Are You a Woman in Jesus' Life?

Then let's get started on the sermon.

Sermon today is entitled, Are You a Woman in Jesus' Life? Are you a woman in Jesus' life? I planned this sermon weeks ago before Norah even asked me about the blessing of her son, and so this just happened to tie in. I didn't have anything to do with it that way or align things. So it isn't just for women here today. I think we men can learn a great deal because we have a very important role to play in women's lives, in women that live in this world, and how we interact with them being the men in here have been given the instruction, admonition that we are to live as Christ and to represent Christ in our attitudes and the way we conduct our lives. It's interesting because Matthew lists five women in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Five women of all the descendants that come down. That's not very many women. It lists quite a few men. But it's interesting the women that it does list that were actually, if you want to say, the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmothers of David and of Jesus Christ. But it's not like a lot of people would think, because it actually starts with Rahab. Wait a minute. Wasn't she a harlot? Wait a minute. She was Jesus Christ, great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, and she wasn't Jewish. She was a Canaanite. And then we find another woman listed soon after was Tamar, which she wasn't a harlot, but she played one. Right? And yet she was a Canaanite too. And then we come down to a time of what? The Ruth. And she was a Moabite. And before she came into Israel, chances are she worshiped another God and probably conducted her life in not something that a quote-unquote Christian would do. But it showed a lot about change, and it shows a lot about these women in their hearts, and that they were actually used by God to bring Jesus Christ into the world. An incredible lesson for all of us, because we would say, hmm, you want to go back and look and see your ancestry? You know how they have those things on television that you can order this, or you can do this and find out exactly, well, we've been wanting to do that, but it's also scary. You don't know what's back there. I don't. I know a little bit. I can just go back one or two generations, and I would want to have everybody know about it in some ways. But here, this is laid out for us. And not only is it Ruth, but there's Bathsheba. And we all know what she did, committed adultery.

And then the last woman it gives there is, of course, Mary. And the only thing we know about Mary is she would be raising the Messiah. She would give birth to the Messiah. So God had all the women in the world to choose from, and He chose Mary. And I don't doubt His judgment. And she must have been an incredible woman, young teenager, probably at the time, according to history. But I know she must have thought, when the angel appeared to her, I'm gonna what? I'm gonna give birth to the Lord and the Savior of the world. And wait a minute, she would have known, chances are, Scripture, and her mind would have flashed back to Isaiah 7.14. That gave the prediction of the virgin giving birth. Not a virgin, the virgin. A definite article. She had to make her think, that's me. That's me. How am I gonna do that? Wait a minute, I'm engaged to Joseph, another man. How am I going to... Wait a minute, is it gonna be from him? Is that word this... No. It's going to be by the Holy Spirit. You're going to be a virgin. You're going to be pregnant.

Would that not be mind-boggling to you, that we have many mothers in this room? The thought, the thought, that God was choosing you, and that Mary would be raising this human God-being.

Human flesh would have the mind of God. And so, this whole thing would have been more than a lot of women could even grasp. She would be teaching him, feeding him, watching him. And as great of a man as Joseph was, only she knew for sure how she became pregnant. Now, he was told, Joseph was told, but it had never been done before. And you're thinking later on when she has other children, you see this young child going around, even though the angel appeared to you through a dream.

Did those thoughts ever go across his mind? How did that happen? But yet, Mary did, and she knew. She knew.

Bring this up because, are you a woman in Jesus's life today? Bring that up to the women here. Are you a woman in Jesus's life today? You see, he loved his mother dearly, but he loved a lot of other women. And may sound strange. What do you say? I want to explore that today, because men, if we follow the instruction and the life of Jesus Christ, we've got to love a lot of women. We've got to like them, love them, admire them, and hold them up, just like our example did. So let's look at the litany of women in Jesus Christ's life. Some, well known. You can study about Mary. You can study about these other women that were in his lineage. But I want to look at his interaction with women that he came across. In a different way than most men. And we know in this carnal world we live in, how men sometimes look at women. Used to work construction before I came into the ministry. And on construction sites, a woman shows up there. Hey, look over there.

