Five Minute Friday: Sunrise

Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday, where a group of writers get together and free write about a one word prompt for 5 minutes. Today's word is "sunrise."

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint the body of Jesus.  Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they went to the tomb. They were asking one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb?”

-Mark 16:1-3 (Berean Study Bible)

Just after sunrise. It was the third day, and the details of the resurrection were falling into place. Exactly what Jesus said was going to happen, was happening, except these women didn’t seem to know that.

Jesus was crucified on Friday. He breathed his last at three o'clock in the afternoon, and they took his body down and buried him quickly, before the Sabbath would begin. The women didn’t have time to prepare his body appropriately. The next evening when the Sabbath was over, it would have been dark and hard for them to see, so they had to wait until the next day.

Sometimes, we have to wait too. It might be because of circumstances beyond our control, but God is still working while we are waiting, just like He was here.

The next morning, on a Sunday morning, the women took the spices they had prepared to anoint Jesus’ body. Why would they take spices to anoint his body? They thought He was still dead. They didn’t hear, or believe Him when He said he would rise again. We can tell by the conversation they were having with each other,

Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb?

-Mark 16:3

Sunrise. I love that time of day. Everything is fresh and new. It reminds me of the Scripture,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

-2 Corinthians 5:17 (English Standard Version)

The old had gone. The Son had risen, but they did not know it yet. But they were about to find out.

All four Gospel writers include this event. Some give more details than others. Only Mark and Luke mention the spices. Different amounts of women are mentioned. Details about the stone are different. But you put them together, and you get a complete picture of what happened there that day. And no detail is without purpose.

God has a plan for each word.

If you read further into the story, you find that the women have conversations with angels. They get to see an empty tomb. And eventually, they are the first ones to see Jesus risen. They are the first eyewitnesses to the Resurrection.

This account just says so much to me about Jesus’ character. How much He must love women to make them a part of those events. How much compassion He must have to meet them where they were in that hour. They didn’t believe He was risen. They thought He was dead. But still He chose to make them a part of His story in those moments.

Blessings to you today as you grow in grace and the knowledge of Him,


Beth

Names in the Life of Jesus

There have been quite a few times that I have heard people speak about women in the Bible and try to combine the different personalities, like the woman who was a great sinner, or Mary Magdalene, or Mary of Bethany. But, I think they were all individuals. I have a couple of reasons why.

The first reason was the authors were specific. They called them the names of people to whom they were connected, or linked them to the name of a specific region. Like, the mother of James and John (John 20:20) or Mary and her sister Martha (John 11:1). Mary Magdalene was most likely called that because she was from a region called Magdala. And the Syrophoenician woman was called that because that is where she was from.

Second, if something changed about them, usually the writers let us know. Like when Jesus renamed Simon. The author would state different names for one person., and Simon, who was also named Peter (Acts 10:18).

Finally, and this is opinion, I feel like we short change the ministry of Jesus when we combine persons. I believe that a lot of those people were all very interconnected, more than we know. But Jesus touched so many lives. How do I know that?

John 21:25 says, "There are many more things that Jesus did. If all of them were written down, I suppose that not even the world itself would have space for the books that would be written."

He's a great Jesus, and we want all their stories to be told. Because in them, we find ours.

Women in the Life of Jesus: Women and Ephesians 4

I hope if you have made it this far with me, that you have enjoyed my series, Women in the Life of Jesus.  It was a lot of fun to write, and I learned so much along the way. Women are valuable to God, and He takes great delight in us.  We are not inferior to men, but equal in humanity and in the call He has on our lives.  That is so important to know in the age of the Church.

The Lord spoke to me earlier this year and told me that the reason there are people in opposition to women in leadership in the Church, is that they don’t understand Kingdom dynamics.  We are not called to Lord it over individuals but to serve.

But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”-Mark 10:42-45

All women have been given gifts in the Body of Christ.  Some of them are called to the list in Ephesians 4. If you will see my post about Mary the Evangelist, I explain more about this passage there.

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,  for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, -Ephesians 4:11-12

Examples of women from the Bible who possibly walked in the ministry gifts in Ephesians 4 include:

Apostle-Junia (Romans 16)

Prophet-Deborah (Judges 4), Anna (Luke 2), Phillip's daughters (Acts 21)

Pastor (Shepherd)-Lydia (Acts 16), Priscilla (Romans 16)

Teacher-Priscilla (Acts 18)

Evangelist-The Samaritan Woman (John 4), Mary Magdalene (Mark 16)

This is a short list. There are many other women listed in the Scriptures, and down through Church history that served this way. If you find these women in Scripture, you find them in the Body of Christ today.  All of these woman are a picture of how other women are supposed to be functioning in the Church.

