Just though I'd add a comment to discussion regarding gender, etc that I've just been reading.

the question i wanted to raise (follwoing Luce Irigaray) is why was Jesus interested in women at all in a culture where (due to patriarchy) women had no political/social relevance. Irigaray suggests that
1. because God creates human beings in his image (female + male) gender is related to our whole sense of being created in the image in the divine.
2. In order to reflect full personhood women must be understood and therfore treated as fully human as well as men.
3. oppression/suppression of women (anything less them understanding as being of equal personhood) creates a dynamic where one half of humanity are oppressed and it is this which ctreates space for all other forms of oppression/exclusion, etc.

I made the point to a married friend of mine recently that every time he understands himself as in any way superior to his wife he makes the whole life of Christ an irrelevance to him. If our humaness is based on the divine telos then it reflects the relationship of father and son. If the son is not leaving heaven willing and freely then he does it because he must. then he is not free and his life, death, ressurection achieved nothing because he had to do it! However we interpret Christ's life, if Christ had to do it then his life is worth nothing. He must give himself freely as gift.

Unfortunately particularly the evangelical church in recent years has tended to operate with a view that promotes a divinely sanctioned patriarchy! This means that the church are actively promoting oppression!

This is seriously important stuff!