Luke's Record of Christ's Acceptance of Women

Well, good afternoon again, brethren. It's a delight to see everyone. It's a delight to be able to worship God and be able to appreciate the Sabbath as we do. I wanted to continue in the vein that I had started here a few weeks ago regarding the book of Luke and focus on one additional thing here with the book of Luke that I think is significant. It actually not only involves solely the book of Luke, but a little bit more into some of the other Gospels. But initially, I want to just point out that as Luke wrote the Gospel that he wrote, he was looking back on the life of Jesus Christ, having talked to many of the people that saw Jesus, who interacted with Jesus, who saw what He did, who saw His miracles, who saw and I'm sure he was able to talk to a number of the apostles. He was able to talk to them, and yet what he wrote, I feel, has to be compiled in a certain way. It was compiled in an orderly way. He was making what he could view as a historical record that he was going to give to Theophilus. But of course, later it was put into the Bible and made a part of the rest record, the Gospel record, that we're all wanting to be very familiar with. At least we should want to be very familiar with the record that we have of the life of Jesus Christ.

Of course, John and Matthew were there with Jesus during the time when he was doing these things, and Mark was writing about them from what Peter said. But Luke was having to put together the historic record. One of the things that stands out, I mentioned to you last time about how he focuses on the prayer life of Jesus. And clearly, that's an example that we want to follow and can deeply appreciate. He also records, more than any of the other Gospels, information about women. And so, obviously, we have a number of women here today. We have a number of women in our congregation. Yes, usually we're kind of half and half. Half men, half women. So, I'm really only going to talk to half of you today. The other half can go to sleep or step outside and get a cup of coffee. But, see, I'm not going to tell you which half I'm talking to, because I'm not solely talking to women or solely talking to men. I'm talking to all of us, because it is important, I think, for us to see what it is that's recorded here in Luke, how important it is, and then even more directly, how it is that Jesus not only viewed, but how He accepted women. Because normally, you listen or you hear of Jesus being spoken about. You hear of the twelve disciples, the twelve apostles. You hear of men who are either part of the Bible. You hear of the record that you read through the book of Acts. You read about the apostle Paul. And you read about Paul and Barnabas and Silas. Most of those are male names, male individuals. And yet, whenever you look at this, I think you'll find it amazing to see the type of appreciation that Jesus had. And actually, this was an extraordinary appreciation that He had for women in general. And so, if you'll think about it, what, where do we find any of the information that we have about the mother of John the Baptist?

You know, we know John is mentioned in a couple of the Gospels. He's mentioned in John, as I recall. I think he's mentioned in Matthew. But whenever you read John or Matthew, you don't read anything about John being born, John the Baptist being born. The only information that we really have in the Bible, talking about Elizabeth, talking about Zachariah, I mentioned Zachariah, I think, last week.

The only reference we have to that is in Luke. And of course, Luke is writing, and he's including this woman. He's including this woman who bore a child kind of like Sarah. Kind of like Sarah in that, you know, Sarah had been barren, and she didn't have a child. She didn't have the child that she wanted.

She didn't have a child that had been predicted. And in this case, Elizabeth was the same way. She was barren. And so, you know, it was a very unusual circumstance for her to have a child, and for him to be born, and of course, for him and later to be, you know, the servant that he was, John the Baptist. But you find in Luke 1 accounts of Elizabeth, and you find even a greater a greater detail of Mary. Now, Mary's mentioned in Matthew, yes, and, you know, there are some significant things that are mentioned there that I'm not discounting in any way, but I'm just pointing out that there's more information in Luke. More information about women, about Elizabeth, about Mary, about what it was that Mary went through, about Mary's, whenever you read, I think it's here in Luke 1 or 2. Let me take a look again. I think it's...

Yeah, it's still in Luke 1. You find in exchange, starting in verse 26 down through verse 38, you find in exchange about Mary and an angel. Now, where did Luke get that information?

Did God just pop it into his mind? Well, I don't know. I would almost imagine that Mary might have told him. At least, as I understand the time frame, that could have occurred.

And he's recording some details about Mary's exchange with the angel. Mary, you know, asking questions and, of course, wondering about what is this angel telling me. How fabulous is this? How unbelievable is this? And, of course, the angel was telling her that you're going to bear a son and you're going to call him Jesus. And his purpose is going to be reigning over the house of Jacob forever. And in his kingdom, there will be no end. Verse 34 of Luke 1 there, Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I'm a virgin? I do not know a man. And the angel said, The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and therefore the child to be born will be holy and be called the Son of God.

