Women at the Resurrection & Our Call to Witness.

Happy Mother's Day, everybody. I'm excited to get into the word today. As we've grown as a church, we've taken Mother's Day as a time to learn from different women in Scripture. It's this hallmark event on the calendar that carries a lot for people. We all come into this space very differently. For some, it's celebratory if you have a good relationship with your mother. For others, it can be hard, with a lot of loss and pain.

One of the beautiful things is that we can look to Scripture to see God as caring, loving, comforting. God wants to do a nurturing, caring work in this room today. At the end, we'll have prayer available in the back. If you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew 26. I'm going to be flipping through Matthew 26 and 27, reading accounts of the women that Jesus encountered leading up to his death and his resurrection.

We're in the season after Easter, this 50-day period referred to as Eastertide. We continue to celebrate the power of the resurrection leading up to the day of Pentecost when God pours his Spirit out on sons, on daughters, on all the people. We're in this season where we're asking, what does it look like to live like resurrected people? Because we are now living in the resurrection power of Jesus. We're going to learn from some of the women today that Jesus encountered.

The women who witnessed Jesus

Starting Matthew 26:

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man named Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. Why this waste? They asked. This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor. Aware of this, Jesus said to them, Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth. Wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.

Matthew 26:6-13

Now jumping to Matthew 27, Jesus before Pilate:

Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? Yes, it is as you say, Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you? But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge, to the great amazement of the governor. Now it was the governor's custom at the feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, Which one do you want me to release to you? Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ? For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over. While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today because of him. I had a dream because of him. But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. Which of the two do you want me to release to you? Pilate asked them again. Barabbas, they answered. What shall I do then with Jesus who is called Christ? Pilate asked. They all answered, Crucify him. Why? What crime has he committed? asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, Crucify him. When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, that an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. I am innocent of this man's blood, he said. It is your responsibility. All the people answered, Let his blood be on us and on our children. Then he released Barabbas to them, but he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.

Matthew 27:11-26

And finally, Matthew 28:

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning. His clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He is risen just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples. He's risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you. So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell the disciples. Suddenly, Jesus met them. Greetings, he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me.

Matthew 28:1-10

Let's pray today. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for the scripture that we get to read, that we get to encounter your presence and hear your voice. God, I just pray in this space that you would meet us, that you would speak to us. You know each and every one of us, our stories. You know what we came into this room carrying. I know that you want to meet us, that you want us to come closer to you.

God, we just surrender these next few moments to you. We thank you for the ways that you've already been present in this place, that you've already moved, that you've already spoken. Would you just continue to do that so that your name would be glorified, Jesus? We ask this all in your name, Amen.

The significance of these women's witness

We have the women who witnessed Jesus on the day of resurrection. We have the woman who anointed him and laid her worship down. And we have Pilate's wife, who was trying to speak up and intercede in a moment, saying, wait a second, this is an innocent man. Let's not go through with this.

We're talking about this because for generations, we see that the curse that was put on women was lifted at the resurrection. Women who for generations had been silenced and oppressed are now being empowered and equipped to preach and to share the gospel in powerful ways. Yet so many people still live under this curse and this oppression, thinking that there are limits to how people can be used by God for his kingdom and for his glory.

Today we're learning from the stories of these women. This message is not just for women. It's for all of us. When Jesus came back and he rose from the dead, he conquered death. He defeated death. There was victory. All oppression, all chains were broken. Every single person that chooses to follow him, when you come and you are his disciple, it doesn't matter what minority group you're a part of. It doesn't matter what oppressive systems you've been under. It doesn't matter your background. What matters is when you choose to surrender your life to him, then all authority in heaven and on earth is given to you. You're commissioned to preach the gospel.

When we talk about preaching and teaching the gospel, we talk about it through the lens of what we see Jesus did. God was a show and tell God. Jesus was a show and tell teacher, leader, king. He didn't just say preaching the gospel is simply saying Jesus loves you. It's also showing people what that looks like, the way that we lay down our lives for others, following Jesus' example. Jesus didn't just say, hey, I love you, but he showed us what love was. He showed it in the sacrifice and the pain that he endured when he stood there innocent. He bore our sin and our shame and rose victorious.

The so what is: the resurrection did not just conquer death, but it broke the curse, raised those who were silenced, and declared that God's mission is for all people. Period. No limitations. All people can be a part of God's mission.

Once we witness the beauty and see this in these encounters that these women have, then we get to bear witness of what we have seen. Tell somebody. Tell somebody about what you've seen. When something good happens in your life, you're like, I gotta tell somebody about this. These women, when they bore witness to this, they were telling people about it because it was glorious, it was beautiful.

