Chapter Six: Feminine Faces

Chapter Six: Feminine Faces

Bell’s main point in this chapter is that the “female witness was indispensable.” He reminds us that when we read the Bible carefully,

• we learn more about the stories and the faith of women in Jesus’ life than we do about the men
  
• we see Jesus using images that speak to the lives of women as much as images that speak to men
  
• we see Jesus caring for women—even when they’re being ignored by men in authority

These re-discoveries might be challenging. We think of the twelve disciples, but few of us can rhyme off their names—and as Bell reminds us, we know very little about most of them—but we get a deep sense of who Mary and Martha are, and about how Jesus loves them.  Once again, Bell asks us to look at what’s really in the Bible.


Reflection Questions/Activities: 

1. What story about a woman/some women most caught your attention? If you re-read the story in the Bible, what word or phrase leapt out for you from the page?
   
   
2. Reread the story of the woman who goes down on her knees to find the lost coin (Luke 15.8-10), and ponder what it’s like to offer your thankfulness that God seeks for us in the same way.  How does it feel? Is it something you want to keep trying?
   
   
3. Jesus behaves differently than other men of his time and place. How have you experienced people acting out of step with stereotypical gender roles, and how has God been at work in those moments?