My wife snapped this picture on the woman's side of a Bedouin tent a couple of weeks ago.The image strikes me for a number of reasons. One, as a Western man, Bedouin women are virtually invisible as it is their shame to be seen. They cover their faces and run to their side of the tent when we approach. It is a rare glimpse into a world few ever see. Most Bedouin women will not allow you take their picture. This one didn't care.
I also notice something in her demeanour. I can't help but notice the sadness. As it turns out, it is not just a flash of expression captured in an instant and frozen in time by a camera lens, the sadness in this woman's heart is real. Her heart is full of darkness as life has no hope.
As our missionary to this country explained to Teri and I, she feels totally and completely hemmed in by her life situation. She was married off very young by her family and now struggles day to day to stay above the creeping hardship of poverty while raising her children, taking care of animals and feeding and tending to her household. Women in this part of the world have few rights and are often subjected to terrible oppression. In this picture she is preparing a fire to make tea to serve her guests. The tea will be served to the men first, and if there is time, the women will be served some as well. But only after the men have had their fill and have had their conversations and are sitting back away from their cups, refusing to take any more refills. It is only when the men are totally satisfied that the women are allowed to partake in the pleasure of sharing in the tea.
That is the way it is in Muslim dominated countries. Women are not to be seen, they are only to serve their husbands and take care of their children.
It is the way it has always been in the Middle East. It is not far from the way it was in the Greco-Roman culture of the first century in the time of Christ.
When I look at this picture I am reminded of some of the women Jesus encountered in the gospels. The woman at the well, the woman who was caught in adultery, the widow who gave all she had, Mary and Martha and the woman who wiped Jesus' feet with her hair. I think of how Jesus honored the women who were around him. I think of how others were shocked and offended by the scandalous Jesus who welcomed "prostitutes" into his presence.
When one spends much time in this part of the world and experiences the culture that has remained basically unchanged for thousands of years, it is not long before you realize that the message of Christ, so radical even in our culture, was even more radical in theirs.
The liberating power of the gospel becomes glaringly obvious when set in the contrast of countries that are living in such utter darkness. There is no doubt, the only solution to the oppressing shadows of the Muslim world is the light of Christ.
But the only way for Bedouin women to be reached is if Chrsitian women respond to the call in mass, for the harvest is full and laborers are few. Pray with me today that hundreds and even thousands will respond to this call.
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