One of the influences working against the acceptance of the ordination of women is the belief that a woman cannot represent Christ because she is not a man. People often express surprise and some even express disbelief when confronted with this idea. I believe we should be aware of the argument or it will take us by surprise. In his article "Did Christ rule out women priests?" The catholic priest and theologian, Father John Wijngaards, delivers the argument. In the end he refutes the argument.
It is true there is no explicit teaching in Scripture that restricts the priesthood only to men. How then, you may ask, can we deduce that women are excluded from the ministry? Such a conclusion can be arrived at, with practical certainty, from the combination of the following facts:
1. Jesus Christ chose only men to be his apostles. He obviously did this on purpose and so fixed a norm.
2. The Church always followed this example of Christ. Both in apostolic times and in later centuries only men have been ordained priests.
3. A priest is the sacramental sign of Christ's presence at the eucharist. A man can represent Christ better because Christ too was a man.-FATHER JOHN WIJNGAARDS
However, after a very lengthy article Father Wijngaards concludes his commentary this way:
The question: Did Christ rule out women priests? I have answered in the negative. The fact that Christ chose only men to function on his apostolic team was not determined by his own specific preference, but by the social pressure of his time. In the circumstances Christ could not have appointed women to a priestly task. But in no way did he at any time rule out the possibility of women being ordained priests. On the contrary, the priesthood he instituted is of such a nature that it breaks with all previously established human limits. -FATHER JOHN WIJNGAARDS
Was woman created in God's image? Can women represent God? These are questions we need to be prepared to answer. Perhaps I will write more about them...