You know, this was information that, again, Luke recorded. You know, why the others didn't mention this? I don't know, but this is what we find whenever you look. Actually, you see Mary visiting Elizabeth. You see Mary singing a song of praise. And then ultimately, the beginning sections where it starts talking about John the Baptist being born and later Jesus being baptized. But see, these women were very significant women. Very significant in that they were highlighted here in this book. If you move on up to chapter 8, you find two different accounts.

Two different accounts of groups of women that were accompanying Jesus Christ.

Maybe we can look at this in verse 1 of chapter 8. Soon afterwards, He went on through the cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God, and the twelve were with Him. So, mentioning the twelve apostles. The twelve were with Him as well as some women.

He goes on to mention a number of women here, and I'll focus on that a little bit later. But you see this account. In this case, Luke was pointing out that even though there were a band of men, and the group of men that surrounded Jesus were individuals that Christ was going to directly commission to take a message to the world. But there were also a group of women who were attracted to Jesus Christ, who were brought to Christ to understand something that He had to offer and that they needed. That's really what we find. You find the apostles being called directly. And I would say that perhaps these women were being called, certainly, to provide for and to be with the group of disciples who were following Jesus. Later on here in chapter 8, you find a woman who is suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years, and Jesus heals her. Now, these are, I think, familiar accounts for most of us, and I'm not wanting to go through all of them. Over in chapter 10, you find an exchange with Martha and with Mary. Chapter 10, verse 38. As they went on their way, entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. So Mary and Martha were there, and I think we read about that when we were reading in John 11 how they had a brother who died and Christ came and resurrected him from the dead. And yet, during that exchange in John 11, there were some significant things pointed out about Mary and about Martha. But here, He was interacting with them. He was accepting of them. He was encouraging to them. In chapter 13, you find a woman who had an infirmity for 18 years.

See, actually, none of this, here from about chapter 10 on to about 10 to 19 or so, none of this is recorded in other of the Gospels. These are specific things that Luke has a mind to record and to add to the record and point out something about women. Here in chapter 13, where it talks of this woman in verse 11, chapter 13 in verse 11, just then there appeared a woman with the Spirit that had crippled her for 18 years. And she was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. And when Jesus saw her, He called her and said, woman, you are set free from your ailment. And when He laid His hands on her immediately, she stood up straight and began praising God. But of course, the leader of the synagogue couldn't accept that. They complained about the fact that, how come you did this on the Sabbath? How come you are interacting with people and certainly why are you interacting with this woman?

And healing her on the Sabbath. But of course, a little later, Jesus said, well, you're a hypocrite, don't you know that on the Sabbath, any of you, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox and your donkey from the manger and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, who is a daughter of Abraham, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for 18 long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day? See, now I point out daughter of Abraham because I think that's the only place that's even used. It's something that Luke saw need to write down and to record and how it was that Jesus stated this about this particular woman in a very positive, in a very uplifting way. You find later in chapter 21, an example, the first few verses of chapter 21 is an example of a widow. An example of a widow that Jesus drew everybody's attention to.

And of course, he was pointing out how the widow was giving more than all of the others.

Who had come to the temple to give. And of course, in chapter 23 and 24, we know at the time when Jesus was crucified, there were a number of women. There were a number of women who were there as mother, as well as numerous of these that we've already mentioned, who were there at the time when Jesus was going to go through the ultimate sacrifice. And who were alarmed, they were crying, they were upset, they were distressed. The disciples were distressed, too. I imagine they were crying as well. I would assume they were, and yet it points out that the women were reacting to this complete injustice in a visible way. And in chapter 24, the first day of the week, these women came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared, and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in, they didn't find the body, and they were perplexed. So, women are mentioned more times in Luke than in any other Gospel. I'll just make that statement. And it's something that I think we ought to maybe focus on. Why so many references to women? Why is that important? What stands out about Jesus Christ and His view of women? What can we learn about Jesus's acceptance of women? Because that's what we're really going to see, even as He called this one woman, a daughter of Abraham. Now, the sons of Abraham and those who will become the children of Abraham, the children of God, who will be the heirs of salvation, they're the ones who will be accepted as a part of God's family. But see, God doesn't just simply include men in that category. He includes women. And clearly, Jesus' actions show that maybe more than we've ever imagined.

I'd like to give us a little information, a little background here, just about the setting that Jesus was in when He came to Judea, when He was living during the time of His ministry.

