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Christ’s Emancipation Of New Testament Women: New Testament with Lynne Wilson (Come, Follow Me) · Scripture Central

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Hello, my name is Lynn Hilton Wilson and I'm part of the
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Scripture Central team. Today I'm talking about a
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subject that is not part of the come follow me specifically.
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But generally I want to take a step back and look at the women
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in the New Testament. I want to take a step back and
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look how Christ empowered them. And if we know another about
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their culture, we see this emancipation.
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And I've talked about this every week with come follow me.
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But I've decided to divide it into two lessons, The first one
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on the Gospels, the women there, and the second one on Paul and
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Peter and how they were treated in the Apostolic Church, how
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they treated women. And was there the same evidence
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there of following Christ, or were they just following their
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culture? So this small section I feel
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will help us to be able to see the Scriptures with the lens of
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history that will bring them more meaningfully to life.
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Just as a reminder, the New Testament covers the entire
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Roman Empire. The Gospels mainly deal with the
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area of that we now refer to as Israel.
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But there were Jews and missionary work scattered all
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over the Roman Empire. So by the time those people are
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writing out the Gospels, they know the Gospel has been
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spreading around the Empire. This Second Temple period had a
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lot of historical challenges, not only in the Judaic world but
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in the Greco Roman world. And they all affected what
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Christ taught, what the apostles taught, and what is written in
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the text. Some of those things are written
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by a great historian named Josephus.
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He's not just a historian, he was also a priest.
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He worked in the temple. He had seen the veil.
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He knew those things. He wasn't the high priest.
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He's just a priest. But he also became a general for
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the armies. He often quotes scripture and
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says for the scripture says, but it's not in our scriptures.
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These are things that were part of the traditions of the Jews.
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A woman is inferior to her husband in all things.
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Making matters worse than that, they blame Eve for all the
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source of sin. This is written by Ben Serra,
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who is a very popular writer at about 150 years before the Lord
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and it was used as some people even accepted him as scripture
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at the time of the Lord. And he said of the woman came
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the beginning of sin, and to her we all die.
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And much of his writing denounces women as not just the
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sources of sin, but the If you had contact with a woman, you're
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going to have sin. But all of this cultural
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background, Jesus changed, you know, as forcefully as he
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cleansed the temple. Christ changed this culture.
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I think we all talk about him healing the blind and and and
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bringing the restoring the higher priesthood.
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But as dramatically as he cleansed the temple, Christ
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changed the relationship between men and women, change the family
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dynamics. He speaks to women.
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He heals women. He defends women.
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He named. We have their names.
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We have 45 named women in the New Testament.
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We have 94 unnamed women. And so I'd like to just give you
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a few examples of the culture, the culture of segregation, the
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culture of communication, the culture of witness, so we can
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see more clearly how Christ made all these changes.
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Because Christ, with every example of his sermons and his
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miracles, he is attacking something in that community.
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And unless we know the community, we think, oh, he's
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such a nice guy, but our Savior did a lot of offensive things to
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that culture. For example, at the end of the
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Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament, we have 3
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or 400 years here that is referred to as the
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intertestamental period. And during this time the Judaic
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culture became more and more segregated.
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Now in the Old Testament, men and women are talking together,
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they have active lives together. But these things changed during
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this time. In fact, we read in the Mishnah
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that they wanted to the the Jewish leaders wanted to build a
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fence around the law. They were worried that they had
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been taken out of their promised land to Babylon, Syria, all
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these things because they didn't obey the law.
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So they want to protect the law. So they start establishing these
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extra laws. They call them the 10,000 oral
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laws. They're called oral laws because
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they think Moses actually gave them, but Moses did not give
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them. They just said they were not
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written down until this time. But when you hear what they are,
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when you go read them and study them, you say, Moses never said
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this, but they became what Christ referred to as the
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traditions of the Jews. And I'll give you some examples
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of how these Oral Laws affected people like Philo, anybody in
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the time, in the Jews of the time, how they affected their
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culture. I'll read first of all from a
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group of Jews that lived outside of the Judaic world.
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These are in the country of northern Egypt, in a town, a
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city of Alexandria. Marketplaces and council halls,
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law courts and gatherings, meetings of large numbers of
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people who were assembled in the open air, life full of scope, of
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discussion and action. All these are suitable to men
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both in war and in peace. The women are best suited to the
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indoor life, which never strays from the house.
