Luke 8 - Woman of God, You are Valued

Background Photo: Batik Boutique

Luke 8

“Does God favor a gender?” A question asked of Ravi Zacharias from a student at an open forum in a video a good friend copied me on this week.

A common misconception about the view of women in the Bible as inferior and weak. Here’s an excerpt from Ravi’s response:

“If God were a discriminator against gender -- the greatest truth on which the Gospel hangs is the resurrection; if Christ be not raised from the dead, our faith is in vain -- why in heaven’s name did He reveal Himself to the women to go and tell the message?  All of Easter hangs on the testimony of womenkind with whom He trusted the entire Gospel. When the woman with the alabaster ointment came to Him, and those were frowning about her, He looked at her and said, ‘Be quiet. Wherever the Gospel is preached, this shall also be told what this woman has done to me in worship.’ He paid her the greatest compliment that the Gospel would be carried to the ends of the earth, and this story of this woman’s faith would also be told. He goes to Samaria, and He sees a woman at the well with five broken, shattered marriages. She was ethnically bared from the society as a pariah; maritally broken and shattered five times. He made her the first evangelist to the Samaritan world. Imagine what an incredibly gracious God to remind us that none of us is superior to the other. We only have the same privileges of taking our distinctiveness and complementary strengths and carrying the message to the world. God is the God of humankind…That is our Lord who treats all of us with intrinsic worth and reflective splendor. And I thank God for the beauty He has created in this complementariness.”

In this chapter, Luke makes a point – God makes a point – to document women who traveled with and served with Jesus and His disciples. This was radical at the time when women were seen as inferior.

Rabbis generally refused to teach women. But among Jesus’ closest group, women were serving with Him and serving Him. They were active contributors in sharing the good news. Jesus didn’t NEED them there; Jesus WANTED them there. It was unparalleled in ancient history, breaking all of the cultural molds.

We are all deeply loved and valued by God. We all – women and men – were created in His image and likeness. All of us. You matter. Jesus wants YOU on His team, serving with Him and serving Him.

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The Batik Boutique is an award-winning social enterprise created to disrupt the cycle of poverty in Malaysia. We train women from low-income backgrounds to produce gifts and fashion accessories made from a traditional Malaysian fabric called batik. 

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