Women Prominent Witnesses
One of the unexpected features of the accounts of the resurrection of Jesus is the prominent role of women being the first to witness both the empty tomb and first to see the risen Lord (John 20:16). It has been noted often that in the first century the testimony of women was not permissible in a court of law. If the writers were making up this story and trying to make it credible to readers of their day, they probably wouldn’t make the most prominent witnesses a bunch of women. What is less noted is that the appearance of the angels that morning is only to the women.
Women Bearing the Message
Clearly the Bible has accounts of angels appearing to both men and women in other events, but why is it that in this case the angels appear only to the women? They are given an important message to share with the men, but the angels are not seen again by any of the men who went to the same tomb? The Bible doesn’t tell us why, but the words of the angels are now bound together with the testimony of the women. The message they were entrusted to pass on became the essence of the kerygma (the core gospel message) of the church. If people don’t give weight to their words alone, now there are the words of angels behind them.
In Christ’s Kingdom
The women in these passages are treated with honor and respect and their words are found to be credible. “The men went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said”( Luke 24:24). The testimony of the women was one of the first signs that the new order of Christ’s kingdom was breaking into the old oppressive order. After two thousand years of advance for women led largely by societies impacted by the gospel, much has changed. Yet, the “Me too” movement of today reminds us that the voice of a woman and her testimony still struggles to be heard and respected in too many settings.
Messengers of Truth
Given the weight that God gave to the first witnesses of the resurrection, it seems appropriate that the church continue to be a leader in giving weight to the witness and voice of women as messengers of truth. May it not be that the church should lag behind the rest of society in this regard or be seen as among those who would limit the voices of our sisters in proclaiming their truth and God’s truth to the world. For we have a fuller and richer voice of truth when all our voices are heard.