What was the culture like? Was it accepting of women? Did it appreciate women? Actually, we can think of this even here in the United States or around the world today. I think in many ways, women may be more accepted here in this country than in many other parts of the world. You know, many other countries have outlooks. They have attitudes toward women that are very derogatory.

Certainly, not feeling that men and women are equal. Not feeling that they both have a role before God. That is just simply not the case with many countries. And like I said here in the United States, it may be a little bit better. And yet, there still is a certain amount of prejudice, a certain amount of discrimination. In ancient Greece, these were the cultures that Jesus was going to be in some way affected by. In ancient Greece, Aristotle stated quite bluntly that women were inferior to men. So, when you went into the Greek culture, that's what they thought.

That's what they thought. That's what they felt. He said, the male is by nature superior and the female inferior. One rules, the other is ruled. See, that was the outlook that he had in the Roman world, which was a little bit better. They accepted women a little more, but women could not take any legal punitive action against an unfaithful husband, but a husband could against his wife. You know, that doesn't make any sense. But maybe more directly to the setting Jesus dealt with in first century Judaism, Josephus writes, and of course Josephus was a historian. He was a writer who wrote about the history of the Jews. He says, the woman says the law is in all things inferior to the man.

See, that was the way the Jews were looking at it. That was what they were thinking. They thought the man, you know, had a preeminence before a woman. In the Judaism of Jesus' day, discipleship was oriented toward acquiring particular skills in the religious arena and therefore was primarily restricted to men. According to most rabbinic customs of Jesus' time, women were not allowed to study the Torah. Jewish rabbis in the first century were encouraged not to teach or even not to speak with women.

And according to Judaic law, women were not allowed to bear legal witness. This was within Judea. This was within the people who you would have thought would know a little bit better, although some of this was based on a misunderstanding and a misapplication of the law. They weren't focusing on the fact that, well, God said in Genesis 1 that I'm going to create mankind. I'm going to create them in the image of God.

I'm going to create them in my image, in my likeness. I'm going to create the male and female. There was going to be a certain amount of equality that God directed there. And He was going to certainly show that within the framework of the law of God that there should be a correct understanding of accepting men and women. And yet, here within Judea, women were not allowed to bear witness to be a legal witness. So we hear of the two or three witnesses.

You can verify something. Well, two or three witnesses as long as they were men. It wouldn't be that a woman would be a witness. That's insane, but that was what they were following. That's what they were doing. And of course, if the rabbis were not to teach, they were not even to speak to women.

You find that Jesus' approach was quite radical. That was quite different. I mean, we all know that, well, if He didn't approach it like that, maybe that was one of the reasons why they didn't like Him. Because He was able to trample on their rules, trample on their ideas.

He was able to give correct understanding, and they didn't want to learn. But I'd like for us to look at several different issues here, because in order for any one of us, whether we're men or women, each and every one of us needs to be healthy, and we need to be able to grow as a Christian. No matter who we are, we all need to be healthy and growing as a Christian. And there are three kind of primary things, foundational things, that we all need. We all need, first of all, we need to feel like that we do belong, that we are accepted, that we're wanted, that we're cared for and enjoyed for who we are.

I think every one of us, you know, that involves a certain amount of feeling like we're included. And I hope, you know, that all of us could think back and think about how it is that God chose to call me. Again, men or women, you know, we can all think about that, and we can think about how the God called me, and His sense, in so doing, He included me.

He caused me to have a sense of belonging. At least, that's what He wants. Now, whether we really feel that, whether we really believe that God wants us to have that sense of belonging, you know, we can perhaps analyze that, but we all need that sense of belonging. We all need to feel like we are worthy, that we count, and that we are of value to others and to God.

See, that's the second thing. Not only belonging, but feeling worthy, and then finally feeling competent, that we're able to do something, we're able to contribute, we're able to give something that is of benefit. And again, whether we're male or female, those same principles apply.

But I'd like for us to look at those three things in the life of Jesus. And actually, I want to start here in John chapter 4, because the first one involves Jesus breaking virtually all the rules. Here in John chapter 4, so I'm getting out of Luke a little bit here, but I wanted to focus on this in John because it's very significant.

It's significant because, you know, in this chapter we see Jesus encountering a woman. We see him interacting with a woman at a well, and we see him offering something.