Is that Christ-like? Do you think Christ was ever with hanging out with these? They were 30 years old, in the late 20s and 30s, 12 guys hanging around, and all of a sudden some babe walks by. Did Jesus go, oh, hey! You know? We're like, no. But yet you see it everywhere, don't you? And too many times in society today women just accept it and think, that's just how guys are. Well, in the world, yes. But when you possess a spirit, when you're led and want to live a life like Christ, man, we don't do that, do we? So I want to look at that relationship today. I want to go there. Because there are lessons for every man, woman, and child sitting in this room today. Because we see lessons of not only the mind of Christ, but also the miracle of humility. The miracle of humility. Can you imagine having an audience with Christ? They talk about today certain people had an audience with the Pope. And it's like this big deal. Can you imagine having the time or confronting, or having an issue, or being sick, or having these things that you wanted to talk to Jesus Christ?

How would you feel if you were a woman living at that time? And I have, actually, I left a book in my car. You want to read it sometime. It's a very good book, very thick book. Eight, nine hundred pages. Called, The Life and Times of the Messiah by Alfred Edershon. It's great historical. He was actually Jewish, and he changed to, quote, unquote, Christianity. And so he goes into great detail of the history of what it was like in every aspect of life at the time, 2,000 years ago. Well, somebody's not liking the sermon. Nicholas, I just asked for God's blessing on you, and you're already discontent with my sermon, so. But that's okay. But what would it be like for you to, even now, if you knew this incredible person could heal, could do these incredible things, and you were to have to go up and see him, touch him, to spend time. What would you feel? Would you be nervous? Would you be giddy? Would he be awestruck? Would you be humbled? I think we'd be all of them. All of those. So let's see what the Master's reaction was toward with, and teaching, as the Old Saint says, the fair sex. So it's an old term.

But the lesson for us men from the sermon today is, be like Christ. He used to be the old basketball, be like Mike, right? Like Michael Jordan, because he was just like better than everyone else, and he's, you know, but he wanted to be like him. Well, here men, we've been called to be like Christ.

And for the women, the lesson is to be like, be like, loved, and admired by Christ, because we see these women that he came across in his walk, in his three and a half years of preaching. So let's go there with a original title of the sermon, but my wife did not like it. So I actually did what she asked, because the original title was Jesus and His Women. And she said, that just doesn't sound right.

So that's why you had, Are You a Woman in Jesus's Life? Okay, let's go, let's start with Luke 4. Luke 4, as we take this journey today. Luke covers a lot of details, as he was a historian. So you see quite a few of these examples of the women in Jesus's life in Luke. So we will actually start in Luke 4. Luke 4, and actually the first one is in Luke 4 and verse 38. Here we have a Sabbath day like this day is today. Except we find out that Jesus Christ was in the synagogue. He was actually preaching in Capernaum at the time, which we'll actually give you just a little bit more on that. And as we see some of these miracles and so forth that happened around Capernaum. But he went to synagogue. He did all that. He left then with Peter, his disciples obviously, and in verse 38 he said, Now he arose from the synagogue and entered Simon, which is Peter's house, but Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever. This was not she was just not feeling well. She was sick, afflicted with a high fever. We're not talking 99.9. We're talking very high fever.

And they made request of him concerning her. So whether she was not at the synagogue at that time because she was sick, we don't know, but she was at home and she was not well. So he stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she arose and served them. She felt good! All of a sudden, I've never had that when I've had 104 temperature. He took a couple of days, a lot of sweats, and wow!

Actually, the other story in this is in Matthew 8 verse 15. It actually gives another. It said, He turned and He touched her. So all it took was a touch of His fingertips, and all of a sudden the fever was gone and this woman felt great. What was going through His mind?

He could have said, well, you know, why don't you starve her cold and feed her fever? Why doesn't she take her in the other room? She could be contagious. I've got to touch her. She could give it to me. Ah, she's an older lady anyway. That's not what He said or did. It's not what He thought. Why do I know that? Because the compassion He had and the stories that we are going to cover here today, we see how what a place in His heart He had for women. Here, this woman would have been about the age of His mother, wouldn't it? And they thought that Peter and Peter were the oldest of disciples. He was already married and all those that we know. And also, Jesus Christ was somewhere in the 30-30 or something range here. So Peter's wife's mother would have been about His mother's age. How do you think Jesus Christ treated His mother? Do you think He ever brought dishonor to His mother? You shall honor your mother and father.

