The Gentle Savior

Seeing Jesus Through the Eyes of the Women Who Met Him

Risky Business

March 31, 2012

What do the following have in common?

– Reaching out in a crowd to touch a rabbi’s robe, even though it will make him ceremonially unclean.

– Waltzing into a house full of hostile religious leaders who all know about your immoral past.

– Sacrificing a year’s worth of wages to a man who didn’t ask for it.

– Speaking up first to a Jewish man who knows you only as an assertive Gentile woman.

Risk is what these actions share. For women in first century Palestine, these actions were each inherently risky.  (Read More)

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All the Single Ladies

March 17, 2012

Despite all our best efforts, the number of single adults  in the U.S.  now nearly equals the number of married adults. Just under half of those single people are women.

Women today are single for a variety of reasons. Some are completing their education and getting established in a career before getting married. Some are taking advantage of their freedom to engage in ministry and mission work. The average age of first marriage is closing in on 30, although women are not necessarily waiting that long to co-habitate. This twenty-something group also, of course, includes women who would like to be married but are waiting to find the elusive “Mr. Right.” Not to be disregarded are those women who are uninterested in ever being married, some of whom commendably choose to devote their lives to the service of God and his people.  (Read More)

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Protecting God’s Daughters

March 7, 2012

Yesterday, my daughter Jessi and I attended a conference on violence against women at the UVA Nursing School. We learned more about the emotional and physical tolls of abuse on its victims, about interventions to protect victims and aid in their recovery, and about efforts here and abroad aimed at violence prevention.

Consider these staggering U.S. statistics:

– One in four girls and one in six boys is sexually abused before the age of 18.

– More than 600 women every day are raped or sexually assaulted.

– One in five women will experience rape or attempted rape during their college years.

– Women experience about 4.8 million intimate partner-related physical assaults and rapes every year.

– There is a $32 billion/year business in commercial sex trafficking of women and children in the U.S. The average age of entry into prostitution is 11 to 14 years old. The U.S. is the second largest destination for trafficked victims of sexual exploitation. (Read More)

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Re-Imagining the Woman at the Well

February 27, 2012

I love the whole “Gospel of John the Film,” but my one of my favorite sections is the portrayal of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. It made me see this interaction in a whole new way. Watch it and see what you think:

 

Don’t you love the actress they chose for this part? What about the way she seems skeptical of Jesus at first? I also really became aware for the first time of her role as an evangelist. She brought her whole village to Jesus! 

For more thoughts on this story, see previous post, “What Do You See in Sychar?”

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Doing or Being?

February 16, 2012

Accomplishing
Serving
Teaching
Managing
Supporting
Contributing
Working

Do any of these activities contribute to your sense of self-worth? These kinds of action words—and many others like them—validate our beliefs that we are making a difference in other people’s lives. It’s a great feeling to do something and then feel the pride of accomplishment, the exhilaration of other people’s praise, the warm glow of another’s appreciation. 

What if an accident or illness struck, and you physically could not do any of these activities anymore? What if you had no energy to serve or suffered too much pain to work? What if you were paralyzed and could literally do nothing but lie in bed? Could you accept the love of God, or even the love of your family and friends, if you were so physically incapacitated that you could do nothing but say “thank you”? (Read More)

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Women of Notable Faith

February 1, 2012

Jesus explicitly mentions the faith of only three women in the Gospels. Can you guess who they are? His mother maybe? Mary Magdalene? Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus? 

Nope. These women may have possessed notable faith, but the Gospel writers never mentioned it. The faith Jesus commented on belonged to three women least likely to be commended by his fellow first-century Jews:

 1. A ceremonially unclean woman who had missed worship services for 12 years.

2. A Canaanite woman who was neither an ethnic nor religious Jew.

3. A prostitute. 

Here’s what Jesus said to these women.  (Read More)

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Beware of Over-Focus on the Family

January 24, 2012

Family is an important topic in the Gospel of Matthew. The book opens with a genealogy, and among the 42 fathers in Jesus’ lineage four notable mothers are also named, plus of course his mother Mary. In fact, the word mother occurs more in Matthew than in any other Gospel.

In Matthew Jesus quoted Mosaic laws about honoring parents and not cursing them. He even rebuked religious leaders for creating loopholes that released them from providing financial support to their parents.

Amongst all this focusing on the family, some other things Jesus said seem almost paradoxical. After speaking on the imminent persecution of his followers, he ended this way. …

Read the rest of my guest post about putting family in its proper perspective on the Kyla Joy blog.

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Putting Guilt in Its Place

January 19, 2012

As I read a new Christian book recently, I realized that I am often selfishly concerned about my physical appearance and what people think of me. A familiar feeling of guilt rose up in my heart. Like you, I want to please God, but when I compare myself to the ideals of scripture and the sinless perfection of Jesus, it seems like I will never do enough or be enough. Since I know I’ll never get life completely right, it almost seems like it would be wrong not to experience a pervasive sense of guilt. Read more of this guest post I wrote for the blog Jennifer Slattery Lives Out Loud.

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Guest Blog: A Lesson from Peter’s Wife

January 12, 2012

I’m delighted today to introduce you to Sharon Hodde Miller, author of the blog She Worships. Sharon is working on her PhD at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. She’s a deep thinker who knows not only the Bible and church history but the contemporary relevance of it all. I liked her post from last August on Peter’s wife so much that I invited her to adapt it and repost it here for you to read. What I love most is her confidence in the strength of Christian women – strength that has its source in the power of God.

 

Did you know that Peter was married?

I’m sure I learned this fun fact at some point in my life, but I had forgotten about it until recently when my pastor mentioned it. Part of the reason Peter’s wife doesn’t enjoy much remembrance because she doesn’t appear directly in Scripture. In fact, the only biblical reference to Peter’s marital status comes from Matthew 8:14– 

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law
lying in bed with a fever.

Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law, by the way, and it is probably because of miracles like this one that Peter’s wife became quite the committed disciple herself. We know this from an account written by Eusebius, a Roman historian born in the late 4th century who documented the growth of the early church. 

According to Eusebius, Peter’s wife was martyred the same day that Peter was famou (Read More)

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Truth Prompted by an Outspoken Woman

January 2, 2012

As [Jesus] said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27-28 ESV)

Here is another of those obscure interactions between Jesus and a woman that is easily overlooked but valuable nonetheless. Earlier in Luke 11, Jesus had freed a man from his demon, which amazed the gathered crowd. Then he had faced down the skeptics who said his power came from Beelzebul (the “prince of demons”). 

Obviously impressed by Jesus’ discourse, a woman in the crowd yells out her opinion, “Wow, I bet your mom is really happy to have you for a son! Even her body parts that nurtured your life are blessed.” 

(Read More)

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