Yet we kind of sit here now, on this side of the resurrection, and we can get into habits of coming to church, singing these songs about the power of Jesus, the king of kings, the Lord of lords, and then we just walk away. We don't tell anybody. But when we encounter the beauty of Jesus, when we behold his lordship, his presence, the gift of his grace, it should cause us to want to tell somebody about that. To witness the beauty and to bear witness in every area of our lives.

The women at the tomb

Through the gospel accounts, a few different names are mentioned. Mary Magdalene was a devoted follower of Jesus. She was the one that Jesus healed. She was a disciple of Jesus. She gave financially to Jesus. In John 20:16-18, Jesus comes and says to her, Mary. She turns towards him and cries out in Aramaic, Teacher, Rabbi. Jesus said, Do not hold on to me for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Then Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news, I have seen the Lord.

She's recorded to be like the first person to say, I have seen the Lord. This is so significant because as we look at the curse that was put on women, we see that Jesus comes immediately and empowers a woman to go and teach, be the first one to share that. Signifying that all people now have access not only to come close to him, but to be commissioned to be a part of him ushering in the kingdom of heaven.

Mary, mother of James and Joseph, were also referenced in different gospels. In Mark and Matthew 28, it says Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. So that's another person referenced there. These different women that Jesus appears to are so significant because he's recognizing that Jesus is not concerned about following social norms or cultural norms of what's appropriate or not appropriate. He's saying, hey, my gospel and my mission is inclusive for all of you. All of you can come close.

We also see women who witnessed the trial. It's important to remember the significance here. Women were not listened to. They were treated as property. So this was not something that would have been common to send a letter that could have ended up in the person being beheaded or hurt or something really awful. But Pilate's wife sent a message to her husband, the governor, saying, don't do anything with this innocent man. I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him. I'd love to know what that dream was. But we see here that something led her to say, I'm not going to care about the consequences, but this message has to go through. This is something that I need to stand up for. She saw that Jesus was innocent. There was obviously much more that she saw, but she did not stay put. She continued to go forward.

And then the woman who witnessed Jesus and the beauty of Jesus at Bethany. Matthew 26 tells that story. In other accounts of the gospel, I think in Luke, this same story is the time when Jesus was at the home of Mary and Martha. Mary is found sitting at his feet, listening to him teach. In this account, Matthew talks about this jar. But regardless, we see that she saw Jesus. There were a million other things going on probably in her life. She walks into this room. She could have seen it's all men. I'm not welcome here. She could have seen they're busy. I shouldn't intrude.

But instead, she saw Jesus and she saw an opportunity to pour out her devotion. There's something so special about that. When we see Jesus, it should cause us to want to see him more, to zoom in so that all of a sudden we don't see anything else. Everything else is blurred as we continue to focus on Jesus. We continue to block all of that out to pour out our devotion. She didn't let her fear of judgment stop her from seeing Jesus and pouring out her worship.

The alabaster jar

I want to talk about the significance of this jar. Historically, if we think of perfume, we probably think of it as something you spray or dab on something you can control the amount that comes out. But historically, what would have happened here is this clay alabaster jar that would have been used to hold expensive perfume. Typically, this would have been known for when women were being betrothed. They would pour out oil. Or for burial preparations, you would pour out oil. So it was this deep sense of commitment and devotion.

Here's what I want us to be aware of that's so significant. When it was broken open, there was only one way that it broke open and then it was all out. It's not just like, I'm going to use a little bit of my perfume here and I'm going to save some for a special occasion. It was an all or nothing type of thing. You either break open the alabaster jar and you pour out all that you have and you are generously laying it at the feet of Jesus, or you don't.

I think it's significant for us because sometimes today we have the opportunity to settle for plastic, artificial alternatives. We can just decide how much we want to use, when we want to use it, who we want to use it on. But that's not what this is talking about. When we see Jesus, we either pour it all out or we don't. There's not really an in-between.

Mary, when she witnesses the beauty of Jesus, she bears witness by pouring it all out. By breaking open that alabaster jar and letting out her full devotion at the feet of Jesus. This was an all-in type of move.

But every single woman that we just talked about would have experienced a lot of fear going into what they did. Sending a letter to your husband, the governor, in the middle of this big trial is no small thing. And then we have the women at Bethany, where the disciples are coming at her. They're like, Jesus, what is she doing? And Jesus is already standing up for her. He's like, no, no, no. I'm going to tell you what's going to happen to her. You're all going to remember her now because of her devotion. Jesus is standing in the gap. He's making way for her to continue to do what she's doing.

Breaking the curse

In Genesis chapter three, after sin enters the world, in verse 15, God says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.

To the woman, God says, I will make your pains in childbearing very severe. With painful labor, you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.

