The Jesus Factory
I found a great little book in the library not long ago. "What Every American Should Know About
Women's History-200 Events That Shaped Our Destiny" by Christine Lunardini, Ph.D. As I was
reading an excerpt from the introduction on the back cover, one sentence caught my eye. "The
factory system and American industrialization depended on the labor of women."
I remember history classes from grade school that told us about the female labor force in the factories
in the early part this century, particularly during the World Wars. Because the men were at war, the
women took over the obvious need; some of them in the very factories that made the weapons of
war their males counterparts were using in battle.
Once women realized they could
do the same job as the men, with
the added pressure with being at
war, they wanted to maintain that
'freedom'. With that came the 'us
against them' social war that
fostered the beginning of the
'women's movement'. Society was
accepting of the women stepping
into the men's role, until the men
returned. The appreciation was
short-lived in the male dominated
workplaces that women now felt
they had a right to be.
When the aforementioned phrase jumped out at me, I immediately thought of Mary in the garden,
meeting the resurrected Christ, and being instructed to 'Go tell my brethren...' With this, Jesus puts
women into the evangelical position, right along with their male counterparts. When He gives the
disciples the "Great Commission" to teach all nations His gospel, this is comparable to the men in our
time going to war on foreign soil. Jesus sent the women of His day into the 'workplace', filling the
vacancy back on the home front.
So, Jesus, in His infinite wisdom, in essence first used the concept of 'the industrial revolution' to
introduce women into His 'workplace'. Today, there are still those that still frown on women in the
secular workplace, as well as in the clergy. But, with the calling of Jesus Himself as our witness, we
can boldly say, "I work in the Jesus Factory, and I am worthy of this calling."
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photo courtesy of octaviolopez via http://mrg.bz/W9zSxH
by Rebecca Matthews/read more at The