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A woman, then, should not be a busy body meddling with matters
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outside of her household concerns, but should seek a life
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of seclusion. So not only did the Jews in the
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area around Jerusalem and Galilee have these laws, but we
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see them scattered everywhere. Remember, about 10% of the Roman
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Empire are filled with Israelites, and Alexandria is
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one of these cities where there was a lot of of people that
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called themselves Jews, but they're actually from all the
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tribes of Israel that are just living there.
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And this was what Philo recorded at the time of the Lord.
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Philo is writing at this very time of Paul and Peter and the
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Savior's life. Another statement, another good
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quote here. Women were always kept in
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seclusion and did not even appear at the house door, and
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their unmarried daughters were limited to the women's quarters.
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Women, for modesty sake, shunned the eyes of men, even their
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closest relatives. So most people at this time, if
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you are living in the Palestine area, are are peasants.
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They're living in small homes. You know, a room that's 14 by 16
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feet or something like that. You know you don't have room for
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segregation, but if you have money, if you have wealth, you
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have a woman's quarters of the house and a men's quarters of
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the house and archaeology has shown that.
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But this idea that most of the people in the area of the modern
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day Israel where peasants is confirmed by archaeologists and
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anthropologists and we do find statements even in the Mishnah
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that's written after the time of the Lord.
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But referring back to this time, that said a woman that returned
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from the harvest or from olive picking or from the vintage, so
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either women were servants or slaves or during the harvest
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season, a poor farmer has to call all of his family out to
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help do that harvest. You know, he's not going to let
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half of the harvest die because he didn't have enough workers.
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He's going to say, come on out, You got it, You got to help me.
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But in the wealthy, we do see a segregation not only of the
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homes, but in the public life, in the worship, in the
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synagogues. The women were allowed in at the
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time of the New Testament, that they were to stay over in one
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little corner and they were to be silenced, unseen and unheard.
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They were completely veiled. If they ever left their house
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veiled head to toe, not even their fingertips and their
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toenails could be seen. Now, after the time of the New
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Testament, is when they start building the lattice barriers
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with a second entrance for women to come in a second door and to
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be behind this barrier in the temple.
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I was fascinated that in the New Testament Mary says it is said
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of Mary in chapter two of Luke that they went to the temple
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every year. Well, the Mishnah says women
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don't have to go to the temple, only men have to go to the
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temple. And children who can walk up
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this hill, boys who can walk up the hill.
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But Mary went every year. So I would just like to
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encourage us to realize there's a whole spectrum of people.
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The records that I'm reading from are what we have left from
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the wealthy educated people who were writing things down and
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saved. So probably the fair sake
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tradition had more writings down than the poor farmers.
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So let's just keep that in mind as we read this because I know
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there are many good Jews who are not misogynist.
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But at the temple you've got your court of the gentile where
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everyone is and then the inner courtyard.
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Once you go into the first inner courtyard, it's called the Court
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of the Women. So I assume this was filled with
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women. But by the time of the New
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Testament, according to our writings, all the women were
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secluded over to 1 little corner.
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It's the corner right by where the widow's might was placed,
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where the widow went. It's it's where the treasury is.
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And the women were to be there unseen and unheard.
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Now the men and were talked in the court of the women and the
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and the young boys were there with lots of lively discussions.
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And our savior has many of his discussions there in the court
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of the women. But the women were always over
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in this one little corner. Josephus continues on in this
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idea of segregation. The anomaly of woman is worked
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out by assigning her to a man's domain.
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Women are sanctified through the deeds of men.
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Isn't this an interesting thing? But Christ comes and changes
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that. You know all these ideas he not
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remember. Matthew says not only did he
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feed 500 men, but there were women and children that came.
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This was a novelty that was not to be done in that culture.
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That's why Matthew mentions it. And with the feeding of the
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4000, Matthew also mentions it. Christ also refuted those who
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removed children. He had them come.
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He encouraged women to stay and to learn.
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He not only encouraged them to come, but he even healed them
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when they were out in public where they shouldn't have been.
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You know, let's talk about this one.
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Healing, the healing of the woman who had the issue of
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blood. Now we look at the law of Moses
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and we're told in Exodus and Deuteronomy and Ezekiel that if
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if if you are unclean, you need to stay away from people.
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They don't understand the germ theory, but they do know
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contagiousness and they don't know what everything is.
