That They Might Have Life

A few days ago I saw one of the most powerful movies I have ever seen. It mirrors the gory details of the struggles that women faced at the work place not too long ago. On more than one occasion during the course of the movie I was choking back tears. In-spite of the resolution of the plot and the outcome of the struggle, I couldn’t help but feel heavy-hearted because not every woman on earth is freed from the tyranny that holds sway. She is treated with so little respect - her word counts for nothing and her struggles more often than not are swept under the rug - at the workplace and even the home fails to provide refuge.

Being married to a God-honoring husband, raised to be independent by loving parents, it is only all too possible for me to take for granted and enjoy the privileges and respect that I enjoy in blissful oblivion of or much worse calloused silence to the misery of countless women around the world, be it in a textile factory in a rapidly developing country, or in the village square of a regressive rural mountain hamlet, or even beneath our very noses.

It was no interesting coincidence that the Scripture reading for the following day was Jeremiah 5. This portion of Scripture echoes that which is evident throughout the Bible (sadly though more often than not we either miss the point or conveniently construe it to suit our climate). The truth that God stands opposed to the exploitation of the frail and the oppression of the feeble is as clearly articulated here as anywhere else. Are we selective in our reading of Scripture because somehow ignorance is bliss and knowledge is inconvenient and often prods us uncomfortably and eventually makes us antsy for action that just might not be pragmatic or is simply unwise?

In the light of the dire predicament that many women find themselves in (it is no secret that women in most parts of the world are viewed as lesser beings, whose troubles are inconsequential at best and at worst brought upon by their own folly), what should our response be? Are we to “promote the case “of the vulnerable? Are we to “defend the cause” of the defenseless? Or are we to exercise caution and restraint when they are being oppressed? It is indeed a sad state of affairs when prophets keep silence or much worse “prophesy lies” and when “priests rule by their own authority” and tell the powerful what they want to hear, instead of submitting to God’s reign where the defenseless are protected and defended.

In the words of the lawyer defending the abused female miner in the movie

“What are you supposed to do, when the ones with all the power are hurting those with none? Well for starters you stand up and tell the truth… you stand up even when you are all alone.”

As children of the living God, are we not called to be prophets of our times and are we not part of “a royal priesthood” and are we not called to speak the truth that God desires none of his creatures to be mistreated? There is just no overstating the importance of our believing and acting upon the truth that we are all created in the image of God from whence we derive dignity – even women.