What this woman had to go through, the thoughts ran across His mind as He looked at this older woman, middle-aged woman, and thought about how His mother had to endure all the taunts about Him. Yeah. Born out of wedlock.

The thoughts, incredible mind of Jesus Christ. I'd like you to go with me to Luke 7. Luke 7, verse 11. This takes place about the day or the second day after He had just healed the Centurion's servant, which happened just after He finished the sermon on the Mount, if you're looking at chronologically. But in Luke 7 and verse 11, He said, now it happened on the day after, that He went into a city called Nain. Nain. Nain was actually 22 miles from Capernaum. Good days walk. Here is the only time in the entire Bible in the New Testament with Jesus Christ that Nain is actually brought up. And it's the only time we can actually see the only time that Jesus Christ was ever in the city. And maybe it was the only time He needed to be for this entire city. And back to verse 11. He went into the city called Nain, and many of His disciples went with Him in a large crowd. So it wasn't just 12-13 gods. It was a large crowd that had followed Him from hearing the sermon on the mount, and then traveling 22 miles with Him, mostly by foot. He had a following. I guess if I heard the greatest sermon ever given in the history of mankind, I might be following that guy too. And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. So here you have a large crowd coming into the city, a large crowd following her with her dead son coming out, as was typically done, as the historians say, most of the city would have come out to pay their respects and to see her son buried. When the Lord saw her, He had compassion. Mine says compassion. Your other translation may say something different. He had compassion on her and said to her, Do not weep, which I am sure people are. And she probably thought, I'm sure if I went up, Oh, don't weep. Why? My son just died. My only son.

And I'm sure the people looked and, Well, who are you? This is our city, our town. This woman just lost her son. You're coming in with your band of merry men and all these other people and these entourage you have and just like you're speaking and talking and look like having a good time and you just come in and what? Expect us to? Not even sorrow for this poor woman. I said, No, He had compassion on her. Then He came and touched the open cough. Whoa, whoa, whoa, that's touching the dead body, isn't it? Technically, you weren't supposed to do that.

Priests would have had a hard time with that one. Oh, no, no, you're in clean. You can't do it. Well, wait a minute. We're about to see that He touched the dead body, but was it? It wasn't really dead. Or was it? Of course it was.

And those who carried Him stood still and He said, Young man, I say to you, arise. And He who was dead sat up and began to speak. Talk about freaking people out. And the large crowd that followed you, I mean, you'd seen some miracles, but raising from the dead wasn't one of them. Yeah. And this boy is just like out there, and all of a sudden, He sits up. What would we be like? Would your knees get weak? Would your hands shake? Or some people start running, you know?

After seeing this, most of the city, seeing this thing happen, I don't think Jesus thought He needed to go back into name the entire three years, three years left, because they saw what He was about, and saw what He did. And He presented Him to His mother. Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, A great prophet has risen up among us. God has visited His people. And this report about Him went out through all Judea and all the surrounding region. One big miracle, one small widow, and it happened. What was going through Jesus' mind? He had experienced His mother being a widow. We don't know how old He was when Joseph died, but we know He wasn't there. He died. And He knew also that this was her only son. And at that time in life, 1982 years, 80 years ago, a widow with no son earned a living, she was going to have very hard times. She was going to be just surviving, and this was her only son. And Jesus had to have looked, and He said He had compassion. Why? He knew what His mother had gone through. He saw the tears. He felt those as He was comforting His mother after the loss of Joseph. What an example to us. Do we? Because God always seems to have all through His Scripture a special soft spot in His heart for widows. And He tells us, men, make sure you do not take advantage of them. And I've known men who have, and I know men who wish they hadn't.

God loves a widow. God loves women more than we men could ever think about. But He wants us to think about it.