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But if you're in a state of being unclean and there's a
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whole list of things that are unclean, please stay away from
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people. And we're told that she has been
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bleeding for 12 years. She is unclean in the category
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of what they felt was unhealthy, and so she was not to be out in
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public. She is breaking the law to be
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there. And remember, Jesus has just
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left the synagogue in Capernaum to go down and heal Jarius, the
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leader of the synagogue's daughter.
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And in route on these narrow little streets of this busy,
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bustling city, this woman sneaks out in a crowd of men to touch a
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very specific part of the Lord's cloak, where the knots are in
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the corner, where the covenant representing the covenant.
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And she is healed immediately. And it says in the text, the
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woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and
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fell to his at his feet. And in the presence of all the
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people she told why she had touched him and how she had been
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instantly healed. This tells us so much about this
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woman. She could have just run away.
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There was a crowd of people during all the commotion of
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Christ asking she could have just slipped out, but she wanted
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to testify of Christ. And she does.
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She raises her voice. She honors him and then Christ
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honors her. He says in the King James, thy
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faith hath made thee whole. He doesn't say you're right, I'm
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the healer. You got it, woman.
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He doesn't say that I love the ABT.
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Translation. He says your faith has brought
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you salvation. Now this is very important
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because in that day and age, every time there was a physical
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element, it was blamed on a sin. And if you were blind, it was
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the mother's fault, or if you were, or if you were, or if you
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were or if you were, every physical ailment is tied to a
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sin. And so Christ says your faith,
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he's not just healing her inside.
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By saying this at the end, he is healing her physically and
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spiritually and emotionally. It's a fabulous story.
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Let's talk about the Greco Roman background of communication and
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the Judaic. Here's Ben Serra.
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This is that rabbi the in Jerusalem that was almost
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equivalent with scripture. It's it's recorded now in our
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you can read Ben Serra if you'd like.
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In the apocryphal literature, better is the iniquity of a man
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than a woman doing a good turn and a woman bringing shame and
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reproach. This is they just have
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horrendous ideas about woman. They continue on talk not much
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with womankind. They said this of a man's own
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wife. How much more?
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His fellow's wife. So you're not even supposed to
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be talking to your own wife. Here's Ecclesiastes, another
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book that's from this time period, very well known.
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A silent wife is a gift from the Lord.
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Her restraint is more than money can buy.
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This is not the book from the Old Testament.
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But this idea that a woman should never speak was what they
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defined as a good woman. I'll give you some more examples
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from the Mishnah and the Talmud. Now these are written after the
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fact, looking back on this time recording down what the rabbis
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taught at the time of the Second Temple.
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He that talks much with womankind, brings evil upon
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himself and neglects the study of the law, and at last will
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inherit Gehenna or which is hell.
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So if you're going to talk to a woman, you're wasting your time.
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And if you're going to talk to a woman, you're going to go to
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hell. Here's another one.
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Now, this is written much later than the time of Christ, but
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it's supposedly Looking back, we have not found that the Almighty
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spoke to a woman except Sarah, so why should we now?
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One reason that they had to have arranged marriages is because
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there was no communication between these genders.
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Arranged marriages happened. You know, the girls have to be
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before they're 12 1/2 the the average age for a man was about
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18. But if you're not married and a
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woman by 20 or a man by 25, you've got to pay extra taxes.
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And as soon as you're married, the young girl has to call her
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husband. Master, only a male can call the
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divorce, and you can divorce someone just by saying it.
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I divorce you. I divorce you.
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I divorce you and writing it out.
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And that's good enough. We have records that say the
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only way a woman can receive her freedom is through widowhood.
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But that was even changed by Alexander, not Alexander.
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That was changed by Cesar Augustus, who says if a woman
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has not borne three children and she is still of child bearing
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age and she is a widow, she has two years to get divorced or
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she's got to pay higher taxes. There were fewer divorces in the
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Judaic world, but we read a Judaic marriage as being stifled
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with fear and anxiety and mistrust and imitation.
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Their their relationship was completely stunted as the woman
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had to comply with every wish of her husband because if he wanted
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to divorce her, she did not get to keep her children and she was
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left in abject poverty. But Christ came and changed all
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of this. When he spoke about divorce, He
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is denying what their version of it was.
