Grace for Women

John 4: 17 – 18

The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”

I was listening to Christian music the other day when a song played that recounted this episode. The song lyric said, “Jesus told her of all her sin.” Honestly, it was a pretty song and well sung, but this lyric grieved my heart. I thought of other Bible references about women. Women often portrayed in an unfavorable light. Even Mary Magdalene, a devout follower of Jesus, is referred to as a prostitute, but was she? The worst thing of all, at least to me, is that we carry these ideas forward and continue to judge these women harshly. One understands that in biblical times, women were not treated equally or even fairly. The culture of those times sanctified treating women as property for that is what they were. Further, there were few ways for women to support themselves. Primarily there were two: marriage or prostitution, which, in truth, offers little difference between the two. Either way, women traded sex for their sustenance.

We harshly judge the woman in this story, but we must understand that women had very little power over their persons or their lives. The only way this woman could support herself was prostitution or to be the companion, married or not, to a man. How many opportunities did this woman have to buy food and provide shelter for herself? Could she force this man to marry her? Maybe she pestered him daily to marry her, but he refused. What was she to do?

Now, for generations people have judged and criticized her but little do we understand her predicament. Little compassion is offered women of the Bible and even less comprehension. There are feminine heroes in the Bible. Consider Ester and Ruth but in large part, the appearance of women in often accompanied by judgment. Jesus is the great exception. If you read of his life, you will notice he had women companions and treated women fairly. Even more astounding is that time after time, he refused to judge them. This is one of the ways we need to follow in his footsteps.

The message I wish to convey in today’s Word of the Day is two-fold. First, we have an opportunity to greet the women of the Bible without judgment or criticism. Secondly, for all the women who read these passages and are troubled by them, Jesus has redeemed you and purchased your freedom with his own life. The Bible says, “But many who are first will be last; and the last, first,” (Matthew 19: 30). In Jesus’ eyes women are not second-class citizens. Some of his closest supporters were women. In fact, women were the first ones to preach the gospel. They were the ones who found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. So understand, you are not second class with Jesus. He very much honors and respects women.

Also, God loves you like He loves Jesus. You are precious in His sight. We may have thousands of years of damaged, sin-infested Christians and Jews who left a legacy of enslaving and marginalizing women, but God has not had even one day or one thought of women being anything less than competent and lovely in His eyes.

When you read your Bible, remember the environment women in Biblical times existed in and cut them some slack. Jesus did not judge them, and neither should we. What I find objectionable is that we characterize Bible women as sinners and overlook the sin of men of the Bible. Let’s stop majoring on women as sinners for all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3: 23). Instead, we can honor their contributions. We don’t have to be in denial about where people are falling short, but we really should stop relegating women. It is almost as if we look for their crimes and overlook their accomplishments while overlooking the sins of the men to focus on their accomplishments. Read the whole story of this woman in John. She evangelized her town. She took the good news to the men of the town. But for her, none in the town of Sychar have heard the good news about Messiah, none would have gotten saved. To make it an even more amazing story, Sychar was a Samarian town and Jews of that time had nothing to do with Samaritans. Jesus, however, stayed two days in that town. Though disparaged for generations, this Samaritan woman evangelized a whole town. How many disciples can that be said of?

Forgive & Forget

Jeremiah 31: 34

I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

The entire topic about forgiveness fills volumes. There is God forgiving us and us forgiving others. However, there is another aspect of this topic that is interesting. Let’s call it forgive and forget. Is it truly forgiveness if we retain the memory of the transgression? Do we forgive someone only to later resurrect that offense in times of anger or self-victimization?

God not only forgives our sins but He puts them behind Him, literally. Isaiah 38: 17 says that he casts our sins behind His back. They are behind Him where He can no longer see them. He isn’t holding onto our sin, mistakes, misdeeds, errors or even plain stupidness. The God’s Word translation of today’s verse reads, “I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them.” To God, forgiveness means that He has erased it and put it out of His mind. Whew! That is what I call “Good News.”

Now with people, it can be a different thing. We like to retain the sin of others. “Forget my sin, Father, but I will never forget what that person did to me.” We even retain the sins of people who do not directly affect us. There is no better example of this than David. We are first introduced to David in 1st Samuel. He was a shepherd boy who the great prophet, Samuel, anointed to be king. After his calling and anointing, though, he returned to tending sheep, which is so often the case. The next big thing we hear of David is of him slaying the giant, Goliath. David eventually went on to live in the palace of King Saul and served him faithfully. He became a mighty warrior but in his madness, Saul chased him off. Eventually though, David does become the king of Israel. In fact, The Complete Book of Who’s Who in the Bible by Philip Comfort and Walter A. Elwell, says that he was Israel’s most important king. But the great king fell. He lusted after Bathsheba, contrived to have her husband killed, and then took her for himself. Later he repented, God forgave him and his life prospered. We wrote most of the Psalms and through the Psalms we get the most clear picture of a close relationship, a true loving connection between a person and God.

I am always amazed when out of all of the Psalms, 1st Samuel, 2nd Samuel, 1st Chronicles, and the slaying of Goliath the one thing people choose to bring up about David is that he sinned. Really? Jesus made it quite evident that we have all sinned when he said, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone” (John 8: 7). Paul just came right out and said it in Romans 3: 23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But then Paul, knowing God and His forgiveness, went on to write, “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (v. 24). In other words, although we have all sinned and as such fall short of the glory of God, God, by His grace, extends mercy and forgiveness to us as a free gift. We haven’t earned forgiveness. We don’t deserve it but that is what grace is, a free, undeserved gift. Yea!

Likewise, it was God’s grace that forgave David. Psalm 51 is a clear picture of a contrite and repentant heart. David knew that he sinned against God and even against himself but he also knew God’s loving-kindness better than any human that had walked the earth. He believed in the kindness of God and he repented. Do you know what God had to say about David? The bible says that David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13: 14). God’s opinion of David isn’t of David as a sinner but as a beloved child. He loved that, although David messed up, he sought God’s heart.

What does it say about us if our recollection of David is of his sin with Bathsheba? How many sins have we committed? In fact, Jesus told us not to judge (Matthew 7: 1) and yet we sit in judgment of David as if we are any better. That is sin. If God has forgiven David, why do we insist on holding on to his sin? If God remembers his sin no more, why do we post it on our bulletin boards? Is this an attempt to make us feel better about our sin and inadequacies? I am thankful God forgave David. I praise God that He has put David’s sin behind Him because I need that same grace. I want Yahweh to forget all the times that I have messed up too.

Jesus died for my sin and yours. The grace that was big enough to pardon David is more than able to cleanse us of our iniquity. The blood of Jesus is more potent than any sin or any sinner. Whoever puts themselves under the blood is cleansed, praise God, so we must ask ourselves what relationship we are to have with another person’s sin. Secondly, Father God chooses to forgive your sin (even your sin of judgment) and remember it no more. So, why should you retain the memory of it along with all of the accompanying emotions if God has put it behind him?

I encourage you to take your sin to the loving Father and lay it at His feet. Speak with Him with an open and contrite heart. When, however, you leave the throne room, leave that sin there along with the memory of it. Bury your sin and stop digging it up. Dad doesn’t want to be reminded of it. He has put it behind him. Now, can you?