The Words That Cannot Be Spoken

Scot McKnight again asks an important question at Jesus Creed, “Can anyone tell me why Mary is so often neglected when it comes to talking about women in ministry?”  The answer obviously has a number of complexities based on the nuances of belief that one brings to their practice of following Christ but in its simplest form, I think the answer is fear.

For the same reason that Mary is often a subject of irrational fear in Evangelical circles, the topic of women in ministry is often cloaked in apprehension as though the very discussion of the topic is heretical. Mary suffers from the Catholic bias in Protestant thought; because she plays such an important role in Catholic practice, the evangelical unreasonably avoids her contribution to the gospel outside of the birth event. After spending a few months reading The Real Mary, meditating on her appearances in the Scriptures, and coming to realize the enormous role she plays and commenting upon it, Mary is no longer an object of fear. 

In the same way that Mary is avoided or involved in heated debate, the topic of women in ministry is a flashpoint that either is shunted or argued vociferously. As a believer in the leadership of women in the Church, I have come to the belief through careful study and prayer that just as God calls men to positions of leadership, he is also sovereignly free to elect women into those same positions. If God gifts a women to lead and preach, who are we to throw up patriarchal tradition roadblocks?

Perhaps a discussion about Mary as a minister and leader is just the thing to tear down the curtain that hides our need to reconsider the equality of women in ministry. The risk we run in not carefully considering this topic is the same risk we run in avoiding Mary; we miss what God was and is doing through our sisters and we are poorer for it.