Today we turn our eyes to a woman named Rizpa, a quiet figure nearly hidden in the pages of the Old Testament. She was a concubine of King Saul, and she had little power and no voice in the world around her. Yet when her two sons were killed and hung on poles as an act of justice, she refused to walk away. For four to five long months, through heat and darkness, she kept watch over their bodies, driving off birds and wild animals, waiting with fierce and unbreakable love.
From her story we are drawn into a deeper question: what does God truly think of women? The answer rings clear from the very beginning, in Genesis, where God made both man and woman in His own image. Neither is more like God than the other. Both are called to be stewards of His creation. The world has often told women they are less, but God has always said otherwise.
Yet we also hold in our hands the harder teachings, the ones about headship and submission, about women learning in quietness. These are not words to be thrown away or explained around. We believe that headship and equality can live together, like two rivers flowing into one. A man who leads with sacrifice and gentleness, and a woman who walks beside him as a true and worthy helper, these two are not in competition but in harmony.
Jesus Himself shows us the way most clearly. He spoke with the Samaritan woman. He was tender with the woman caught in sin. He honored Mary of Bethany for sitting and learning at His feet. Without making any great announcement, He lifted women back to the dignity they had lost. In Christ there is neither male nor female, for all stand equal before God.
So we carry Rizpa with us as we leave this place. Her courage, her loyalty, her refusal to abandon those she loved, these things speak to us still. To the mothers among us, we give honor and deep thanks. To the sons and husbands, we are called to love and care and stay close. And to every woman here, we say plainly: you are made in the image of God, and that is no small thing.