June 14, 2007

“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” Acts 1:14.
The early followers of Jesus were a praying people. It seems from Luke’s account that they were gathering all the time, and that when they gathered, they were always in prayer. In those days just after Jesus’ departure, they actually might not have known what else to do! After all, Jesus’ last words to them was to wait in Jerusalem for this next event to happen; this coming of “another Counselor”. So as they waited, they prayed. It doesn’t exactly say this, but I imagine that they talked quite a bit about the days when Jesus was among them – the things that He did and said.
What I really enjoy about this verse is the inclusion of “the women”. This book was still written during the hay-day of the patriarchal society. Men had dominated throughout history and were to continue dominating for centuries to come, yet Luke makes us aware of the early followers’ inclusion of women. Women were normally not allowed to meet in the same room as men. A Jewish woman was not allowed to enter the Temple in Jerusalem. And the Jewish nation and religion was more inclusive of the women’s partnership than most other cultures in the ancient world. The language from other cultures during Luke’s time was not very inclusive, and yet he shows the early church as an inclusive bunch, allowing the men and the women to meet together and to pray together. This group of believers may have had other problems, but it seems that allowing women to gather together with the men was not one of them. They must have taken their cue from what they observe Jesus do, and He certainly demonstrated an inclusion of women in all aspects of His ministry.
I must say that I am challenged in this area of “inclusion”. While I think of myself as an inclusive type of person, I realize that I tend to classify people into groups, which sends a clear message of who is “in” and who is “out”. Maybe someone doesn’t necessarily believe the exact way that I do, or perhaps they worship God in a different manner than I am accustom to worshipping, does that mean that I should “exclude” them in some manner or another? What about the person who looks different from me or comes from a different background than me, should I treat them any different? I do not know if Luke was including the women in this verse with such intent, but I do know that words and phrases are used in the Scriptures for a purpose. And it is very interesting that this phrase of inclusion is clearly stated. How do you exclude others? Take some time today to reflect on the inclusive nature of this verse and the challenge for us to be more inclusive. In what ways could you and I be more inclusive in our worlds today?