Biblical? Or Just Traditional?

Hi Friends,

I was revisiting this little portion of Women of the Bible Speak Out today and thinking about some of the memes I've seen on Facebook, in particular. There's an umbrella meme that insists that a woman's place is under the umbrella of the husband, who is under the umbrella of God. It claims that the picture is the biblical model for a family. But is it? I really can't find any support for the meme's claims in the Bible. In our past culture, yes; but in the Bible itself? Not so much.

Sometimes what we believe is biblical is really only tradition. It's the "way things have been done." It's what has been considered respectable and right but isn't necessarily what the Bible actually teaches. Sometimes, in fact, it's the opposite!

So, next time you're thinking about what's biblical for people today, I urge you to think deeper. Consider not just a verse or two out of the Bible that you believe applies, but consider the Bible as whole. Consider the character of God. Think about the testimony of the God's Word about the One who is Love itself.  

And consider this short excerpt from Women of the Bible Speak Out, from the chapter about Mary and her sister Martha . . .

Jesus never calls us to meet the expectations of others. In fact, he often challenged the legalisms held by the religious leaders of his day. They had their traditions, their expectations, their interpretations of what they believed was God’s law and God’s way. But Jesus never condoned their narrow interpretations and beliefs. In fact, he routinely challenged them, such as on this occasion when his disciples failed to meet the requirements of ceremonial law:

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders. . . . And there are many other traditions that they observe. . . .) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

“You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” (Mark 7:1–9)

Tradition. Often what others insist is biblical, or God’s way, is really only human tradition, cultural tradition, or “the ways things have always been.” When Jesus came, he shattered many of these traditions—not only ceremonial traditions, such as the washing of hands, but also social traditions about the roles and expectations placed on women.

A woman sitting and learning at a rabbi’s feet? Scandalous!

Women disciples, such as Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha, and others? Radical!

Women as the first witnesses to the resurrection? Unheard of!

When he walked the earth, Jesus was not a traditional rabbi. He was not even a what-was-expected Messiah. Instead, he chose to be exactly who God the Father wanted him to be.

You can be the woman God wants you to be. You can be Mary, choosing to sit at the feet of Jesus. You can be Martha, who accepted Jesus’s invitation to set aside the expectations of others.

Jesus himself longs to say of you, “She has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”