Women have seldom been absent from the battlefield. Many have worked untiringly on behalf of the sick and wounded. Some have even fought as soldiers. Most, however, have given of themselves in a less dramatic, though ultimately no less heroic, manner. These have seen "active duty" on the home front, supporting and praying for loved ones in combat. And they have long been conspicuous in the efforts to liberate victims of sickness and sin.
It is true that womanhood's forward march has often been labored, obstructed by prejudice and limitation. Yet dedicated women in all ages have hurdled barriers that would have held back their advancement.
Christ Jesus never intimated that women in any way fall short in qualifying for admission to the kingdom of heaven. One of his briefest but most evocative parables tells of a woman placing leaven in three measures of meal.See Matt. 13:33. Looking beneath the surface (literally and figuratively), one Bible commentator observes that a form of warfare is going on: "When placed under the microscope the working of leaven in the meal looks like a veritable battlefield: there is assault and penetration in the face of determined resistance until peace descends after the whole has been conquered."The Abingdon Bible Commentary (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1929), p. 978. It's noteworthy that the woman in the parable is the catalyst for the ferment—but is not caught up in it.