Jesus loves women. We see Him teaching women great spiritual truths throughout the Gospels. We see them functioning and active in the Early Church. And we should see them ministering to others in whatever way the Lord has gifted them today.

I believe there are lots of women out there who, though they may not have a job in a physical church building, you may not see yourself doing anything for the Body of Christ.  That is not true. The Body of Christ is not in a building.  It is in the people who come in the building. Jesus lives within you. Much of the ministry that took place within the Early Church as found in the book of Acts happened outside of a building. I am not saying that it is not important for Believers to meet together because it is. Connection to the Church encourages and strengthens us.  But you carry the Kingdom of God wherever you go.  He has placed you where you are now with purpose and given you gift of the Holy Spirit and ministry gifts to carry out His plans for your life, to tell others are about Jesus and to call other people into the Kingdom of God.  Just keep stepping forward and get to know Him and all that He has done for you. Then you will be able to lead many others to Him.

Recently, I wanted to look up some information about women in the book of Romans, so I pulled this book off my shelf called, "What the Bible is All About" by a woman named Henrietta Mears. This is a very well known book, and I highly recommend it for your Bible study. It contains a short synopsis of each book of the Bible along with some other information about Biblical history for your study.

As I was flipping through the pages I came to the section on Judges, and my eyes fell on this, a commentary by Ms. Mears about the prophetess Deborah. It was so cool that I had to share. It reads,

"Now a prophetess arises in Israel (Judges 4:4) She was one of those rare women whose heart burns with enthusiasm when people's hearts are despondent. Many a queen, like England's Elizabeth II, has reigned with honor and wisdom, and often a woman's voice has struck a deep note that has roused nations." (page 113, "What the Bible is All About")

Isn't that an amazing tribute? There are many woman in the Bible whose voice has changed circumstances and turned the tide of events for people. There are many countless women throughout Church history whom this could also be said about. And God is still raising up women for this purpose today!

Many blessings to you as you grow in grace, peace, and love in Him,

Beth

To read more posts in this series, go here to Women in the Life of Jesus. 

Women in the Life of Jesus: Mary Magdalene

Scripture where she is found: Matthew 27-28, Mark 15-16, Luke 8 & 24, John 19-20

Her story:

Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him,

and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities-Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons,

and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.

And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable:

“A sower went out to sow his seed.  And as he sowed…”

-Luke 8:1-5

My thoughts:

Mary called Magdalene is mentioned mainly throughout the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  But I want to focus on the beginning of her story.

There are many misconceptions about her.  People have taken her and combined her with other women who were called sinners in the Gospels. She has often been portrayed as a prostitute. But the Scripture is very clear and simple about what was going on with her.

In Luke 8, we are told that Jesus healed certain women of evil spirits and infirmities, one of which was Mary Magdalene. The writer of this Gospel, Luke, was a physician. He says that out of Mary came seven demons.  Now, he was a physician and he would know if she had another illness.  I believe he would have specified it.

She was demon possessed.  

If we look at other characteristics in the Bible, we can pinpoint some things about demon possession. Further down in Luke 8, Jesus encounters a demon possessed man.  The demon made the man very violent and very strong.

In Acts 19, a demon possessed man, overpowered the seven sons of Sceva, and beat all of them up.

In Matthew 12, a demon possessed man was blind and mute.  

In Matthew 12 and in Luke 8, in the instance of Mary, the Bible says that Jesus healed them of the evil spirit.  In Luke 8, with the man with the legion of demons, he cast them out.  He had authority over all of it. And they left immediately.

Both Mary and the man in Luke 8 both wanted to follow Jesus after they were healed and set free.

I think it is important to note that once a person is born again, by believing on Jesus and confessing Him as Lord, an evil spirit cannot take up residence in a person.  The Holy Spirit will be residing on the inside of the born again man or woman, and He isn't going to share.

The freedom for Mary is where her walk with Jesus started.  She became one of His most faithful followers.  But that is another post.

To read more posts in this series, go here to Women in the Life of Jesus.