This is not God's desire for you. This is a consequence to the choice that was made. It's important for us to recognize that when we read scripture, we read it Old Testament to New Testament through the lens of what was God's intent in the garden, what did Jesus do when he came here to earth, and at post-resurrection, how did he live and what did he show us? Look at God's character through all of it.

The curse was broken. Although sin entered the world and this curse was put upon women, it's so intentional that God, the Savior of the world, comes through the birth of a woman. Then the first person to preach the gospel is a woman. God is continuing to remind us that every curse has been broken. Everything has been lifted because of the power of the resurrection.

There's something so unique in how God has made each and every one of us, the ways that he has created us to bear his image. These women were going to care for and tend to the body of Jesus. At that time, the women represent this nurturing, caring heart of God. They're going to tend the body. It's through that, that they're the ones that see. Not Peter, not John, but it's the women that are there. They're seeing. They're tending. This is not an accident, but this is a divine reversal that we're witnessing here.

When Jesus says, wait for the Spirit to come, in Acts 2, the Spirit falls on sons and daughters. Peter, in his sermon, says, in the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons, your daughters will prophesy. This was radical at the time. This was earth shattering for them to think about. We have all been set free to be a part of God's mission.

Wrestling with difficult scriptures

I do want to mention something important. Anytime we talk about the Old Testament to New Testament and picking out scriptures, there are scriptures that seem to talk about the opposite, of women being silent in the church and women not teaching. How do we make sense of that? How do we hear, God's like, go, tell, share, preach the gospel, and then Paul's like, shut your mouth, be quiet, don't do that?

When we're reading scripture, consider these things. Your historical and cultural context. Read through the context of the whole Bible. Old Testament to New Testament. Interpret through the lens of God's character. Who is God? Does this line up with God's heart for people? And finally, remember the resurrection. The power that the resurrection had means things change after the resurrection.

In 1 Corinthians 14:34, Paul says women should remain silent in the churches. What's the cultural setting here? At this time, things were very disorderly. Historically, women would not have been educated at all. They would have been homemakers. It would have been so rare that they would have been educated. Paul is addressing a very specific church problem. Things were disorderly. Earlier in 1 Corinthians 11:5, Paul acknowledges that women are going to pray and women are going to prophesy in the church. So he's clearly saying this is okay for women to do. But then in this instance, he's saying women be silent.

What we see is that he's not fighting for oppression. He's fighting for order. He's not saying women always be silent. Paul was someone himself that was empowering women to be equipped by the Spirit to preach and teach.

The verse in 2 Timothy 2:12 says, I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man. The cultural setting here, specifically when he's writing to Timothy in Ephesus at the time, the churches were facing very specific problems. Artemis was the Greek goddess that they would have been worshiping. Everything was about female power at that time. So it had gone way over to the other side. Paul is saying, hey, wait a second. We need to address this specific issue.

This New Testament passage was written in Greek. That word to assume authority, translated back, was this domineering type of authority. This uprising type of authority. He's not talking about women, you can never exercise any type of leadership. Rather, he's saying like men, you were not created to rule over women. Women, you're not created to rule over men. We were created to bear God's image together. He's addressing specific things.

It's important for us to understand this as we consider how God is calling us and commissioning us to join him in his mission of seeing his kingdom come and people come to him. Every curse was broken.

Living as witnesses today

For us today, what does it look like to represent the inclusive love of God? To represent his love that says everybody has access to the gospel and everybody has access to the call, to be commissioned and equipped by the Spirit to go and preach and teach?

We all were created to come close. We all have an invitation to bear witness to who Jesus is and then to go and share that with other people his healing, friendship, lordship, guidance, comfort, grace, mercy.

What we witness in this Easter story and the early church is people like Mary, the first to preach the gospel. Phoebe, who was a deacon, leading and possibly carrying the letter to the Romans. Priscilla, who was a teacher, a brilliant preacher. She was going around and teaching with Paul and doing ministry. Junia, an apostle, who was very respected.

God has used women for generations to build his church. There's so much that we can learn from this if we choose to say yes to the power of the resurrection, that it's alive in us.

Yesterday was graduation and we celebrated a few of our own graduates, Elizabeth and Betty. Both graduated yesterday. It was so cool walking around campus. I had this moment where I just got so emotional. But I also thought about the parents. The way I had to hold myself back from not hugging every parent I saw. I just want to be like, congratulations, you did it too. All of us yesterday are here because of the witness of those that have gone before us. Each and every one of us are here today because of those that have gone before us that have bore witness to the beauty of Jesus and shared that with us.

For some of you, maybe it was the gift of a mother or a parent that did that. For others, maybe it was somebody else along the way. Part of my spiritual history and legacy is my grandmother, my mom's mom, who said yes to Jesus at a youth rally in her small town in Iowa when she was a teenager. Years later, she moved to Chicago to be a flight attendant and met my grandpa, who was not a Christian.

