Footnotes

It is an unhappy truth that most women who have influenced the church during its nearly 2,000 year existence are still historical footnotes regardless of their accomplishments. This sermon that was written for our annual Gifts of Women Sunday explores that fact, beginning with a woman who was nearly erased from the New Testament altogether! If you are interested in her story, read on...

Paul’s Christmas card list must have been enormous! Look at how many people he says “hello” to in the few verses of Romans that I just read (Romans 16:1-7). Just these seven verses include four women and three men; and his list goes on for a total of sixteen verses! He eventually greets nearly 30 men and women. They are all leaders in the church of Paul’s day: deacons, people who host worship in their home, church workers of various kinds, and even two “apostles.” This morning, I want to focus on just one of those people: Junia, who is mentioned in Romans 16:7. I’ve singled out Junia not because we know a lot about her. Actually, we know very little about her. Just about all that we do know is that Junia had been Jewish before she became a Christian; that she became a Christian even before Paul did; and that she was imprisoned for her Christian activities. Oh, and that she was a woman. That little bit of information has caused all kinds of problems because Paul refers to Junia as an “apostle.” Listen again to what Paul says about her: “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.”

Hmmm… That doesn’t sound right. Nobody named Junia – or Andronicus, for that matter – are listed among the twelve apostles. But that can be explained. There were more than just twelve “apostles” in the early church. An “apostle” is a technical term for someone who saw the risen Christ and then did mission work for the early Christian church. The word “apostle” literally means “someone who is sent out.” Although there were only twelve “Capital A Apostles,” there were many more “Small A apostles” who helped to spread the good news of Jesus Christ all over the Roman Empire! Junia was apparently one of these. So, what’s the problem? The problem is that Junia was a woman. That didn’t seem to bother the early Christian church at all. Christian art found in the Roman catacombs dating from the first century shows women leading worship and presiding at the sacrament of Holy Communion. But it didn’t take long for those women to be erased from the scene. By the third century, the church fathers had decided that women weren’t permitted to preach or to lead worship; and they certainly couldn’t officiate at Holy Communion!

But what were they to do with Junia? There she sat, fat and sassy, in the book of Romans, with Paul himself calling her an “apostle.” She was a real thorn in the sides of all the men who wanted to deny women a leadership role in the church! So the church fathers came up with a really creative solution. They decided that Paul must have written down the wrong name! Instead of “Junia,” (a woman’s name), he must have meant “Junius” (a man’s name). Now, there isn’t a single man named Junius in all the ancient Greek texts that exist, and there are tons of women named Junia! But that didn’t stop church leaders from removing the woman Junia from the book of Romans, and replacing her with the man Junius. And that was the way that things stayed for another 2,000 years. Junius was in, and Junia was out! Fast forward to today. Modern biblical scholars finally took a good look at Junia, they decided that she might belong in the book of Romans after all; so a footnote appeared in some Bibles (although not all) that said, “This name might be Junia instead of Junius.” Nowadays, many Bibles restore Junia to her rightful place in the book of Romans; but she still drags along a footnote at the bottom of the page that reads “the name might be Junius.” I look forward to the day when Junia has no footnote attached to her name at all. Paul clearly says that she was an apostle, and she should get the credit that she deserves for doing such an important job!

So I ask you: why has it been so hard to admit that a woman could have been a leader in the early Christian church? If history is any indicator, women have been vital for the growth of the church over the centuries. We seldom hear about them, though. They have themselves become footnotes in history books; and although their leadership has led to some great things, we almost never recognize them for what they have done. Let me give you just two examples of important women who have become footnotes. How many of you have heard of Katherine Haack? She was the first woman to be ordained as a deaconess in the Evangelical Church (one of the ancestors of our own United Church of Christ) back in 1889. She was ordained to organize and train women of the St. Louis area to care for poor people who needed medical care. A wealthy widow donated funds to rent and renovate a large home in the city. Women from all over the area helped to get that home ready to receive patients. It became the very first Deaconess Hospital. Today, Deaconess hospitals all around the country serve the needs of those who are ill – and all because of the leadership of Katherine Haack and the generosity of the women who helped her.

I’ll bet that you’ve never heard of Mary Webb, either. Mary was a member of a congregational church (another of our UCC ancestors) who lived in Boston in the early 1800s. Her heart was in mission; and she didn’t think that the church of her time was doing enough of it. So she got some women together and organized the Boston Female Society for Missionary Purposes. They were inspired by the gospel story of the widow who put one tiny coin called a “mite” into the poor box in the Temple; so each woman decided to save one cent each week to donate to missions. Pretty soon, women all over the area were joining “female cent societies” to raise money for missions; and they did! They raised lots and lots of money; and every cent went to mission work! The women of our own United Mites Fellowship are their spiritual daughters.

Maybe it’s time to move Junia, and Katherine Haack, and Mary Webb, and hundreds of women like them out of the footnotes of history. We know about all the contributions that men have made to the Church; and it’s past time that we heard about the women, too! The reality is that women and men have worked together for 2,000 years to do the work of the church. If the women flew under the radar, it was because they had to; but despite their being considered incapable or unworthy or unacceptable, women have used their gifts in service to Jesus Christ from Junia’s time until today. This morning, I invite you to give thanks for our mothers in the faith, whose love and compassion and hard work have made them far more than footnotes in the kingdom of God. Their faith is the foundation of ours.