Adored, adorned or scorned?

This morning, I started my day with the news, as I do most days.  The first thing I saw was an article about the documentary, "Miss Representation," a movie, and a cause, dedicated to promoting awareness of how women are portrayed in and by the media.  It struck a nerve for me, and I immediately joined the cause.

It is not only a secular issue, it is a sacred one, as well.  Too often, religion and the Bible have been used as an excuse to denigrate the role of women in spiritual life.  They are reduced by those with an agenda to mere accessories for the important men around them, without recognizing the value and worth of half of God's precious human creation.

This devaluation is not a Jesus message, nor is it a message from God.  Jesus continually sought out and responded to the women in his life.  He clearly considered them disciples along with their menfolk, and he valued their contributions to both his life and his ministry.  Martha and Mary, the daughter of Jairus, Mary Magdalene - all women, and all played an important role in the life and ministry of Jesus.  His mother was recognized from the cross, one of the last people he thought of as he drew his final breaths.  Mary Magdalene was gifted as the first person to see the risen Lord.

These women were not mere appurtenances for his guilty pleasure, servants to tend the body while he tended to the souls of the men.  They were treated as the necessary and important part of life that they were to him, individuals with value and worth.  It is a model that we all, both men and women, should work harder to follow today.

The value of women that Jesus recognized has nothing to do with their outward appearance.  We have no description of their faces, or whether they were slender or full figured.  There is no discussion of how white their teeth were, whether their eyes were narrow or wide set, or whether they were tall or short.  The message of Jesus was never about the shallow, superficial nature of our exterior shell.  Jesus looks inside the cover to where our real beauty, as humans, can be found, and seeks the knowledge of who we are in our heart and soul.

In 1 Peter 3:3 we read:

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. (TNIV)

In speaking to the persecuted followers of Jesus, the author of this book, usually attributed to St. Peter while he was Bishop of Antioch, exhorts his followers to focus on the internal beauty of faith and hope in Christ's promise of salvation.  It is a message which resonates for all time, but it appears little has changed in our world since those words were written.

Women spend billions of dollars a year on clothing, make up, weight loss, plastic surgery, teeth whitening, and other goods and services to bring themselves closer to the secular ideal of what a woman should be, while often neglecting the inner self through which true beauty is found.  The message we are modeling for our daughters, our nieces, and each other is one of inadequacy and insufficiency.  Instead of empowering women to be whoever they are, we damage their psyche and their spirit by focusing on an unrealistic goal which can never be achieved, and which, in the end, won't matter at all.

The season of Lent is one of reflection, preparing our body temple for the resurrected Savior and the gift of the Holy Spirit within us.  Let us strive to show our inner beauty, the true image of God, and let the world drift off on the ice flow of superficiality which makes up most of modern marketing.  God does not make mistakes, and each of us was made in his image.  That is the only kind of beauty that matters for all eternity.

Embrace who you are.  Teach your daughters and your sons to respect and value themselves and everyone else for who they are inside, and the world will be a better place for everyone.