When Women Rise Up

Watching the news out of Iran, and I’m blown away by the courage and strength of the women protesting. They are risking their lives to speak up for their freedoms, for protection against the oppressive rulers, for the ability to be themselves – whether that includes wearing hijabs or not. They are risking everything. E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. My generation has not experienced such oppression, but there is a generation of Americans who can relate. The oppression these women live under is real, present, and dangerous.

Watching that and thinking about some of the strong women of the Bible I’ve been studying recently and the women of the Civil Rights Movement, I smile at the thought of what happens when women rise up. When women are fed up, we rise up. And, when we rise up, the earth shifts. Remember when Ukrainian President Zelensky called upon Russian mothers to rise up? He knew. There is power in women banding together for a common purpose.

It’s Women

I was stunned when I learned in seminary about the women of the Civil Rights Movement. Sure, I studied the Civil Rights Movement in school, but I was never told about Fannie Lou Hamer, Diane Nash, Unita Blackwell, and so many others who were the real and true leaders of the Movement, but because they were women, mostly had to lead from behind the men. Without the women, there would have been no movement. When I wrote a paper about those women, I came across this quote from Unita Blackwell,  

‘Who’s the people that really keeps things going on? It’s women. The women is the ones that supports the deacon board. They holler the amen. The women is the ones that supports the preacher…. So in the black community the movement quite naturally emerged out of all the women that carried out these roles. We didn’t know we was leaders. You knew you did things, but you never saw it as a high political leadership role.’ [1]   

What I learned from the women of the Civil Rights Movement, from the women in Iran, and the women of the Bible, is that when it’s time for change – the women are sent in. The women do the work. We are the work horses behind change. Whether we are protesting in the streets, organizing meetings, registering people to vote, blogging, writing, washing dishes, cooking, or doing whatever it takes to support a movement of change, to quote Ms. Blackwell, “It’s women.”

Strong Biblical Women

When God wants to usher in change, He uses women. There are strong Biblical women who are inspirational and who model “It’s women.” Miriam led the women in singing and dancing after they crossed the Red Sea. God names her along with Moses and Aaron as a leader in Micah 6:4.  In Genesis 38, we are introduced to Tamar. She was treated unjustly by Judah. Tamar was a woman who refused to be forgotten and discarded. She stood up for her rights at great personal risk. In fact, Judah demanded she be burned to death. However, her wisdom, shrewdness, and determination to be treated justly was recognized by Judah who would say she was more just than him. Furthermore, she would be recognized in Matthew 1 in the genealogy of Jesus.

Esther, at the risk of her own life, went before the King to plead for her people, to save them from annihilation. In Judges, we are introduced to Jael who was an assassin. She hammered a tent peg into the head of the king who was battling the Israelites and thus secured the Israelite victory. (Judges 4:21)

 Inspirational Biblical Women

The New Testament is God’s new covenant, a new “faith” if you will, through Jesus. Mary is the first person in the New Testament to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, as God’s son. She was the first person to know who He was. She taught us about faith when she heard God and obeyed Him, giving birth as an unmarried woman in an unplanned pregnancy to Jesus.  She was the first person in the New Testament to exhibit the faith and obedience required by God. She literally gave birth to this change, to the new faith, and to the One who would liberate women.

Then there are women in the New Testament who defied culture, spoke out, and stood up for themselves. These women were at the heart of Jesus’ ministry on earth and the revolution of faith He brought. There were women who traveled with Jesus, took care of his needs, and provided for the group out of their own resources. (Lk 8:1-3) These women supported and sustained Jesus and His disciples as they traveled from place to place. It was the woman at the well whom Jesus first revealed himself to as the Messiah, specifically saying He was the Messiah. (Jn 4:26) It was the same woman at the well in John 4 who became the first evangelist and told her entire city about Jesus, and the entire city was saved.

 Bold Biblical Women in Church Leadership

The boldness of the woman with the alabaster jar, the woman with the bleeding issue, and the Syrophoenician mom stand out as examples of the faith we first saw in Mary and whose faiths were recognized by Jesus and used by Him as lessons of faith and perseverance. He used these women and others, like the woman caught in adultery, to challenge the legalistic thinking and liberate women from the regulations and rules that oppressed women, freeing them to get an education, divorce, preach, evangelize, and be the bold women in church leadership God created them to be.  It was the women who stood with Jesus to the very end – they stayed with Him when He was on the cross. It was a woman, Mary Magdalene, who was the first to tell of Jesus’ resurrection. She was the first person to whom Jesus gave the command to tell others about His resurrection (and He specifically told her to tell “my brothers” – the men! Mt 28:10). “It’s women.”

Of course, we can’t do this alone. We do need men to support us and open doors, vote to change laws, and demand change.

 Rise Up

There are numerous examples of women throughout history who sparked spiritual movements and societal changes. I hope we are witnessing a change in Iran for these women. My hope and prayer is these women will gain their freedoms and be loosed from the chains of oppression they live under. When women rise up, change happens, and these women have definitely arisen.

Join me in praying for the Iranian women for protection over their lives, for their continued boldness in the face of death and incarceration, and for the change they demand and deserve.

[1] Olson, Lynne. Freedom’s Daughters. New York: Touchstone. 2001, 251. Quoting Unita Blackwell, former Mississippi sharecropper, leader of Mississippi Civil Rights movement, and first African-American female elected mayor of a Mississippi municipality.