Make you go with me to Luke 13, one of my favorite stories in the New Testament. We're making our way here. Luke 13, verse 10. If you've just read this a time or two, it's worth noting. It's worth reading again just to be able to picture this time on the Sabbath, a day like today, in the synagogue. Except it was different back then. So let's go. Check Luke 13, verse 10. Now, He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. Okay? So here He was in the synagogue. But there's a good chance it wasn't Capernaum. Okay? He traveled about, and so it was common for a teacher or well-respected person to read on the Sabbath after they'd read the Scriptures and to point things out. So He was doing that. And said in verse 11, And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over, and could in no way raise herself up. Have you seen anybody like this? Ever experienced someone who was so bent over? I know our nurses have. I see faith. I've seen people that just couldn't even raise themselves up. Can you imagine a woman having to fix meals clean, trying to go to bed, trying to sleep? She couldn't raise herself up. Eighteen years! I occasionally have a bad back problem when Bruce works me too much. And I have a hard time getting out of bed, and I'm kind of stiff, or I'm kind of walking. A couple days, that's over with. Eighteen years!

Except, you see, the beauty of these Scriptures is in the synagogues. The men, they couldn't, or they didn't sit with the women. The women all sat in the back. At that time, women were not considered equal. Uh-uh. So they had to sit in the back of the synagogue. And of course, they weren't allowed to say anything. And here, Jesus Christ was about to do something that was unbelievable to the head of that synagogue. Unheard of! Shocked the world, or their little world. Let's see the story. Why? Because he had such compassion. But when Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said to her, woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. He called her forward. She came from the back, and she came to him up at the front where he was teaching. Wasn't to be done! How dare her! Who does she think she is? Yes. Exactly who Jesus Christ knew she was. Come on. Can you imagine her having to walk all that way? Been over. He's about to take it away. Verse 13. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight. Eighteen years. And what did she do? Then she did the second thing that was wrong. She said something. What did she say? She glorified God! What are you supposed to do in this synagogue? For women, it was keep your mouth shut and sit in the back.

She couldn't help it. And Jesus Christ, I'm sure, had the biggest smile on his face. Wouldn't you love, wouldn't you love, if God gave you just one great gift, every one of you, wouldn't you love the gift of healing? So all you had to do was go touch that person. All you had to do was pray.

Would it put a smile on your face when you saw the person? Kepping this woman who had been over like this for 18 years came, and tears rolling down her face as she stood up and finally knew what it looked like above six foot in the room. How powerful. How powerful. But let's see what the head of the synagogue thought. Verse 14, But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath, and he said to the crowd, Listen, listen. There are six days on which men ought to work, therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day. Was there any bit of compassion? Was there anything in this man? Yes, another kind of spirit. And we have to watch that we're not of that spirit.

And these incredible words in verse 15, The Lord answered him and said, You hypocrite. This wasn't God's synagogue. This was that leader's synagogue, and he had allowed Christ to speak. But you know what Christ realized? This ain't your synagogue. When you come to a synagogue, this is God. When we put this room in God's hands, it is God's. Not any man's. Not the Hampton Inn. Not Chuck Smith. Not anyone. This is God's. And he realized that. And he looked at him, and he was supposed to be the leader of these people, the spiritual leader of these people, and he said, You hypocrite. You hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox and his donkey from his stall, and lead it away to water? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, who Satan has bound. And then what did he say? Incredible words. Think of it. Think on it. Trying to reach this hard-hearted Satan-motivated spiritual supposed leader. Just think on it. What if that was you? You take better care of your oxen and your donkey than you would this child of God. He said, Think of it. For eighteen years, be loose from this bond on the Sabbath? Question mark. Are you even thinking about it? You've lost your mind! Because all you're thinking about is, I wouldn't have done that.

It makes me wonder if a man didn't go, and you did it for a woman. Why would I say that? Why would I say that? Because it'll shine. Matthew let her shine in his book. The historian wrote that rabbis at the time of Jesus would pray every day. I thank God that I was not born a Gentile, a dog, or a woman. It's actual historical fact. In the show's words, you can read their writings. Can you imagine that?

That's why I think this sermon is so important. I want to be like Christ. I don't want to be like that teacher when you see where they come from.

Go back to Luke with me. Luke 7, if you will. Let's go back a few pages. Luke 7. Luke 7. We see this incredible story here. Luke 7, verse 36. You see, earlier Christ had been teaching and taught the Pharisees, and lawyers and scribes didn't really think much of him. But then in verse 36, then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him. Why do you think they asked him to eat with him? Oh, well, maybe something will rub off on me. No. We can see just a little time before Jesus Christ described him and said, you know, you call me a drunkard and a glutton.