When she had kids, she brought them to church by herself and prayed for her husband at the little church that was close to them. Later through that, that's where my mom grew up in the church. My grandfather eventually called the pastor and met with him. The pastor prayed with him and that was it.

I grew up with grandparents that loved and served the Lord. But my aunt, who was older than my mother, remembers when that wasn't the case in their household. Because of those small yeses along the way, things changed. When my parents bought their first home, my dad came from a family that immigrated from Ukraine. They grew up in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox traditions. A neighbor in the new neighborhood invited them to their church. My dad was a guitar player and he saw they had guitars in the church and he's like, sold. That's it.

That's the church where much of my childhood and my spiritual faith was rooted. My Sunday school was there. It was so many yeses and so many people inviting people to say yes along the way. For each and every one of us, you probably have your own unique story. Maybe it's not family by blood or birth. But somewhere along the way, you're here today because people have shared, people have bore witness of Jesus, people have invited. And you also said yes.

Closing invitation

What I want us to think about today as we close is to be reminded that the resurrection did not just conquer death. It broke every single curse and it raised the voices of everyone that has been silenced to be able to speak of what Jesus has done so that we can all come close.

When we come close to Jesus and we receive his care and his love and his mercy, it changes us. God really wants to do a nurturing work in our hearts today. I just hear him reminding us that we are all seen, that we are all called to come close to him, and we're all commissioned to join him.

In that is our continual choice to say yes to that. I'm going to invite you to stand today. For some of us, it might be that just welcoming Jesus into the tender places of your heart and your life. Maybe there are things in areas in your life that you're like, I'm not truly seeing Jesus here and I need to see Jesus.

If you're comfortable, just close your eyes and just position yourself in a posture to welcome the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Maybe for some of us there are things that it's like, yeah, if I'm honest, I walk into the room and I see everything else happening and I don't see Jesus. And I can't even get to the point of pouring my life out because I just don't see Jesus.

If that's you today, just take a moment and ask the Holy Spirit to come and show you. Say, Jesus, where have you been? Will you come? Will you reveal yourself to me in that resurrection power in the same way you did to those women? Those women went to the tomb in the middle of their grief. They went in the early morning in the darkness. They started their journey before the sun had risen.

If you're here today and maybe there's even shame of like, yeah, I can't see, can I just encourage you to follow the example of those women and go to the tomb to see where Jesus lay even if it feels dark right now? Trust and have that faith that the sun is rising. That there is a new day. That there is resurrection life that God wants to take place in your heart, in your mind, in your soul.

For others, yes, to bear witness. Where do you need to see Jesus? Then where do you need to start to bear that witness? Jesus came to give life. It was not something that we were meant to hold close-fisted, but something we were meant to continue to share and tell the people around us. To bear witness of the beauty of Jesus. So I just want to invite people here today to just even take a minute and say, God, who are the people that I need to be praying for? Who are the people that I need to be bearing witness to, of your love, of your grace, of your mercy? Who do I need to let know you're included in God's call? You're included in God's mission?

I just want to create space for us to have another moment where we come back to the Lord and we break open those alabaster jars and we say, God, here we are. Because of your goodness, because of your glory that we have witnessed, we see you and we're going to worship you. We're not just going to come with a little here and a little there and spread it out among other things.

For some of us today, we need to have this moment of centering our lives to say, Jesus, I'm done pouring out my life on other things. I'm here to pour my full devotion at the feet of Jesus. Over the next few minutes, the worship team is going to lead us. Christy and Nathan, the prayer team is going to be available in the back.

If you're here and you want to partner with someone with prayer, whether you're in a dark season and you need to see Jesus, or if you're just like, yes, I want to be empowered to bear witness and I don't feel like I'm capable of it, to go pray with someone. Let the Holy Spirit empower you to bear that witness with boldness. If you're also in a place where there's anything else that you need prayer for, prayer is available and the worship team is going to lead us.

Holy Spirit, we just thank you for your word. We thank you for the women who witnessed you all throughout history and continue to bear your witness. We thank you that it's a reminder to us that we are all welcome to come. No matter how welcome we feel, no matter how much we feel like we should be in the room, you welcome us not only to come in the room, but to come so close that we're pouring this perfume and this oil at your feet. You invite us to be intimate with you, to know you fully, to give our lives to you. You tell us that all power and authority has been given to us. There's nothing holding us back from going and preaching and sharing your love.

God, we just take these next few moments and we welcome the presence of your Holy Spirit to continue to speak, to continue to move. Jesus, would you help us to see you? Would you help us to feel the power of the resurrection? You are so welcome here, Holy Spirit. Would you come?