THE LORD JESUS APPEARED WOMEN FOR THE PURPOSE !
Jesus’ interactions with women are an important element in the theological debate about Christianity & Women Women are prominent in the story of Christ Jesus. He was born of a Virgin Woman Mary chosen by The Loving God for the manifestation of the God’s Image, had numerous interactions with women, and was seen first by women after his resurrection. He commissioned the women to go and tell his disciples that he is risen, which is the essential message of Christianity.
Women disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ
The gospels of the New Testament, written toward the last quarter of the first century AD, often mention Jesus speaking to women publicly and openly against the social norms of the time. From the beginning, Jewish women disciples, including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, had accompanied Jesus during his ministry and supported him out of their private means.
Lord Jesus Christ first appeared to the Women disciples from the tomb after resurrection!
Matthew 28:1-10
Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. [2] Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. [3] His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. [4] The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. [5] Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. [6] He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. [7] And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.” [8] The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. [9] And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. [10] Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”
The other Mary was not Jesus’ mother. She could have been the wife of Clopas (John 19:25), or she may have been Jesus’ aunt, the mother of James and John (Matthew 27:56). The stone was not rolled aside so Jesus could get out but so others could get in and see that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, just as he had promised.
The angel who announced the good news of the Resurrection to the women gave them four messages:
(1) “Don’t be afraid!” The reality of the Resurrection brings joy, not fear. When you are afraid, remember the empty tomb.
(2) “He isn’t here!” Jesus is not dead and is not to be looked for among the dead. He is alive, with his people.
(3) “Come, see.” The women could check the evidence themselves. The tomb was empty then, and it is empty today. The Resurrection is a historical fact.
(4) “Go quickly and tell.” They were to spread the joy of the Resurrection. And we, too, are to spread this great news!
Jesus’ resurrection is the key to the Christian faith. Why?
(1) Just as he promised, Jesus rose from the dead. We can be confident that he will also accomplish everything else he has promised.
(2) Jesus’ bodily resurrection shows us that the living Christ is ruler of God’s eternal Kingdom, not a false prophet or impostor.
(3) We can be certain of our future resurrection because he was resurrected. Death is not the end—an eternal future life awaits.
(4) The power that brought Jesus back to life is available to us to bring our spiritually dead selves back to life.
(5) The Resurrection is the basis for the church’s witness to the world. Jesus is more than just a human leader; he is the Son of God.
Why did Jesus tell the disciples to go to Galilee? This was a place of significance for them. At the Last Supper he had told them to meet him there (26:32). The angels told the women at the tomb to tell the disciples to go there (28:7). Galilee was where Jesus had first called most of the men to be disciples and had given them the mission to “fish for people” (4:19). In Galilee Jesus would restate and renew their mission to reach the world (28:16)
Mathew 12: 45-50
“He went into the house of God, and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. [46] As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. [47] Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak to you.” [48] Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” [49] Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. [50] Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”
Jesus could not properly have gestured to a crowd of men and said, “Here are my brother, and sister, and mother.” He could only have said that to a crowd of both men and women. Therefore, the disciples standing before him were composed of men and women.
Women of obscurity noticed by Jesus
The Gospels record several instances where Jesus reaches out to “unnoticeable” women, inconspicuous silent sufferers who blend into the background and are seen by others as “negligible entities destined to exist on the fringes of life.” Jesus notices them, recognizes their need and, “in one gloriously wrenching moment, He thrusts them on centre stage in the drama of redemption with the spotlights of eternity beaming down upon them, and He immortalizes them in sacred history.”
Peter’s mother-in-law
But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. [14] When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, Peter’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. [15] But when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her. Then she got up and prepared a meal for him.
The three synoptic gospels all record the healing of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He healed the woman of fever by touching her hand. She rose and began to wait on him. With this particular healing, something unique occurs. Quite often, after being healed, people left Jesus to go about their renewed lives. Peter’s mother-in-law, however, immediately rose and began to “serve” him. (Also read Mark 1:30-31, Luke 4:38-39)
The Woman who touched Jesus Garment!
Mark 5:25-34
A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. [26] She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. [27] She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. [28] For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” [29] Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition. [30] Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?” [31] His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?'” [32] But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. [33] Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. [34] And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”
Jesus practiced the ministry of touch, sometimes touching the “untouchables” and letting them touch him. Among the things considered defiling (disqualifying one for the rituals of religion) was an issue of blood, especially menstruation or haemorrhage. One such woman had been plagued with a flow of blood for 12 years, no one having been able to heal her. She found the faith in a crowd to force her way up to Jesus, approaching him from behind so as to remain inconspicuous, and simply touching his garment. When she did, two things happened: the flows of blood stopped and she was discovered.
Jesus turned and asked who touched him. The disciples tried to brush aside the question, protesting that in such a crowd no individual could be singled out. Jesus pressed his inquiry and the woman came and trembled at his feet; she explained her reason and declared amid the crowd what blessing had come to her. Jesus treated her as having worth, not rebuking her for what the Leviticus code of holiness would have considered as defiling him. Rather, he relieved her of any sense of guilt for her seemingly rash act, lifted her up and called her “Daughter.” He told her that her faith saved her, gave her his love, and sent her away whole.