Luke 7-8; Proverbs 15
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One thing I keep
seeing in the gospels is how Jesus changed the status of women in that
time. Women were basically
supposed to just stay in their homes and take care of their husband and
children. They were excluded from
education, and the rabbis had even established that a righteous man shouldn’t
look at or talk with a woman.
Widows were especially in a bad situation during that time, even more so
if they did not have any sons.
Luke 7 tells of
when Jesus was coming to a town and sees a dead person being carried out who
was the only son of a widow. Jesus
saw the mother and verse 13 says, “When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to
her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.” Then
he raised her son from the dead and “gave him back to his mother.”
Also in chapter 7
we see a woman, known in the town as one who lived a sinful life, wash and kiss
Jesus’ feet and pour perfume on them.
A Pharisee said that if Jesus was a prophet He would have know about
this woman and the life she led.
Jesus, of course knowing everything about her, tells her that her sins
are forgiven and that her faith had saved her.
Luke 8 tells us
that in addition to the twelve disciples there were also some women who Jesus
had cured following along with Jesus from town to town. Also in chapter 8 is the story of the
woman who touched Jesus’ clothes in the midst of a crowd so she could be
healed. Jesus said to her,
“Daughter, your faith has healed you.”
Jesus showed
compassion to women and raised their status, and He led the way to changing the
way women were viewed in that society.
We’ll see in just a couple chapters later that Jesus invites women to
listen to His teaching, and actually commends one woman for choosing to sit at
His feet to learn from Him over the woman who was doing the housework and
serving them. And remember who
Jesus appeared to first after He rose from the dead and who He sent to tell the
others? The women.
I find all this
very encouraging, empowering, and freeing. Praying for the many women in our world today who are
oppressed that they would experience this love and freedom that Jesus
brought. I pray they would see
themselves and everyone around them would see them as Jesus does … daughters of
the King.
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