Hmm. And now I invite him to eat. Why? So he could confirm that he was a drunkard. And a glutton in his own life. Oh, yeah, now I can really tell everybody. And he went to the Pharisees house and he sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was... What? Everybody knew it. Everybody talked about it. She was a sinner. What do you think her sin was? Well, you're kind of obvious. Good? Because everybody seemed to know. When she knew that Jesus was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table at the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil and stood at his feet behind him, weeping, and she began to wash his feet with her tears, and wiping them with the hair of her head. Nasty, stinking, filthy feet! And she thought nothing. And she obviously heard him speak earlier. And she knew who he was. And what could she do? She gave everything she had. The tears that flowed out of her eyes. So much there would be enough to wet his feet. And she took her hair, and she wiped his feet. Was it nasty feet? Well, yeah, they walked quite a bit. Because there was usually something out there to wash your feet for anybody that comes to the house. Just common courtesy. There wasn't any. How nasty his feet were was where they used to be. And now it was her hair that was nasty, filthy with dust and dirt. Did she care? It's her honor. It was her privilege. How about us? When's the last time we got dirty?

To help somebody.

And said she kissed his feet and anointed them with fragrant oil. I don't think I may have kissed your feet once or twice. Talking to my wife here. But it's not something I come in every day and go, oh honey, can I kiss your feet? No.

She'd say other parts of the body I'd rather kiss than the feet. But I want you to think about this woman who thought nothing. Nothing of this. And she kissed his feet. He saw that. What was going through Jesus Christ's mind? The humility of this woman. She knew. And here she was, looked down upon as a center in the city. Besides the fact she was a woman, because we already knew what Pharisees thought of women, right? We already heard that. And she came in this house. How she got in there, I don't know. Did she just kind of walk in to go? Some place they would eat would actually be on the outside of the house, like a patio. Did she just... She had to go there. She was so moved, so motivated. In verse 39, Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, little did he know Jesus Christ could read his thoughts. This man, if, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, she is a sinner. You see, he didn't know too much about sinners, because he was not one in his own eyes. But he knew it. He knew a sinner when he saw one out there. He just didn't know a sinner when he looked in the mirror. How about us? How about us? And Jesus said to him, answered and said to him, Simon! See, his name was Simon. He was Simon the Pharisee. I have something to say to you. And he said, Teacher, say it! There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed him 500 denarii and the other 50. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which one of them loves him more? Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And he said, Simon, you have rightly judged, which I'm sure the Simon Pharisee, you bet you I did. I'm the man. My house, my rules, pretty well my laws. I am. But then he finds something else. Then he turned to the woman. Okay, get this. Now he turned to the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet. Since the time I came in, you did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom Lou is forgiven, the same loves little, saying to him. And he said to her, your sins are forgiven. And those who sat at the table with him begin to say to themselves, who is this that even forgives sins? Then he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. But she loved much. You know, this wonderful thing we have for the admiration is the love of a woman. Women love deeper. They love more often, and they don't mind showing it. It's a gift that God's given them.

Here, this man didn't... this leader, who obviously knew the Scriptures, the Old Testament, he knew all this, he knew what God said to do to the stranger, knew what he said how to treat people. And yet this man didn't even think enough of him to even let him wash his hands or wash his feet. The common courtesy of the day. And he thought so little of Christ that he wouldn't even do what anybody else would have done. And yet this woman comes in, and she teaches one of the greatest lessons we can learn.

We need Christ, every one of us. And we need what he can do for us, and we need to appreciate that. And it had to be shown by a woman. Incredible to me. I'd like you to turn to Luke 10. Let's go over to Luke 10. Here we have... I won't spend too much time in here, but I love this story because in Luke 10, in verse 38, we find two of Jesus' most favorite women. Most favorite, I guess, has been. Martha and Mary. And he has this incredible lesson. He loves both, and you can see that later in John 11, John 12, as you see that interaction with them. But I want to look at this in Luke 10 and verse 38. Now therefore, as they went, they entered a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore... One of the few times you ever see somebody going to tell Jesus Christ what to do. I love this because... He said, therefore, tell her to help me! And what did he say? I'd disrespect for you. Shut up and sit down. He didn't, did he? Martha, Martha, Martha, he says.