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He is aware of women's needs all the time, and he talks to them
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even on his way to his cross. Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not
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for me, this is Luke 23, but weep for yourselves and for your
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children. It's verse 28.
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Remember the Samaritan woman, the well, this is the longest
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conversation that we have from the Lord in the entire New
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Testament, and let's just start looking at this one.
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So this woman is is going way out of her way and she is coming
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way. You know there's archaeologists
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have found a, a, a well very close to the town.
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It says that she's coming in the hot middle of the day at noon.
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She's coming a a mile out of town to come to Jacob's.
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Well, she's probably trying to be away from people.
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I don't, I don't know. But she she's making some
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unusual behaviors. We have to sort of connect the
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dots here so that when she sees the Lord talking to her, the
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first thing she says is in John Chapter 4, verse 9.
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How? Who is it that thou, being a
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Jew, ask us a drink of me, which am a woman?
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Now, we often emphasize the fact that this is a Samaritan, but
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twice in this text of John, he emphasizes that Jewish men did
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not talk to women. Continuing on in verse 10, the
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Lord tries to lead her, tries to get her out of her area, just
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like He did with Nicodemus in the chapter before.
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But Nicodemus came at night, and Nicodemus couldn't follow him.
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You know, he was Nicodemus was a leader of the Jew.
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He was the antithesis of this woman.
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You know, he was a righteous, educated male who came at night
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and in darkness, and he left in darkness.
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So he's trying to teach this woman who comes in the in the
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greatest light of the day. He said, if thou knewest the
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gift of God, this is verse 10 in whom it was that saith unto
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thee, give me drink, thou wouldst have asked of him that
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he would have given thee living water.
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You know, if this conversation goes and she doesn't follow him,
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and she realizes that he's a prophet when he prophecies, and
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when he tells her of her past and he says, I, she says, OK, if
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you're a prophet, where are we supposed to worship?
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Worship in Jerusalem are up here in Samaria on our mountain which
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the Jews had destroyed their temple 170 years before.
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And Jesus teaches her. He teaches a woman of how to
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worship. He says this is continuing on in
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verse 19. True worshippers shall worship
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the Father in spirit and in truth.
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And she says she follows him a little bit, followed her.
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And she she just doesn't understand.
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She's never able to completely understand him.
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And so she says, you know, I'm just going to wait for the
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Messiah to come. And in chapter 4, verse 26, he
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says, I that speak unto thee, am he?
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He testifies of his nature before this wicked woman.
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And then she does the most wonderful thing.
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She leaves her water pot behind to share the news.
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She leaves her cares of the world.
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You know, the water pot can be symbolic of of of her old
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traditions, her old ways or anything that was not of Christ.
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But now that she knows who he is, she leaves her old ways
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behind and runs into the town. And she shares with the people
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there in the city the news, the men come out, they talk to
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Jesus, they invite him back in the city.
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By this time the apostles had come back.
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And the apostles even said, what is Jesus doing talking to a
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woman? You know, it doesn't say it John
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Mayer or Samaria. It just says a woman, yeah,
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they're so puzzled. But Jesus includes the
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Samaritans. He talks and he establishes the
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first branch of Christianity here, as I mentioned earlier.
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And I come follow me all because of this great woman.
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So even though I've mentioned these stories before, I want to
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put them together in a packet so you can see Christ's
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emancipation of these women. One of the greatest examples of
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Christ communicating comes with the stories of Mary and Martha.
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Christ is in Bethany. This is Luke, chapter 10.
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You know the story, a busy dinner party.
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Martha's very active at work because we've got all these
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people coming along with the Lord that she's got to cook for.
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And so she goes to the head of the household.
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She's an upright Jewish woman. And she says, master, could you
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please get my sister to help me? I'm.
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I'm desperate. You know, we've we've still got
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to pluck the the feathers off the Turkey.
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You know, there's a lot of work to get a meal here.
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And the Lord corrects her and says Martha.
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Bartha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.
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But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part.
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And then one thing that is needful is to come unto Christ
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to learn from him. He is not denouncing service.
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He is not denouncing anything of that nature.
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He is encouraging us to set our priorities.
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Put our Scripture study first, not our exercise.
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Put our time on our knees with the Lord first, not our jobs,
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our our studies or whatever it takes us from him.
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And then the last line is my favorite, chapter 10, verse 42.
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That which shall not be taken away from her.
