Women, Called and Serving in Leadership

Liberty to the Captives

April 13, 2009 on 3:46 pm | In Submission | No Comments

We miss so much truth because we lack understanding of the culture and the Jewish religious system to which Jesus spoke. I want to share an example of this in connection with the patriarchal system.

Jesus came to bring liberty to all who are held captive — this liberty included all who were held captive under the patriarchal system.

Jesus demonstrated the liberty He brought from the domination of the patriarchal system as He spoke to one of his disciples in Matthew 8.

In Matt 8:18-19 Jesus gives orders to go to the other side. This command “to leave this side and to go with Jesus to the other side” gives us the context of a discussion which takes place between Jesus and an unnamed disciple.

Mat 8:21 Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”
Mat 8:22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

Under the patriarchal system this disciple was bound under the authority of the father until the father’s death. This disciple was simply asking to preform what the religious system of the day required – obedience and service to the father until he had performed the last service of his father’s burial. This system did not allow this disciple to freely get in the boat and go to the other side with Jesus – under the patriarchal system this disciple was restrained from following until he had buried his father.

Jesus’ words broke the bonds of the patriarchal system which held this unnamed disciple captive – Jesus’ words set him free to get in the boat and go with Jesus to the other side. Jesus set him free to freely and without restraint to follow Him. This unnamed disciple was free from the system which held him bond until the day he had buried his father. He was free to choose for himself and order His own life.

Indeed, we have missed so much truth because we fail to understand the impact of Jesus’ words of “let the dead bury their own dead” in that day and to that culture. We have missed the liberty Jesus’ words brought to those who were held captive under the extremes of a system instituted by man in the name of God.