Scripture Reading
Luke 13:31-35 NIV [31] At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” [32] He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ [33] In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! [34] “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. [35] Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Luke 15:8-10 NIV [8] “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? [9] And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ [10] In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Introduction
This is a special day for Mothers. We honor mothers and we thank God for them. Today, I would like for us to honor all women; especially women of faith. God bless all the women, young and old alike, who desire to be godly women.
Christian Quotes About Moms
“I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians in England.” ~ John Wesley
“Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.” ~ Billy Graham
“There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” ~ Jill Churchill
Elisabeth Elliot: “The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman.”
Text:
Luke 13:34-35 NIV [34] “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. [35] Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Luke 15:8-10 NIV [8] “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? [9] And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ [10] In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
What do these two scriptures have in common? They both describe the compassion of God in feminine terms.
The Bible describes God in masculine terms, but also uses feminine analogies. An analogy is a comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification.
The Bible says that God is spirit and a spirit is neither male or female but He does have male and female attributes.
John 4:24 NIV [24] God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
When we call him father we do not mean that he is male, like human fathers are. Rather, we mean that he relates to us LIKE a human father does. He provides for, protects, leads, and even disciplines us like the best human fathers do, only better. Likewise, when the Bible speaks of God as a husband, it does not claim that God is male, but that God jealously guards his relationship with his people like a good husband loves and protects his wife
Hosea 2:16, 19 NIV [16] “In that day,” declares the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.’
[19] I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.
Here are just a few examples of ways in which the Bible reveals God through feminine characteristics and metaphors:
Like a woman who would never forget her nursing child, God will not forget his children
Isaiah 49:15 NIV [15] “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
God is like a mother eagle hovering over her young
Deuteronomy 32:11 NIV [11] like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft.
The fury of a mother bear robbed of her cubs
Hosea 13:8 NIV [8] Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open; like a lion I will devour them— a wild animal will tear them apart.
Jesus taught us that God is Father—a loving, caring, patient Father who desires good things for his children and longs for them to put the kingdom of God first in their lives.
The marvelous fullness of God’s nature requires a variety of human analogies to help us understand God’s greatness, his compassion, and his will for the people of the earth.
Jesus himself provides two of these analogies for us in our Scripture text today.
God as a mothering hen and God as a seeking woman.
Let me repeat again that these are analogies. The Bible describes God in masculine terms and never refers to God as female.
In our first analogy Jesus uses is God as a mothering hen (Luke 13:34).
Let’s look at our text again.
Luke 13:34-35 NIV [34] “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. [35] Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Jesus knew that his destiny could not be worked out unless he went to Jerusalem. But he knew that the record for God’s people in Jerusalem was not good. With just a hint of satire in his voice, he insisted to his disciples that he must go on to Jerusalem, because, as it says in Luke 13:33 NIV In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!
But in spite of Jerusalem’s record with the prophets, Jesus loved Jerusalem.
In a voice clouded with deep sorrow he cried, in verse Luke 13:34 NIV “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.
The Jews were a displaced people in Jesus’ time. They belonged with one another, but wars, exiles, and God’s
judgment on their sin had left them scattered across the Roman Empire. Jesus as their Messiah wanted to bring them together. So Jesus used the feminine image of a mothering hen who protects her scattered chickens.
Jesus knew also that it would not be too long until another judgment would fall upon Jerusalem, when the Romans destroyed the temple and the city.
Mark 13:1-2 NIV [1] As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” [2] “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
In A.D. 70, the Roman general,Titus, built large, wooden scaffolds around the walls of the Temple buildings, piled them high with wood and other flammable items, and set them ablaze. The fires were so intense that the stones of the Temple crumpled.
To retrieve the melted gold from the temple walls, Roman troops dismantled the Temple stone by stone, fulfilling exactly the prediction of Jesus Christ.
Jerusalem would be lost to the Jews for centuries.
II. Another analogy Jesus used was God as a seeking woman (Luke 15:8–10).
In Luke 15 is the famous trilogy of parables concerning God’s nature, Jesus speaks of a woman seeking her lost coin, of a shepherd seeking a lost sheep, and of a father seeking his lost son.
The woman had lost one of her ten coins. It was a serious loss. The coin was lost, and the woman would not give up until she had found it.
In this parable the coin represents the children of God, meaning that God does not want to lose even one of his children to the evil one, Satan; each child is important. The woman did not say, “Well, I only lost one; I have nine left.” She was not satisfied until the treasure was complete.
So it is with God. We may appear to be one of many and not worth very much to some who would set a value on our lives, but to God we are extremely valuable. We are worthy of the search. Not one of us can slip through the cracks of life without God’s knowledge. We can be sure that anytime we become lost in sin, God will search for us to bring us back to himself.
III. Jesus has very high regard for women.
Jesus’ respect for women does not seem so radical today, but in his day Jewish men prayed, “Praise be to God that he has not created me a Gentile. Praise be to God that he has not created me a woman. Praise be to God that he has not created me a slave or an ignorant man.” The Manichaeans, one of the most popular religious groups of Rome, prohibited women from membership. The place of women most often in pagan religions was as temple prostitutes. But Jesus changed women’s standing.
Luke 7:36-48 NIV [36] When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. [37] A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. [38] As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured 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 who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” [40] Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. [41] “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. [42] Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” [43] Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. [44] Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. [45] You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. [46] You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. [47] Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” [48] Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
There is no double standard with Jesus. He accepted the woman who poured perfume on his feet. Her repentance and sorrow were great; she wept and poured out an expensive gift. She was greatly forgiven. Those who have hit bottom know how to glorify God most fully.
Let's look at another incident
Luke 21:1-4 NIV [1] As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. [2] He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. [3] “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. [4] All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
A poor widow gave two copper coins that far surpassed the rich offerings of those who had more left than they gave. Jesus praised the woman for her willingness to be generous with what she had.
One more.
Luke 23:55-24:1-11 NIV55] The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. [56] Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. [1] On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. [2] They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, [3] but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. [4] While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. [5] In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? [6] He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: [7] ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” [8] Then they remembered his words. [9] When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. [10] It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. [11] But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
Who had the love required to go visit the tomb and bathe the dead body of the Savior with spices and ointment? Who had the courage to go and see if anything could be done for Jesus with Roman soldiers everywhere around? Who was the first to say, “Jesus is risen from the dead”? The disciples didn't believe them which only reveals their reluctance to hear what God had ordained to tell them through women.
Conclusion
The fact the Jesus used these analogies and His respect for and His acknowledgement of women it is no wonder Paul could say, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28 NIV).
The gospel for women is that God cannot be fully understood without the feminine dimension. He came to seek and to save that which was lost, both men and women. God’s respect for persons applies equally to male and female. Because of his great love for us, God, like a mother hen, seeks to draw us near to himself. He will seek until we are safely under his wing.
Mothers often give us gifts. Jesus Christ is God’s gift to you. Yet some of us have never opened the best gift of all: God’s gift of salvation. It doesn’t make sense to leave unopened the gift of your past forgiven, a purpose for living, and a home in heaven.
Jesus Christ says to you, “I can replace the frustration in your heart with peace. I can replace the guilt, resentment, shame, and grudges with forgiveness. I can replace the worry and anxiety with confidence and faith. I can replace depression or despair with hope. I can replace emptiness with meaning and purpose. I can replace confusion with clarity. But I’m not going to force you to open the gift. You have to open it. break down the door of your heart. You have to invite me in. It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from.
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