WOMEN CAN REPRESENT GOD.

Jesus referred to God as Abba (Mk. 14:36). This was an Aramaic expression a child would use to refer to his or her father. It was an endearing expression, similar to ‚Daddy‛ or ‚Papa.‛ The point of Jesus’ use of this word was that He knew God as the personal and trustworthy One He could count on—as should be the case with an earthly father. Jesus’ use of the expression could not have been based on gender because God is spirit and therefore transcends gender. Jesus did not limit His communication about what God is like to this male metaphor; He also used female illustrations to help us understand God. In doing this, He was in harmony with the Old Testament, where God, at times, is referred to in feminine imagery. In Isaiah 66:13, for example, God says to Israel, As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you. (See also: Gen. 17:1; Job 38:28-29; Is. 42:14; Is. 46:3-4; Is. 49:15.) We know of two occasions in which Jesus used feminine metaphors to help us understand the nature of God. In the first instance, found in Matthew 23:37, Jesus compares His desire to protect and care for Jerusalem with the protective instincts of a mother hen spreading her wings over her brood. (Is it possible that the protective instinct is, in fact, a characteristic of God that resides within people—both men and women? Is it possible that it is not a trait attributable only to men?) In the second instance, found in Luke 15:8-10, Jesus tells a parable about a woman who found a lost coin. In the parable, He uses the image of a woman to portray God. It has been suggested by scholars that Jesus did this on purpose to counter the sexist attitudes of the scribes and Pharisees. These references to God in feminine terms are important for a couple of reasons. First, traditional theology has inaccurately taught that God is portrayed only in male terms and so only men can represent God. The traditional belief has been that only the male reflects the full image of God—God, being male, in their estimation. Secondly, the picture of God as male has tended to give men a sense of priority, power and privilege. At the same time, it has tended to minister a sense of secondary value to women. As my young friend, Irena, in Bulgaria said to me, ‚This is new about women for me. We have been told that women are second.‛ Since the idea of God as father is so deeply embedded in our minds, we should consider it further. Father is a metaphor. A metaphor is a communication tool used to compare two or more unlike things that have one thing in common. It is a useful tool, but it has important limits that must be remembered always. For example, how would you describe a snowflake to someone who had never seen snow? You would have to say it is like this, or like that, but it isn’t completely like this or that. And God is more difficult to describe than a snowflake! The metaphor of God as father, especially in a male-ruled society,was helpful to God’s people because it helped show the stark difference between the true God and the gods of the heathen.The people of Israel understood that their God was personal, predictable, reliable, and loving. This was opposite to the pagan gods, who were impersonal, unpredictable, capricious, and demanding. As a good, earthly father gives to his children, so God is a Giver, Protector, Provider, and so on. The pagan gods, on the other hand, were takers who instilled only fear and who required constant sacrifice to appease their demands. The God of Israel is consistently good, much like a father is expected to be. Yet He is much more than any earthly parent could ever be. When we see God only as father, we tend to limit God to the idea of fatherhood. He is so much more than that, and He is so much more than we can imagine. He is God. A good discussion about this is found in J. B. Phillips book, Your God Is Too Small. Another very important point to remember is that we are not to make God in our image, regardless of the gender issue. We are to remember that both men and women are made in the image of God; God is not made in our image. God warned the Children of Israel not to create any image, male or female, as a likeness of God (Deut. 4:15-16). You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully so you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman… . Although we may not be guilty of making a physical image of God, is it possible that we have made mental images of God that, in most cases, are male? There is no valid reason to suggest that women cannot represent God. God is neither male nor female and transcends gender. Yet we, as men and women, have equal responsibility, with equal authority, to represent God—to testify to and extend His Life and values. It is our mandate.