Jesus’ breasts

In an evident allusion to the LXX of Song of Songs 1:2, John says that Jesus’ golden girdle is girded across His “breasts” ( mastoi ). In John’s vision, Jesus has a somewhat feminized body. What could that mean?

For starters, it links Jesus with the Lover of the Song. Plus, it intimately links Jesus with His Bride; in John’s vision, the two form one flesh, one body, and Jesus’ care for His Bride-Body (as Paul also says) is like a man’s care for his own flesh. Besides that, we are probably to understand Jesus as the new Moses, who was like a nurse carrying a nursing infant when he took Israel through the wilderness (Numbers 11:12); Moses was inadequate to the task, but Jesus can nourish His children. This may also be related to the way John talks about the Father’s and Son’s bosom in his gospel: The Word is in the “bosom” of the Father, and at the Last Supper, John rests (like a content child) on Jesus’ bosom (John 1:18; 13:23). Finally, not only Jesus but the ministers who carry on His work in the power of His Spirit are nursing mothers (1 Thessalonians 2:7).