4.Woman with flow of blood: Blood was considered to make one ritually impure. In the parable of the Good Samaritan the priest and the Levite did not attend to the wounded man because he was bleeding. It is legally prohibited that people with flow of blood should stay away from others. But when the woman who was suffering hemorrhages for 12 years with trepidation she touched the fringe of Jesus’ garments to get healed. And not only was she allowed to be healed but Jesus called her, ‘daughter’, making her his own family. She was scared of getting a scolding for her audacity but instead she was treated as a little daughter.

5.Women at the foot of the Cross: There are a several women mentioned at the foot of dying Jesus on the cross. They were there because of the compassion he offered to them. Not because he treated them as any other Jew would. Veronica wiped the face of Jesus and Jesus granted her a special gift of her love.

6.The first witnesses of resurrection were women: Jesus instructed them to tell the news to his disciples that he was alive (Matt. 28, John 20). In a culture where a woman’s testimony was worthless because she was worthless, [in Islam, which came 7 centuries after Christ, the testimony of a woman is half the worth of a man’s] Jesus elevated the value of women beyond anything the world had seen.

7.Women supported Jesus’ ministry: Women were among Jesus' earliest followers. From the beginning, Jewish women disciples, including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, had accompanied Jesus during his ministry and supported him out of their private means (Luke 8:1-3). He spoke to women both in public and private, and indeed he learned from them.

8.Gentile woman: According to one story, an unnamed Gentile woman taught Jesus that the ministry of God is not limited to particular groups and persons, but belongs to all who have faith (Mark 7:24-30; Matthew 15:21-28). Jesus healed the daughter of this woman.

9.She is forgiven much because she loved much: A Jewish woman honored Jesus with the extraordinary hospitality of washing his feet with perfume. She was a known sinner and the people around even looked contemptuously on Jesus for allowing her to touch him. But he forgave her of her sins and sent her in peace. And he told those around that she is forgiven much because she loved much.

10.Woman caught in Adultery: A woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus to be stoned to death as it was the Mosaic law to do so. If Jesus approved the Mosaic law she would certainly have been stoned to death. But Jesus saved her and told her not sin any more. [compare this with women caught in adultery in Islam. Flogging and stoning to death without any mercy. Men go free easily, compared to women.

11.Jesus forbade Divorce: Divorce always breaks the family and therefore Jesus said, ‘let no one put asunder what God has joined together’.(Mk.10:9). Jesus told divorce was not God’s plan. And Moses allowed divorce because of the hardness of the heart of people. May be to avoid killing of women.

12.Paul, Peter, and Women

After the death of Jesus, women continued to play prominent roles in the early movement.  Some scholars have even suggested that the majority of Christians in the first century may have been women.

Paul told the Christians in Ephesus, ‘Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.’ And he added, ‘He who loves his wife loves himself.’(Eph.5:25). While in Islam there is no love mentioned between husband and wife or between Allah and a Muslim. This is one of the major points of departure between these two religions.

Paul mentions that one who is in Christ there is no separation, between man or woman or Greek or Gentile or slave or freedmen.

 “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” (1 Pt 3:7).

Paul is often accused of being a misogynist, one who hates and fears women. But Paul’s teachings on women reflect the creation order and high value God places on women as creatures made in his image. Paul’s commands for husbands and wives in Ephesians 5 provided a completely new way to look at marriage: as an earthbound illustration of the spiritual mystery of the union of Christ and His bride, the church. He calls wives to not only submit to their husbands as to the Lord, but he calls husbands to submit to Christ (1 Cor. 11:3). He calls men to love their wives in the self-sacrificing way Christ loves the church. In a culture where a wife was property, and a disrespected piece of property, Paul elevates women to a position of honor previously unknown in the world.

Paul also provided highly countercultural direction for the New Testament church. In the Jewish synagogue, women had no place and no voice in worship. In the pagan temples, the place of women was to serve as prostitutes. The church, on the other hand, was a place for women to pray and prophecy out loud (1 Cor. 11:5). Here Paul also mentions women covering their head when they are prophesying and praying aloud as they will be drawing attention themselves unintentionally. Therefore Paul advised them to cover their head in the Church, not a burqa all the time. Two thousand years later we might think it is an unfair advice.  But then think for a moment the cultural changes in the past 100 years. Even the United States gave voting rights to women only in the 19th amendment in 1920. And Saudi Arabia gave women the right to vote only in 2015, nearly a century later. And women were allowed to drive only in 2018!!!