You are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen the good part, with which will not be taken away from her. Mary was there to learn. Martha was very busy, and I kid Mary because she sometimes will... You know, she's worried about this being in its place and this being in its place and so forth. If you don't believe me, just let me run that camera tomorrow morning about 12 o'clock before you guys get here, and Martha will be over there making sure that this is right and this is right and this is right. You know, she worries about these things. A lot of women do, where a man goes, wait a minute, there's nothing on the floor. I guess it's good, right? But here we have this story, and how Jesus Christ invited... Martha invited all these people in, but then she's like, oh, we need to do this. But Mary is saying, I gotta listen to this man. I gotta listen to this man. I'd like you to go with me to Luke 21. So we begin to wrap up here. There's actually 14 different occasions, or 14 different women here in this story of Jesus and His women. Fourteen! We won't touch on all of those, but I'd like you to look at Luke 21 and verse 1. So then, looking up, He saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. Two mites. Very small amount. What's interesting here is, when you look at the history, and I won't go into great detail here, but the Pharisees and the religious teachers at the time where the temple was, there were 18 of these little treasury things, there were 13 scattered around the building, and that's where you would put in your money. And some people love to put those big coins and make everybody see how much money they're putting in. Well, this little old widow, poor widow, came and she was putting hers in. You know why it says two mites there? Well, you just say a mite. Two mites equal this one amount of money. Do you know that the teachers and the ones over the temple at the time, which were the Sadducees, they actually made a law that there was a minimum you could put in. You couldn't put in one. You had to put in two mites. That was the very minimum. If you couldn't put that in, they didn't want any of it. Interesting here. So she might have at one time had one, but now she had to put in two. And so she had to wait up. Is that the reason maybe she was struggling? Because she was poor because it took so long just to come up, but she wanted to give this. What an incredible, incredible way. I want to read this from the New Living Translation. Said, while Jesus was in the temple, He watched the rich people dropping their gifts into the collection box. Then a poor widow came in and dropped in two small coins. I tell you the truth, Jesus said, this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has. What an incredible heart. It's not the story of the widower, is it? Story of the widows might. Men could always find work, even at an older age, but women were not always able to do that. And this woman saved up enough. How do you think He thought? What do you think went through Jesus' mind? As He was watching these people come up there, put the coin in there and rattle it around, oh yeah, oh, yeah, yeah.

And then He sees these little, they're two little coins. Tell me there wasn't an incredible love that filled the space that I would have loved to just bend within 10 feet of seeing that.

How incredible. And when you think of the Samaritan woman in John 4, what was the first thing He said to her? He didn't say, you know, you're living in sin. Didn't do that, did He? Didn't judge her, but He actually talked to her, and His disciples even came up and go, what are you talking to that woman for? Because women were something that you told them what to do. They were more like chattel. You weren't somebody who carried on conversation, and yet you find Jesus Christ carried on conversation. With them, He wanted to. He knew they were a gift. He was at the creation, He knew. Just how special and how many would be in His kingdom.

R.C., the woman caught in adultery in John 8. He was literally her Savior. He saved her from being stoned, and He saved her from the life. That she was living, and He gave her a second chance. Why? Because everybody deserved a second chance. And with Christ, a third and a fourth. But it's the women who brought this out.

I have two more I'd like to go to, which is all tied into one. If we go back to Mark, Mark 5, make sure we quit on time here. We were starting a little bit late, so.

Mark 5.

Mark 5, we see that Jesus Christ is back in Capernaum, where His kind of home base was. But you also see that the ruler of the synagogue, and you also see that Jesus Christ spoke there, He was an interesting man. His name was Jairus. Jairus. And you see that there was a certain centurion who needed something. And so the actual leader of the synagogue had actually told Christ earlier through His people that this actual centurion had actually helped build the synagogue in Capernaum.

And as you can see, Jesus Christ was able to speak in Capernaum as He was not able to speak anywhere else. Why? Because not only was the centurion pretty famous there and lived there, but because of this leader, Jairus, who was ahead of the synagogue, I'm sure they did not, the other leaders of Pharisees and scribes, didn't want to hear this story.

