Sisters, take your high place. This is God’s view of a woman.
Once Jesus was dining with a self-righteous Pharisee. And in walked a woman. But this was not just any woman. She was a woman of the streets—a prostitute. Upon seeing the Lord, she dropped down to her knees and did something unsettling.
In the presence of Pharisees, this woman unbound her hair and poured costly perfume upon the feet of our Lord. This unclean woman touched Jesus Christ in public. She wept, washed His feet with her tears, and dried them with her hair.
This scandalous and improper act mortified the self-righteous Pharisees. At that moment, these religious leaders lost all respect for Jesus and doubted that He was a true prophet. But your Lord was not ashamed.
Sisters, take your high place. This is God’s view of a woman.
But that’s not all. Your Lord allowed an unclean woman to touch the hem of His garment, and He was not ashamed. In fact, He praised her for it. He also gave a Canaanite woman who was viewed as a dog in the eyes of Israel one of the highest compliments He ever gave anyone. He also healed her daughter, and He was not ashamed.
In the Lord’s last hours on this earth, He stayed in a small village called Bethany. It was there that He would spend His last days before He gave His life on Calvary. In Bethany, two women whom Jesus loved had their home: Mary and Martha. They were His friends, and they received Him. And He was not ashamed.
Sisters, take your high place. This is God’s view of a woman.
When Luke writes his Gospel, he refers to the 12 disciples with the shorthand phrase “the Twelve.” The Twelve lived with the Lord for three-and-a-half years. And they followed Him everywhere.
But Jesus also had a group of female disciples. Luke also used a shorthand phrase to refer to them. He simply called them “the women” (Luke 23:55; Acts 1:14). Interestingly, Luke used this phrase the same way that he used “the Twelve.”
They were the Lord’s disciples also—the female counterpart to the Twelve. The women followed the Lord wherever He went, and they tended to His needs. And He was not ashamed.
Sisters, take your high place. This is God’s view of a woman.
But there’s more. The greatest disciples of Jesus Christ were not the Twelve. They were the women. The reason? Because they were more faithful.
When Jesus Christ was taken to die, the Twelve fled. They checked out. All the disciples (except John) said, “See ya!” But the women stayed with Him. They didn’t leave.
