By Pastor Jay Grant
There were many women in the life of Jesus. Some were wonderfully good, like Mary His mother and the sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Others struggled with weakness like the promiscuous woman caught in adultery and the much-married Samaritan woman.
They ranged in age from the little daughter of Jairus to the elderly prophetess Anna. Without exception every woman who met Jesus came to love Him. Poor women loved Jesus like the destitute woman who touched the hem of His garment. The sick and deformed loved Him, like the bent over woman in Luke’s gospel. Strong women loved Jesus such as the demanding Syrophoenician.
Women so loved Jesus they stood precariously near Him as He suffered and died on the cross. And it was women who first discovered the empty tomb.
Why did women so love Jesus? First of all He was the ultimate man, strong in character, honest and real, afraid of nothing.
Jesus loved them in their weaknesses and flaws. He was quick to forgive them no matter how serious the sin, showing mercy and grace instead of judgment and condemnation. Jesus respected women. They discovered He was one of the few men they could fully trust. He never looked at them with anything other than pure eyes.
I believe Jesus made every woman He met feel beautiful, worthwhile and valuable. He spoke lovingly of the widowed, the elderly and the weak. Women were so captivated by the beauty and love of Christ they kept pouring expensive perfume all over Him, weeping in joy over a man who accepted them as a person of extreme worth.
In the gospels, no woman ever met Jesus without their life becoming significantly better. The same is true today.
I think the women loved Jesus because, as I’ve read often and heard over many sermons, he treated them well and spoke to them in a way that was different for the times. Women were not respected by men and were lower on the totem pole in a sense. Jesus spoke to them as adults, not children. Radical actions for the times.
“Women were so captivated by the beauty and love of Christ they kept pouring expensive perfume all over Him…”
Where in the Bible does it say this? There was only one woman who poured oil on him.
The pastor who wrote this is on a mission trip in Asia. I will email him to get his response when he returns. Perhaps, it related to the preparation of Jesus’s body for burial with fragrant spices…
Hi Staci – thank you for your reply and comments to the column on women. There are two instances of women pouring expensive perfume over Jesus – Luke 7:36-50 (a really touching story) and John 11:1-2. The John account refers to Mary of Bethany while the Luke account refers to another woman who loved Jesus. Another wonderful passage on Mary of Bethany is found in Luke 10:38-42. Thank you again for your interest. Jay
Comments are closed.