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Do you remember in the culture at this time, a woman could own
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nothing if she was a girl? Every dime she earned, every
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well, every. They're not Dimes.
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But you know what I mean. Everything she earned was given
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to her guardian or her father, and then as a married woman,
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everything she earned or found or did was the property of her
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husband, or, if her husband had passed away, her oldest son.
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But women owned nothing, and so by Christ saying that which
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shall not be taken away from her, he's saying, your testimony
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of of me, your knowledge, your eternal understanding of who the
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Son of Man is, will never be taken from you.
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If you can hold on to this belief, it is a powerful
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conclusion to that story #3. Witnesses.
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Now, in the Greco Roman culture as well as the Judaic culture,
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women were not allowed to give a public witness.
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And in the Judaic world it was even more strict.
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They were not allowed to be a voice in the court of law and
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other people were not allowed as well.
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We talked about this earlier. The shepherds were not allowed.
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You know, there's people who are dishonest by trade that they
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weren't allowed to have a witness, and it describes in the
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mission as they were not allowed because of the levity and
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boldness of their sex. But we see changes.
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Christ comes and he commissions women over and over to be
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witnesses. We have Mary the Virgin, this
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young girl who is probably still in her early teens, who is
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commissioned to be a witness. We have Elizabeth.
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The priesthood holder is mute. He can't speak.
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Elizabeth, not only with her physical body but with the words
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of her mouth, testifies of Christ.
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She's actually called a priestess in the New Testament
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and because of this tradition of attacking every sin to a a
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physical handicap, Luke is very careful as a physician to say
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that Elizabeth was walking in all the commandments and
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ordinances of the Lord. Blameless.
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That's Luke chapter one, verse six.
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She was a righteous woman. And then, of course, we have the
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example of Anna, who's called a prophetess in the New Testament.
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She's been a widow for a long time.
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You know, she could be 100 years old if we don't know what year
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she got married. But you know, she is a very old
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woman and she is still working in the temple.
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So my hat's off to everybody who works in the temple for a long
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time. She's called a prophetess.
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She's allowed to see the Lord, and she prophecies there.
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We often quote Peter as his witness by saying, when the Lord
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said, will you also go away? And Peter answers in Matthew
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1617, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
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But let us quote Martha's voice just as often, because the early
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Church of authors, you know, the the, the writers of John
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recorded it. The early Apostolic Church
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recorded these things. We need to write them into our
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hearts and also allow their witnesses to be heard.
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At the death of Lazarus, Martha is now out on the street waiting
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for the Lord. And when she sees the Lord, she
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says, if you would have been there, you could have healed my
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brother. And the Lord says, do you
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believe? And in John Chapter 11, verse
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27, she says, yeah, Lord, I believe that thou art the
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Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
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You know, he not only asks for their witness, but they record
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it, and it's there for us. Christ called women to testify,
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and they did, and it was recorded.
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And then we go to the tomb who is at the cross.
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Only women. And early the morning of Easter,
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the early morning on Sunday, the women are there.
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They're the ones who see angels. When Peter and John run to the
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tomb, do they see angels? No, the angels commissioned
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them, it says in Matthew 28, verse five and verse 7.
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The Angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I
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know that you seek Jesus. Go quickly and tell His
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disciples that He has written. And of course our first witness
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is Mary of Magdala, and the Savior commands her to share
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that witness. Over and over.
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The Lord asks women to speak up. We have examples in the Gospels.
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We have examples in the early Apostolic Church, the writings
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that we know of as the Epistles. Women are constantly called.
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But if Christ emancipated women and children, why didn't he
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emancipate slaves? Why do we have all these
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examples from John the Baptist, even our Savior's parables all
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the way through Paul. He even returns a runaway slave
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Philemans to sign Philemon in omnibus in in that good book.
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Why? Why if if Christ liberates the
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family so that men and women can have unity?
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You know, I feel like Christ liberation was not just for
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women. It healed the marriages.
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You can't have a decent marriage if you call somebody master and
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you act like a slave. So this idea is very interesting
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to me. Why didn't he say anything
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against slavery? Well, it's very much a part of
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the Roman Empire. 1/3 of the Roman Empire were living in
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servitude. 1/2 of the major cities, not just Rome but
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Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch. 1/2 are in slavery.
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And the normal average middle class family across the Roman
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Empire had eight servants. There were so many slaves and
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servants that even servants had slaves.