But let's go there in Mark 5, verse 22. And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name, and when he saw Christ, he fell at his feet. Not something leaders typically did, right? And he begged him earnestly, saying, My little daughter lies at the point of death, come and lay your hands on her, that she may be healed and she will live. So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed him and thronged him. There were just people everywhere. Now, a certain woman had a flow of blood for 12 years, and she had suffered many things from many physicians.

She had spent all she had, and was no better, but she was really worse. This woman had spent everything over 12 years trying to be normal, trying to be healed. And she lost it all. So how desperate was she? When she heard about Jesus, she came behind him in the crowd and touched his garment, and she said, If only I touched his clothes, I shall be made well.

How about that kind of faith? How about that kind of heart? How about being that bold, when they weren't even supposed to touch him? Immediately, the fountain of her blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus immediately, knowing in himself that power had gone out of him, turned around in the crowd and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said to him, almost in a kind of a humorous kind of way, You see the multitude thronging you, and you say, Who touched me?

And he looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction. While he was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, who said, Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher anymore? As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he said to the ruler of the synagogue, Do not be afraid, only believe.

How many times do we need to say that to ourselves? Many times. And he permitted no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James and John. Then he came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and saw a tumult.

And those who wept and wailed loudly. When he came in, he said to them, Why make this commotion and weep? This child is not dead, but she's sleeping. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had them all put out, he took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with him, and entered where the child was laying. Then he took the child by the hand and said to her, Talitha kumay, Talitha kumay, which is translated, Little Gurum, I say to you, rise. Immediately the girl rose and walked, for she was 12 years of age, and they were overcome with great amazement. At the age of 12, a young girl was then considered old enough at her next birthday to become engaged.

She had her whole life ahead of her, and now Jesus Christ had given it. He had compassion on older women, on widows. He had compassion on anyone who needed him, but he had compassion on even young children, as we've seen from the examples of today. What about us? Are we Christ-like? Do we have those same feelings? Do we? Like, I'm just amazed when I go into a store, I'm going in and out, and there's somebody behind me, and it's a woman that's walking behind me, and I hold the door, and I'm just, they're just, well, thank you. And it's like, they can't believe anyone did this. What is wrong with us? Men? Look to myself, what's wrong with us? We need to set this world an example, don't we?

Up here. Why? Because they deserve it. Because they're God's greatest creation to us men.

One more story. Let's skip this, but I don't want to, because I, to me, it's an incredible story. Mark 7. Mark 7, verse 24.

As you can see, he was healing. He was, he walked on water, he was feeding 5,000, he'd gone through all this. And then in Mark 7 and verse 24, and from there he arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon, which was way north, and it was a Gentile area. Big time. And he entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but he could not be hidden. He came to this Gentile, he was trying to have some R&R, he was trying to rest, but he couldn't. And you see this woman asking, verse 25, for a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him and she came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek from Syrian Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking to him to cast the demon out of her daughter. But he said to her, let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. I've had this question brought to me many times going, well, he's called her, you know, referring to her as a dog. We have to remember that that's what the people in Israel, in Galilee, considered the Gentiles, called them dogs. They were used to it. But here he had this thing, and throw it to the little dogs. What he actually meant was puppies. So what he was saying to her wasn't this, you know, why should I do this? But he was sent to the lost house of Israel. That was why he was sent. But he came there to get away, and even there, women needed him. Now, it didn't say any men came to him, but a woman, a Gentile came to him, and he had to be thinking about those women, Rahab, Tamar. All those who was in his lineage. And she answered, and she said, Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs. Then he said to her, For this saying, Go your way, your daughter has been made well. What did he show? Showed incredible humility. Here was a chance to walk away. But she needed him. She wanted to talk to him. And she knew he was her hope. Brethren, he is our hope. He is our only hope. But we have an obligation to him. Christ treated women like no other. With respect, love, tenderness, and kindness, he treated women as equals. Are you, ladies in this room, a woman in Jesus' life? Preparing for the spring holy days as we do examination, even exploration into the Scriptures and into our own lives. Men, are we like Christ? Do we show love, respect, and esteem to God's greatest creation and gift to us, men?

And ladies, why were you called? You are called to be a woman in Jesus' life. Are you? If not, I hope you want to be. He had a special love for you. And men, we need to be able to have that same love.