Category: Women in Leadership

Red Letter Year: 7/16

Luke 8:1-18

1 Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, 2 along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.

4 One day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him: 5 “A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. 6 Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. 8 Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, ‘When they look, they won’t really see. When they hear, they won’t understand.’ 11 This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. 12 The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. 13 The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. 14 The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. 15 And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest. 16No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed. A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house. 17 For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all. 18 So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.”

Comments

The reversal theme Luke has been developing carries an important implication that we see in the beginning of this passage. Women were key leaders in the early Jesus movement. In fact, women have been key leaders throughout the history of the church. Sadly, they have often had to lead despite and in the face of persecution from male members of their church communities, who seem to have ignored this passage and all of Luke’s Gospel really. I have discussed before the issue of women serving at the highest levels of church authority. I am not going to rehash that here, but suffice it to say I am convinced the practices and teaching of Jesus should take precedence over all else, even the cultural accommodations of Paul. Those who restrict or deny women from pastoring or otherwise leading in the church are not following Jesus as well as they ought.
The parable of the sower is found in Matthew and Mark as well, and as we keep seeing Luke does some subtle, yet significant editing. He cleans up the grammar and makes the analogy more consistent with its agricultural theme. The seed in rocky soil suffers from lack of moisture. The plants choked by weeds are unable to mature their fruit. The tribulation/persecution becomes a season of testing – the etiolation all seed goes through. I think each of these is worth reflecting on as Luke presents them. Spend some time thinking about what moisture might mean for you, what it looks like for seed to break through in your life, what fruit ripening means to you.
Luke also does two things in keeping with his overall project. He alone states flatly that “the seed is the word of God.” He also drops the thirty and sixty fold options that Matthew and Mark have. These moves both reflect the primacy of the Holy Spirit who brings forth the word of God (we cannot speak the word of God apart from the Spirit) and is responsible for all fruit produced.
Finally, the desired response from the parable is different for each writer. Mark wants the hearer to “accept it.” Matthew wants the hearer to “understand it.” Luke wants the hearer to “hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bring forth fruit with patience.” This is more clearly a call for a faith response and stance of protecting what has been received. But so we don’t misunderstand, Luke follows this parable and explanation with the metaphor of not hiding a lamp under a bushel. Protecting the seed does not mean hiding it away like a squirrel storing nuts for winter. Ironically, we protect the seed implanted in us by sowing it into others. We toss out the seed that is the word of God as freely, continuously, and indiscriminately as the sower in the parable. We hold it fast by casting it far and wide. This is also how we bear fruit. This is the work each and every follower of Jesus is called to without exception or limitation (see my first point above).

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Red Letter Year: 7/15

Luke 7:36-50

36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people — 500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

“That’s right,” Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. 47 I tell you, her sins — and they are many — have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”

50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Comments

The other three Gospels all report that Jesus was (pre)anointed (for his burial) not long before his arrest by a woman while he was staying at Simon the Leper’s house in Bethany. This story bears some resemblance to that event, but it takes place in Simon the Pharisee’s house in Nain and occurs well before the arrest that leads to Jesus’ death. Other than these logistical differences, there are key things that make Luke’s story distinctive. The woman here is a “sinner of the city” which is likely a euphemism for a prostitute. She is one of the sinners Luke was talking about yesterday, the ones who are justifying God. It is not much of a reach to think she had been baptized by John and was so moved by Jesus’ affirmation of her repentance that she responds as she does here. We aren’t told when she repented, but Luke uses the perfect passive tense – she has already been forgiven of her sins when she barges into Simon’s house.

Her tears and kisses also set Luke’s account apart from the others. Only here does the woman cry – enough to wash the dirt off Jesus’ feet. And only here does she kiss Jesus’ feet. The way Jesus describes it in vv.44-45, she kept crying and kept kissing the whole time (Luke uses the imperfect tense here, ongoing action). She lets down her hair (an exposing, provocative act in that culture), dries Jesus feet with her tresses (John’s story has this), and pours the fragrant oil on his feet. Everything about her actions shows an extravagant affection for Jesus. She is reflecting back the love she has experienced from God. God has accepted her and forgiven her, which is quite the opposite of how her society has treated her.

We should note than then (not much unlike now), prostitution was not a glamorous lifestyle or one normally chosen voluntarily. This woman was likely either abandoned by her father or husband (either through neglect or death) or sold into prostitution by her father or master. Her economic choices were either very limited or perhaps she had no economic choice at all. Her life had most likely been a hell on earth, abandoned by the one who should have protected her, abused by her johns, and condemned by her religious leaders. Then John and Jesus enter her life and proclaim that God loves her, accepts her, and is building a new kingdom where she will not be subjected to such physical, emotional, and economic abuse. In the community of faith Luke will describe in Acts, she will either find a new husband who accepts her as Christ does, or she will be given provision along with the other widows. She will join the growing contingent of women who follow Jesus that Luke describes in the very next passage (8.1-3). The positioning of those verses was no accident.

By contrast, Simon does not even show Jesus the honor due a guest in his home according to the culture of the day. He does not have a servant wash Jesus’ feet. He does not greet Jesus with a kiss.  He did not offer oil for Jesus’ head. These were not mere oversights, they were deliberate insults. Simon does not accept Jesus. He calls Jesus “teacher” not “Lord” and questions (in his interior thoughts) Jesus’ prophetic status. Jesus demonstrates that he is a prophet by knowing the woman’s heart, reading Simon’s mind, and knowing Simon’s sin. Note in the parable that both debtors owed the lender money. In comparing Simon to the woman, Jesus names them both as sinners. Simon would not have missed being lumped together with a woman he so detested.

One more thing to note here. Jesus asks Simon, “Do you see this woman?” (v.44) Of course he saw her. What Jesus was asking was whether Simon could see her with prophetic vision. Clearly he could not. When Jesus declares her sins forgiven (v.48), he was not making a new declaration. She had already been forgiven. The declaration was as much for Simon’s (and the guests’) benefit as it was for hers. She was already forgiven and she already knew she was forgiven. Jesus was letting the rest of them in on what he and the woman already knew. The question should ring in our ears – Do we see the person in front of us? Do we really see them? Do we see their hearts? Do we see what God is doing in their lives? What God wants to do in their lives? Do we see past the cultural stigmas and quick condemnations? We can see them just as Jesus saw her – through eyes anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Then our eyes will be full of tears too.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.