We see him doing something. We see him explaining something. All of these things of great significance. See, now what we just read was that pretty much within Judah at the time, women were devalued. They were not respected in the same way that they should have been, the way that other men were. And yet, here in this account, you see in John 4, dealing with this woman at the well, verse 6 it says, Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired from his journey, was sitting by the well, and it was about noon. And in verse 7 it says, a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, give me a drink. And the disciples had gone to buy food in town. They'd gone to Hy-Vee or Price Chopper, or wherever you could go. The Samaritan woman said in verse 9 to him, how is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman, of Samaria? Because it goes on to say, gee, you're Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans. And so here was even something beyond Jesus talking to the woman, is that he was talking to a Samaritan. Whether it was a male or female, he was talking to a Samaritan, and Jews didn't interact. They didn't interact with Samaritans. They certainly didn't accept them. They viewed them in a negative way. They viewed them in a lesser way. And so Jesus answered that question by saying, if you knew what I have to offer, if you knew the gift of life, the gift of God, and if you knew who it is that was saying this to you, give me a drink, then you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. And the woman said, well, sir, you have no bucket and the well is deep. Where are you going to get that living water? He says, are you greater than our ancestor, Jacob, who gave us this well? And Jesus said in verse 13, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.

And the woman said, well, sir, give me this water. I want that. I wish to have that water so that I may never be thirsty and it won't have to come here and draw water anymore.

So this encounter with this woman at the well, you know, was in many ways breaking a lot of norms.

First of all, he was talking to a Samaritan, which was Taboo.

Secondly, he was talking to a woman.

And of course, like I already mentioned, the rabbis said, don't be doing that. You don't need to be teaching women. You don't need to be talking to women. You know, they're in a certain kind of a set apart, kind of a devalued class.

And down in verse 27, the disciples came. They were astonished that Jesus was speaking with a woman. But nobody wanted to bring that up.

Nobody wanted to ask him, you know, what are you doing or why are you speaking with her?

And so in verse 28, the woman left her water jug and went back to the city. And she said to the people there, come and see the man who's told me everything I've ever done.

This woman was excited about this interaction. She was excited about what it was that she had been told.

Now, she had been told a number of things by Jesus Christ that had caused her to realize, in a sense, who He was. Or at least begin to think, well, maybe He is.

Actually, we should back up here. He says in verse 25, the woman said to Him, I know that the Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When He comes, He will proclaim all things to us.

And so Jesus said to her, I am. I am this Christ. I am He, the One who is speaking to you. And so, as the woman went back to town here in verse 29, she said, come and see a man who told me everything I've ever done. He cannot be the Messiah, can He? They left the city and were on the way to see Him.

See, this was an amazing exchange. It's an amazing account of what Jesus felt toward this woman. And of course, you can say that, well, Jesus came to offer the gift of salvation, and He did.

He came to extend the gift of eternal life to human beings. He was going to work through the Jewish nation, as He directly did. He was also going to extend even beyond that out into the Gentile world. And in this case, He was extending this information to a woman in Samaria.

But, see, for Him to speak to the woman, for Him to speak to the stranger, the foreigner that she was, was completely extraordinary.

And yet, what was it that He was doing? Well, He was extending an understanding of who He was.

See, she even came back and said, well, I know the Messiah is coming. I wonder if this is Him. I wonder if this is the One. I wonder if this is who I'm looking for. And actually, Jesus was acknowledging, perhaps, I believe, when you read through John, I think this was the first time that He was pointing out that He was the Messiah. He was the One that they needed.

He was the One who could offer them and give them eternal life. But what it shows here in this account was that this woman was given an understanding of who Jesus was, and then He was actually sending her on a mission. She went back. She was sent to tell others about who she was interacting with.

In verse 39, many Samaritans from that day believed in Jesus, believed in Him because of the woman's testimony. She said, He told me everything that I've ever done. And so, when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them and stayed with their two days, and many more believed because of His Word. And they said to the woman, it's no longer because of what you have said that we believe, but that we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world. So, it's a remarkable encounter, a remarkable interaction with the Son of God with a human being who happened to be a Samaritan, who happened to be a woman, and what was it that He revealed? Well, He revealed who He was. He revealed that He was the Messiah. He revealed that He was the one who had been predicted to come. He revealed that, and then He sent her on a mission. He sent her to take that information back to the town. And of course, this is a woman that He showed, I think throughout this entire encounter, it showed that Jesus treated her with incredible respect.

