World’s First Feminist Work?

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry explores the New Testament:

The Gospels often show how, in the context of a patriarchal society, women played a very important role in the early Church. It is Mary who initiates Jesus’ miracle, and when she brings it up he dismisses her, calling her “woman”. Throughout the Gospels, whenever the men dismiss the women, it is later found out that the women were, in fact, right. After Jesus is resurrected, it is women who first find the empty tomb and, when they report this to the Apostles, they are first dismissed. In a matter of days, the Apostles, the leaders of the Church, have forgotten Jesus’ words about rebuilding the Temple, but the women remember, and accept the revelation. And it is the women, of course, who are right.

Jesus’ public life thus begins and ends with women who, better than the men, understand His Revelation. Furthermore, at Cana, Mary does more than just suggest and initiate: she takes charge, asking for the servants to bring him the jars of water. In the Church, women are not bystanders, they are very much leaders