WOMEN MODELS IN THE CHURCH AND EVANGELIZATION (I)

Bishop Emmanuel Badejo
( Bishop of Oyo Diocese)

All the different groups composing the body of Christ have both the right and duty to be active in the Church's mission. The Church is the body of Christ, the people of God, that group which St Peter has sweetly described as '“a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were 'no people' but now you are God's people you 'had not received mercy' but now you have received mercy” (1Pt. 2:9-10). I just love that description and I risk being considered flippant by saying that not even the great apostle Paul wrote one that exactly matches it. No wonder St. Peter was the one chosen to be the first “Papa” of Christ's church! The words of Peter about God's people refer to men and women together and equally. Luckily, not many prophets or pastors contest that today! When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he did not bring a different stone tablet for men and another for the women. Both share the same destiny. When Jesus said “Be perfect just as your heavenly father is perfect”, he certainly meant it for both men and women too. I just want to do a little Biblical panorama, to expose a little bit the role of women in the Church towards evangelization. Hopefully this will encouraged someone to navigate the Bible and by inspiration, tease out what each person could do in evangelization according to capacity. After all the Bible is the word of God and along with the teaching office and the Apostolic Tradition, is a source of authority in the Church.
The Holy Bible tells us about many women who through their lives influenced the life of their people in a tremendous and substantial way. Some changed the destinies of their people negatively. Others did so positively. When all hope was lost the latter brought hope to their people. Let us look briefly at the six most famous women of the Bible starting from the inevitable beginning: Eve was the mother of all but fell.
According to the Bible, to the deceit of the devil. Don't be deceived though by the popular saying that it is through her alone that humanity fell. Adam was equally guilty. True, Eve should have said “no” to the devil but Adam could have done the same and he did not. In fact it was Adam who got the dishonor for causing our death, not Eve (1 Cor 15:22). Eve will creditably represent other non-models in the Bible like Jezebel, Saphira, Drusilla, Bernice and others. They are really not our focus here. Let us dwell on the positive.
Mary the Mother of Jesus is an obvious super-case-study in greatness. In fact all I should have done is to recommend her as a model and in her own words, to do whatever she tells you. After all, she made room for God's angel, was filled with the Holy Spirit and bore the son of God in her womb. Who can be more evangelizing in character? In brief, Mary represents the idea of active participation in the life of grace. Her journey of faith led her down a path of uncertainty, sorrow and joy. It led to more questions than answers, but it ultimately ended in eternal happiness. In addition her life and her disposition brought salvation to multitudes. Check out her active participation in God's saving work (which is essentially what evangelization means). Mary had a conversation with the Angel Gabriel whereas her cousin, Zechariah argues with him. She accepts, consents to, and practices the Word of God as revealed to her. Instead of just passively listening, Mary “goes in haste” to serve her elderly cousin Elizabeth for her last three months of pregnancy. She interceded for her friends at their wedding when an embarrassing moment occurred and they ran out of wine. She then told us about Jesus her son “do whatever he tells you” Mary shows us that God indeed uses women to accomplish his work as much as he uses the men (Luke 1-2, John 2).
Mary Magdalene was a friend of Jesus'. We see her role in Luke 8:1-3, Matthew 27, and Mark 15: 47 among others. She supported Jesus and his disciples staunchly. Jesus, during his time depended with his disciples, on the kindness of people around him. Mary Magdalene along with Joana, Susanna and Chuza took care of them from their own means. Very clearly and in spite of all opposition, she did her part out of love. She was the one Jesus sent to the apostles to announce His resurrection (Mark 16:9, John 20:18) and has often been called the “apostle to the apostles”. She did not mind doing that nor did she try to usurp the role of the apostles. She simply played her part. We have had such examples among us but they are yet too few and we surely need more.
Ruth and Naomi refused to surrender to being victims of their circumstances. Our age may be evil but our lives must redeem it, remember? They accepted and worked within the framework of God's plan. They endured hardships and even as foreigners endured hardship with integrity until they earned great respect in the story of salvation. Ruth even got her name on the genealogy of Jesus. What a great honour! (Cf Ruth and Matthew 1).
Judith's book is well-worth reading for us all. She is even prettier, more intriguing and more courageous than the lovely queen Esther. She used everything she had to good advantage for the “salvation” of her people. She was an icon of courage and bold decisive action all deployed to save her people. Her great courage revived the fortunes of Israel when it was clear that their fate was sealed. Her accomplishments seem to me even greater than those of Esther who is more famous than Judith as I have discovered.
Esther, the great woman in spite of her high position, refused to allow her position to isolate her from the destiny and needs of her people. I trust that you know the story. Would that many women learn in leadership and privileged positions would learn and follow their example. Esther's actions too deserve to be learnt from the Bible. They can inspire yours too in evangelization. Of course, there were many others, without whom the work of the apostles, the first trained evangelizers, could not have succeeded. Devout and charitable Dorcas (Acts 9), self-made Lydia, so generous and joyful (Acts 13), and pious Priscilla who was generous and also played the role of a teacher (Acts 18:2, 26; Romans 16:3; 2Timothy 4 19). Phoebe was a deaconess (Romans 16:1) and Eunice and Lois fostered the faith as good examples of mother and daughters who lived their life for the gospel. All these women had one characteristic or the other which clearly indicate what the role of women ought to be in the work of evangelization.