Now, she didn't understand who He was to begin with. She called Him a Sir. She later called Him a Jew. She later called Him a prophet, but she finally wondered whether He was the Messiah. So, her understanding of who am I talking to, who am I encountering here, was growing. And yet, He offered her and treated her with tremendous respect as a person who was worth His offer of eternal life, His offer of the living water, because that's what He was saying. He was saying that this is what I'm willing to extend. And yet, I think it's interesting as we think about this, to realize that this individual was clearly being appreciated by Jesus Christ. He was accepting her. He was offering her the words of life, the words that we read today, the words that should have impact on us. And so, clearly, even though she was yet, and of course later on down the road, the church was going to begin, and I don't know if she would ever be a part of the church, but certainly she was going to be a part of the Gospel record, and that she was going to be shown who the Messiah was and who the author of living water was. And so, Jesus offered through the respect, through the interest that He had in her, through His willingness to talk to her, even when the disciples thought that was crazy. You know, then why are you doing that? You shouldn't be doing that. We'll be called on the carpet again. You know, the religious leaders will look down on us again, and Jesus, of course, had far more and far more important things to think about. But in this case, I think you see that, you know, a sense of belonging, a sense of feeling that you were accepted, because that's what Jesus was extending. He said, I have something to give, and men or women, you need what I have to offer.

The next thing I'd like to look at is here in Luke chapter 10.

We read part of this. But here in Luke chapter 10, you know, this is going to counter the statements that I made about the Jews not feeling that women should be taught the law, not feeling that they should be spoken to, not feeling that they should be acknowledged or recognized in the way that men would be. But here in chapter 10 of Luke, it says in verse 38, as he went on the way, he entered a village, a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. And we know from the accounts in John that Mary and Martha and Lazarus were very good friends of Jesus. He was able to befriend, you know, everyone, male and female.

And it says, Martha welcomed him and her sister Mary, in verse 39, who sat at the Lord's feet, listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to him and asked, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me! He says, look, I'm having to do all the work. You know, Mary ought to be over here helping move the chairs and helping get some of the food ready and helping to line everything up.

But the Lord said in verse 41, Martha, Martha, you are worried and you are distracted by many things. And yet there was only one thing, the primary thing, the one most important thing, and Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.

So here you see that Jesus was, you know, very clearly accepting of the way that Mary was responding to him. Martha was familiar with him and she was wanting to put on a good spread. She was wanting to put on a good meal. She was wanting to have the house tight eat, which wasn't wrong, but Jesus was pointing out that, well, Mary is focusing on something that's even more important. And she is at my feet listening to what I have to say. And amazingly, you know, that was a kind of a traditional posture of the rabbis as they were teaching their students. Those students were at their feet and then they were being taught at the feet of a learned rabbi. And in this case, Mary was at the feet of Jesus Christ, you know, the chief rabbi, if there ever was one, the chief master, the chief teacher, and she was there at his feet listening, listening to what he had to say. And actually what we find about this is that Jesus gave Mary a sense of belonging, a sense of value, a sense of worth, just by causing her to see how it is that she can be a learner, she can be educated, she can be studying what doesn't say what he was talking about. Maybe he was talking about the law. And again, the Jews were concerned about, well, you can't be teaching a woman the law. Well, in this case, Christ was very, very able to do that. Here in John 11, you have two other examples of Mary.

In John 11, this is also a similar example, again, of Mary's respect for Jesus Christ. And I think she felt that he extended her value. He extended to her the feeling that she was worth something, that she was worthy of the words that he was telling her. And not just that, you know, he was here to talk to men, but he was here to talk to women as well. He was here to give in sight, male and female. And of course, we find later in Galatians, it talks about, you know, there was to be no limitation. Jew or Gentile, bond or free, male or female, all were to be one in Jesus Christ.

And so, you know, Christ's outlook was clearly different than those around him and the leadership of the day. And probably it was quite different from most of the other men there in Judea.

It was different. Different because he was quite accepting, and he was willing to give value here in chapter 11 of John. It says in verse 28, when Martha heard this, she went back and called her sister Mary and told Mary privately, the teacher is here and he's calling for you.

And when she heard it, she went up quickly and went to him. And of course, you know, the others misunderstood why she was doing that. But in verse 32, when Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Now, I think I pointed out here some time ago, you know, she and Martha said the same thing, but probably a totally different tone.

Martha seemed to be scolding Christ for not showing up on time. Mary seemingly respectfully just saying that, well, if you'd have been here, you could have done something I know. But what do we find about Martha's posture or excuse me, Mary's posture?

