I found a great little book in the library yesterday. "What Every American Should Know About Women's History-200 Events That Shaped Our Destiny" by Christine Lunardini, Ph.D. As I was reading an excerpt from the introduction on the back cover, one sentence caught my eye. "The factory system and American industrialization depended on the labor of women."
I remember history classes from grade school that told us about the female labor force in the factories in the early part this century, particularly during the World Wars. Because the men were at war, the women took over the obvious need; some of them in the very factories that made the weapons of war their males counterparts were using in battle.
Once women realized they could do the same job as the men, with the added pressure with being at war, they wanted to maintain that 'freedom'. With that came the 'us against them' social war that fostered the beginning of the 'women's movement'. Society was accepting of the women stepping into the men's role, until the men returned. The appreciation was short-lived in the male dominated workplaces that women now felt they had a right to be.
When the aforementioned phrase jumped out at me, I immediately thought of Mary in the garden, meeting the resurrected Christ, and being instructed to 'Go tell my brethren...' With this, Jesus puts women into the evangelical position, right along with her male counterparts. When He gives the disciples the "Great Commission" to teach all nations His gospel, this is comparable to the men in our time going to war on foreign soil. Jesus sent the women of His day into the 'workplace', filling the vacancy back on the home front.
So, Jesus, in His infinite wisdom, in essence first used the concept of 'the industrial revolution' to introduce women into His 'workplace'. Today, there are still those that still frown on women in the secular workplace, as well as in the clergy. But, with the calling of Jesus Himself as our witness, we can boldly say, "I work in the Jesus Factory, and I am worthy of this calling."
