parks. Faced with driver James Blake’s threats to use his power to arrest her for sitting in a white’s only section on the Montgomery, Alabama, bus, Ms. Parks replied, “You may
The women of faith I know are fearless witnesses to love and justice. They do not run away. They step up and lead when others flee from difficulties and the terrors of our times. They come beside and stand with people in their time of great need.
do that.”
I think of Dr. Amy Acton. Faced with angry Ohioans threatening her in the heat of the COVID pandemic, Dr. Acton gently and empathetically stood strong with science and safety guiding our way.
With the rise of antisemitism, racism, threats of political violence and continuing misinformation about everything from housing and health care to voting and inflation, I see women rising to lead the way to inclusion, equality, nonviolent problem solving and equal rights in all areas of our life together.
One thing we absolutely know about the women on the first Easter. They said something to someone because they were not afraid.
We would have no Easter if they had not been bold witnesses to the light of God rising in Jesus Christ. Likewise, their sisters through the ages, speaking out for what is right and just prove that faith overwhelms fear.
They have shown us that silence in the face of injustice is not an option.
Rev. Tim Ahrens is senior minister at First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in downtown Columbus. He is the author of “The Genius of Justice.