She comes to Christ, she kneels at his feet, and she is respectfully responding to his words and to his guidance. Even here in chapter 12, chapter 12, verse 3, it says, Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard and anointed Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. See, there's three different incidents where it appears that Mary was quite openly respectful of Jesus Christ, quite openly willing to be a learner of Jesus Christ, quite openly willing to praise Him and honor Him. And I think you find that even in the way that her physical posture, whenever she came into contact with Christ, first of all, as a learner, secondly, just simply respecting Him and then offering that anointing, her physical posture, I think, reflected the posture of her heart, the attitude of humility, an attitude of reverence, an attitude of respect, and certainly an attitude of being teachable. So this is a type of effect that Jesus Christ had on people in general, but directly, as we read here in Luke, on women and in specific on Mary. The final section that I want to focus on is here in chapter 8 of Luke.

Luke chapter 8, and again Luke is pointing out so many of these examples because he focuses on this, he focuses on it so that people can identify with and understand the fact that he's accepting. He values all human beings. He values women, and he values men. But in this case, he's pointing out how the women are accepted. Here in chapter 8 of Luke and verse 1, soon afterward he went on through the cities and proclaimed the bringing the good news of the kingdom of God, and the twelve were with him. So the disciples were there, all of them men.

But the twelve were with him as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities.

Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod Stewart, and Susanna, and many others. And so here he mentions a few by name, Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Susanna, but then he also says many others, many other women were there.

Many other women were attracted to Jesus Christ. And it says these women were there who provided for them or for him out of their resources. So what were they doing? Well, they were there helping Jesus Christ. They apparently had resources. They apparently were able to assist him in that way. They were able to help those who were learning about Jesus Christ, those who were being taught by Christ. And clearly an example of acceptance, of appreciation, but also of showing that their service to Jesus Christ was important. It had value. It had meaning. They could feel like that they were involved and that they were included. And of course, the last example that I want to use here is in Luke 21, which is an example that I mentioned earlier, but one that Luke records so that perhaps Christ had emphasized this. He had pointed it out. He had shown by example, or by pointing it out and by using this as an example, that this woman, she could make a contribution. She could serve. She could help. And he honored that service.

Here in chapter 21 of Luke, he looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury.

And he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.

Now see, this was something that was significant. Significant to Jesus. Significant enough for him to mention. Well, here we have many people who are very able and who are contributing. Perhaps many of them were men. And here we also have a woman who's a widow. And again, in Judea at that time, widows were not looked up to. They were in a sense kind of tolerated. They were a part of the society that wasn't viewed as being very important. But clearly to Jesus Christ. Clearly to Jesus Christ, this widow was very important. Not only that she was important, but that what she was doing was important. He said he saw that poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And he said, truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance. But she, out of her poverty, has put in all that she has to live on.

Now, here we were showing that her example was an important one. Her example had significance. She could serve. She could contribute. She was competent. Now, she might have felt very weak.

She might have felt very tired. She might have felt very limited. Undoubtedly, if this was the amount of money she was able to give, she probably was very limited. But in the eyes of Jesus Christ, she was highly regarded. She was highly respected. And again, I think we see that this is what it is that Jesus had as an attitude that is reflected in the Bible, but directly here in the book of Luke, with the numerous of the examples that Luke includes, just showing that by His talk, by His teaching, by His touch, by His appreciation of the service that women provided, Jesus showed the type of respect, the type of incredible respect that He has for women, and that I think we should have as well. So I offer this in that I hope that those of you who are women realize how important you are to God, how important you are to Jesus Christ, how important your service, how important I hope you can feel that you belong. I hope you feel that you are of value, that you have worth to God, and I hope that you feel your service, your service is commendable. Because that's what Jesus said about the women that He encountered.

And of course, I hope that all of us as men, I hope that all of us learn to reflect the type of attitude, the type of respect, the type of appreciation for women that Jesus had. Because even though we can say that we respect other people, we may not always reflect in the same way, you know, the same outlook, the same understanding, the same appreciation, and certainly the same love that Jesus Christ did for each and every person who had been called to be a part of a divine family, to be the sons and daughters of Almighty God. See, that was Christ's purpose to begin with. That was the plan of God to begin with, to bring sons and daughters into the family of God. And yet, in the world that Jesus entered that He went into, clearly, they were out of balance.

They were not properly seeing the role of women or the way in which women can contribute.

And yet, I think you find that Jesus Christ put that in the right way. So, if we read this, we can see that Jesus brings dignity, He brings value and worth to women and to their role as servants. And of course, we can apply that to our service here in the congregation, to our service and our families, to our serving and respecting one another the way that I think Christ did and the way that He wants all of us to do.

But I hope that this can be of benefit to us as we think about how it is that Christ was very accepting, very appreciative, and truly gave the type of respect and dignity that we should give to women.