Familiar but Fresh – A Radical Woman

Posted by David Ward on 13/06/2025
Posted in: Bible, discipleship, Personal thoughts. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”
Luke 10:41-42 MSG

Two women: one quite conventional by the cultural norms of the day, the other scandalously radical.

Both set out to serve and honour Jesus. Martha made him feel at home and busied herself providing a meal. Mary, on the other hand, did something completely alien to the status quo and sat listening and learning at the feet of Jesus.

Anyone looking on would have known that for anyone to sit at the feet of a Rabbi like Jesus meant that they considered themselves to be an apprentice (disciple) of that Rabbi (remember Paul talked about being “educated at the feet of Gamaliel” in Acts 22:3)  And in Jewish culture of the day women were never apprentices of a Rabbi.

Apparently her disregard of the status quo didn’t bother Jesus either. When Martha protested about Mary’s abandonment of kitchen duties, Jesus took Mary’s side and praised her for getting her priorities right. He didn’t say Martha was wrong…he pointed out that there’s a time for work and a time for learning. Martha could probably have joined Mary at Jesus feet but she chose another way.

At the time, Jesus words would have been pretty radical, even shocking. Women were meant to serve domestically and not be a Rabbi’s apprentice. Jesus treated women with more honour and respect than the surrounding culture on so many occasions. As Ruth Tucker and Walter Liefeld say in their book “Daughters of the Church”:

“the ministry of Jesus so clearly shows us an equality between men and women that, once you notice it, you see it everywhere.”
(Quoted in “Women and the Kingdom” by Faith and Roger Forster)

It’s hard to reconcile Jesus attitude with the way the people in power minimised the role of women in the church as it developed beyond its early beginnings.

Familiar but Fresh – An Excluded Woman

Posted by David Ward on 11/06/2025
Posted in: Bible, Personal thoughts, Prayer, Relationships. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

But he went on asking, looking around to see who had done it. The woman, knowing what had happened, knowing she was the one, stepped up in fear and trembling, knelt before him, and gave him the whole story. [34] Jesus said to her, “Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague.”
Mark 5:32-34 MSG

Here is another invisible woman…this time one who wants to stay that way so that no-one notices her! I’m sure you know about the purity laws of the Old Testament (you can read the relevant bit in Leviticus 15: 25-27). Her prolonged bleeding made her ceremonially unclean; she wasn’t able to mix freely in her community and join in public worship. Anyone she came into contact with was also considered to be ritually impure. In short she was excluded from her community.

She was probably fairly well-known, so she took a big risk being in a crowd of people. She took an even bigger risk when she touched Jesus. She must have known that touching him would mean that he shared her impurity.

However, Jesus didn’t just share it…he took it! He sensed that healing power had gone our from him an she was healed.

He wanted to meet her. He was surrounded by crowds and on his way to the home of a synagogue leader who had begged him for help, but he wanted to meet her, to hear her whole story and to commend her risky faith.

She was frightened that he would be angry, would despise and exclude her like everyone else. What a surprise she got!

Sometimes we have things in our lives that trouble us, that maybe we’re too ashamed to bring to Jesus, that we want to stay hidden. And the fact that we know that he knows anyway doesn’t help us to stay close to him in our prayer lives. Sometimes Jesus even responds to our unspoken and silent prayers when he sees our need, senses our tentative reaching out and hopeful touch.

And we too are surprised by the grace and love of Jesus, who far from excluding us, welcomes us back.

Familiar but Fresh – An Invisible Woman

Posted by David Ward on 10/06/2025
Posted in: Bible, forgiveness, Personal thoughts. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

“Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker cancelled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?” [43-47] Simon answered, “I suppose the one who was forgiven the most.” “That’s right,” said Jesus. Then turning to the woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, “Do you see this woman?”
Luke 7:41-44 MSG

“Do you see this woman?”

I wonder what Simon the Pharisee thought when Jesus asked this question. I’m guessing, from verse 39 of the passage, he may have thought, “I think I see her better than you do. I know exactly what sort of woman she is, and clearly your prophetic powers have let you down on this occasion!”

He saw her just the way he wanted to see her, a bad person, a problem, putting on an embarrassing display, spoiling his dinner party and compromising Jesus. But he didn’t really see her, a woman all too aware of who she was and in need of forgiveness and an acknowledgement of her worth.

When Jesus tells the story of the two debtors, Simon’s response is a little guarded and half-hearted; I think he knew just where the story was going. And Jesus ‘the prophet’ knew only too well what was in his heart and how different it was from what was in the heart of the woman. He really saw, both the woman and Simon.

I’m left wondering why Simon invited Jesus in the first place. The invitation seemed to lack many of the common courtesies usually given in that culture…was Simon just after an opportunity to test Jesus, to check out his credentials? Was he secretly pleased when the woman showed up and made such a fuss of Jesus? His whole approach was restrained and cautious.

Jesus saw two hearts…one distant and self-righteous, the other shockingly intimate and full of love. She had no doubts about who Jesus was and even though she must have expected yet another rejection she showered him with loving care. No restraint here, just grateful abandoned care and worship.

How do we love Jesus?

We are all constantly making conscious and unconscious decisions about the way we will behave in our relationship with Jesus. Sometimes we set limits, and allow expectations or fears to moderate our response to Jesus. What causes us to love Jesus joyfully and freely with an abandoned love?

Sometimes I think we forget that sin is not just a list of bad things we do. If we think that then it’s easy to compare ourselves to others who we can say are worse sinners than we are. But sin is about how we all fail to allow God into every part of our lives, how we claim for ourselves the place that is God’s alone…and our attitude to Jesus is a good measure of how grateful we are that our disposition to do the wrong things is forgiven and being transformed by our relationship with him.