The women of first century Palestine weren’t highly revered—until Jesus came along.

This carpenter from Nazareth upended expectations about who women are and how they should be treated.

Stories of widows, wives, sinners, Samaritans, loyal friends and faithful companions pepper the pages of the Gospels. Jesus—in the midst of the action—teaches the disciples and religious leaders that these Daughters of Jerusalem are worthy of dignity, love and respect.

For many women, it may have been the first time anyone had extended to them such grace and compassion.

Before the time of Christ, scribe and teacher Ben Sira writes about women in the Jewish world. Often, they were seen as a source of shame to their fathers, says Biblical Scholar David T. Lamb, author of God Behaving Badly and associate professor of Old Testament at Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, Pa.

“If a father had a daughter, she was viewed as a total loss,” says Dr. Lamb, who will publish another book next summer on prostitutes and polygamists in the Old Testament.

“And when those daughters became wives, they couldn’t be trusted by their husbands,” Dr. Lamb continues. “Some people in Jesus’ day were progressive, but many others were blatantly misogynistic.”

Jesus falls into the first category. Consider the story of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Jesus talks to her, a shocking fact in and of itself. While lovingly confronting her about her five husbands, he also tells her he is the Christ.

What’s so incredible says Dr. Lamb, is that Jesus reveals his identity as the Messiah, which he’s carefully downplayed up to this point. Moreover, he tells a woman, and a Samaritan one at that. Strong enmity existed between Samaritans and Jews.

The woman leaves abruptly when the disciples—who are surprised that Jesus is talking to her—arrive at the well. She goes to the village and shares her story, marveling at the man who “told me everything I had ever done.” John 4:39(b).

Empowered by Jesus, she becomes an “amazing evangelist,” Dr. Lamb says. Many Samaritans put their faith in him as a result of her witness. Furthermore, many encounter him and proclaim: “We are certain that he’s the Savior of the world!” John4:42(b).

In Luke 4, Jesus affirms the woman who came to Simon’s house. This sinner—in all likelihood a prostitute—washes his feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, and kisses and pours perfume on them.

Simon disapproves. But Jesus rebukes the Pharisee and says she can teach Simon what it means to be forgiven and what it means to show hospitality, which was strikingly absent from Simon.

Again, Jesus turns convention upside down by elevating a sinner—and a woman, nonetheless—to teach a religious leader a lesson.

The Gospels are replete with stories of Jesus affirming, elevating and honoring women. Without fail, they were faithful, loyal and loving to the end.

When the men ran away, they remained with him in his darkest hour. When he was lifeless, they helped bury him. And when he was resurrected, they were first to learn the news and share it with the men in the group.

Clearly, these Daughters of Jerusalem were true disciples of Christ.