Week Five | Woman With Chutzpah

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Week Five | Jesus & Women Online Book Study
Reading Assignment – Session Five
Scripture Passage: Luke 18:4-5 / Luke 11:8
Listen to the Audio version | Read time 7-minutes

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Mom. Mommy. Momma. Mum. Mumsy. Ma. Mother dearest, if you please. MOMMM!!!

We’ve all heard it before, or are guilty of doing it ourselves. The incessant plea of a child for their mother’s attention. And no matter how devoted she is to the task at hand, because of the repetitive and nagging demands, she gives in because of her love for her child.

That’s what I think of when I read,

⁴ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally, he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, ⁵ but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
Luke 18:4-5, NLT

It could be said that this woman was acting with chutzpah!

Chutzpah in Hebrew is the “quality of audacity, for good or for bad… meaning ‘insolence’, ‘cheek’, or ‘audacity’.” Chutzpah is also one of those special Yiddish words that have been incorporated into the English language.

The evil judge says, “this woman is driving me crazy…” 🤪

I’ve been there. I’m pretty sure I know that woman. I think I’ve seen her in the mirror before.

Have you ever read a story that resonated with you so much that you had to check that the author’s name wasn’t actually your own?

What a blessing it is to find that you’re not alone in the circumstances that you’ve faced and the feelings that you’ve experienced. What a comfort and a gift, to find your place in another’s story.

It adds clout to your own story, and helps you to see that though your experiences are unique, there is value in the telling of them.

And I think that this is precisely why Jesus stood out amongst the religious teachers of His day.

Rabbi’s were known for sharing parables, stories that taught a lesson, to help their disciples understand the lesson at hand. The parables, however, were always from a masculine perspective.

As someone who has had the privilege to teach about God’s Word, to both youth and adults, I understand how this might have been so common. It’s easy to teach from a perspective that you know and have experienced. It is not, however, easy to share from a perspective that you know nothing about.

Jesus was different. Jesus was both fully God and fully man.

Genesis 1:27 reminds us of Jesus’ unique perspective.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27, ESV

Jesus would have been the only One who could tell parables from both the masculine and the feminine because both male and female were created in His image.

Example after example of the teaching lessons (parables) in dual perspectives — masculine and feminine — are found in the Gospel of Luke. Kristi McLelland, the author of Jesus and Women provides us a lengthy list starting on page 91 in the study guide.

Here’s just a sample of this list:

Just as we read the example of the woman with chutzpah in Luke 18, Jesus tells a masculine version in Luke 11.

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity, he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
Luke 11:5-8, NIV

These two parables tell of individuals going after something with chutzpah. The story of the widow, in the feminine perspective, and the friend at the door, in the masculine perspective. These examples from Luke 18 and 11 tell us that this is how we should approach God with our requests.

The passage continues in chapter 11,

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Luke 11:9-10, NIV

Kristi reminds us that,

“The Bible was given to us that we might know who the living God is, what He’s like, and what it is like to walk with Him — to know Him.”

Kristi McLelland, Jesus and Women study

And I’ll add, because He already knows us, each in our unique perspectives.

Let’s recap…

Today we learned:
– There is power in finding yourself in someone else’s story, as well as sharing your own
– Rabbis taught in parables to help their disciples understand the lessons being taught
– Their parables were only taught through a masculine perspective
– Only Jesus was qualified to teach parables through both masculine & feminine perspectives
– The Gospel of Luke has extensive examples of the dual parables
– Jesus invites us to approach God with chutzpah so we can know of His great love for us

ANSWER THIS IN THE COMMENTS — What do you imagine it would have been like to have no spiritual teaching directed to you? How do you think it would have affected your spiritual growth and your attitude toward God?