Overcoming Expectations

Women ran from Jesus’ empty tomb with a tale of resurrection. Sadly, “the story sounded like nonsense to the men” (Luke 24:11). We learn two important things there: (1) that men don’t always take women seriously, and (2) that God does. Throughout history, God has entrusted important work to women, though they’ve often had to fight against cultural expectations to carry it out.

Consider Perpetua, a young noblewoman, and Felicitas, her maid. Both faced brutal death before a cheering crowd. Their heroism in that arena inspired many Christians in the difficult years that followed. There were well-known male leaders of the church in that time—Origen, Tertullian, Irenaeus—but these two women captured imaginations as no one else could. No one expected them to make the ultimate sacrifice. Perpetua’s own father begged her to back down—surely people would understand her family commitments—but she remained true to her faith . . . and paid the price.

Our history is full of queens and ladies who were expected merely to look pretty, bear heirs, and wave to the people. In numerous cases, these women overstepped those perceived boundaries, using their wealth and power to do good, building the church or helping the poor.

Plenty of commoners made uncommon contributions too. Joan of Arc was a poor teenager who sensed God’s call and led an army—unheard of for a young girl! Phillis Wheatley was sold as a slave in colonial America but learned to read and write, becoming an influential Christian poet. An Albanian nun devoted her life to the “poorest of the poor” in Calcutta and became the world changer we know as Mother Teresa.

At a certain point, however, we run into the paradox of Christian history: real Christians don’t seek fame, just service. That means there are vast numbers of faithful servants—women and men alike—whose names will never appear in history books, despite the great things they did.

One of them is our friend Peggy Parker, who passed away in 2010. Chances are, you’ve never heard of her, because she quietly served as a pastor of small Methodist churches; the devoted mother of a special-needs child; and an encourager of pretty much everyone who crossed her path . . . including us. She never cared much about people’s expectations; she had work to do.

And so do we.

I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:13