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Even slaves owned a slave. If you didn't own a slave, you
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were in abject poverty. However, it was very different
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in the Judaic world. Remember, the law of Moses
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designates that you if you were a male and slave, you only had
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to serve seven years. And in the Greco Roman world,
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most provinces released every and once they turned 30.
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Now some of the provinces was not until they're 35, but once
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they were mature they then were given some money and some
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encouragement. You know, a donkey whatever and
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and sent out on their own. Now the book of Exodus explains
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though in chapter 21 that a if a man sell his daughter and I'll
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add or his wife because wives could be sold as well at this
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time to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the
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menservants do. So a female was not allowed to
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be released after seven years according to this verse in
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Exodus, because they became the property of their master and as
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the property of their master they became a concubine.
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They were to raise his seed, they were to bear his children
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and raise them. So she was not released because
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by being sold into slavery she was sold into being a concubine
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of the person that she was slaved to.
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The Jerusalem Talmud which is written after the fact, said Is
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there any difference between the acquisition of a wife and the
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acquisition of a slave? And at that time this author
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said no. I don't think everyone felt that
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way, but it is recorded here in the Talmud.
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Let's go to Luke chapter one, verse 38 when Mary is receiving
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the angelic visitation from Angel Gabriel the Great
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Enunciation and she says after the Angel explains her
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Commission she answers in verse 38.
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Behold the handmaiden of the Lord, be it unto me according to
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thy word. So let's just step back into her
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culture. She's not using the beautiful
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King James Worden handmaiden, she says.
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Now remember, she's a young girl.
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She hasn't been married, but she's already betrothed.
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So she's over 12 1/2 probably, but possibly under 12 1/2.
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So she's 12/13/14 years old. And she says to Angel Gabriel, I
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will be God's slave child, I will be His servant.
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I will bear his son. I will raise him.
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This is a powerful verse to understand the depth of Mary's
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understanding and her faith. Here's another example.
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Our Savior gives a parable in Matthew chapter 18, where a
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slave went out and found one of his own fellow slaves.
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You know, these just are all over the place.
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Do you remember John the Baptist has tells us everyone comes to
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him to hear and he gives advice to masters and he gives advice
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to slaves. He says masters be nice, slaves
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be obedient. You know why?
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This was just really puzzling to me.
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And in fact John the Baptist has asked are you the Messiah and do
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you remember what he says? He says, one mightier than I
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cometh, the latcheth of whose shoe I am not worthy to
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unloosen. We say I am not even worthy to
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be his slave. A slave did the foot care?
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Not a disciple. A disciple was able to help your
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master teacher, but he says I'm not even worthy to do the slaves
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work. Slave would have to untie the
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knot on that leather tongue in order to keep clean his shoe.
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This is a powerful image. And in fact if you were a master
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teacher and you had lots of disciples, you could volunteer
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as a disciple to do some of the slaves work.
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So you could spend more time with your master teacher if you
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wanted, 15 more minutes with your master teacher and say, can
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I come in and help you wash your faith and wash your hands that
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day. But you couldn't say, may I help
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you wash your feet because that was left for the slave child.
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You know, bring in the little girl, bring in the little boy,
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bring in your wife. You know that was left for the
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lowest of the low. A disciple could not do that.
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And that is why Peter goes crazy when the Lord tries to wash his
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feet. Never.
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You know, I talked about this before.
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Peter just cannot handle this. But Christ says, if I wash you
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not, thou hast no part of me. Why did Christ not get rid of
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slavery? Well, because he taught all
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during His ministry repeatedly, over and over again.
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Even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to
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minister. Continuing on Matthew chapter
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20, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.
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Mark Chapter 10, verse 44. Whosoever you will be the
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chiefest shall be the servant of all.
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Christ is completely in favor of servitude.
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Luke, chapter 19. Thou good and faithful servant,
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because thou hast been faithful in very little, thou has
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authority over 10 cities. Do you remember this one?
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Matthew 23 Whosoever shall exalt himself, shall be abased, and
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whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.
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So not only is Christ in favor of servitude, he is also not in
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favor of those who exalt themselves.
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He wants to bring them down. And in this era where the
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socioeconomic pyramid was so clear and the Greco Roman world,
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you've got your Caesar and then your senators, etcetera,
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etcetera, all the way down. And then in the Judaic world,
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you have your high priest on the top and then you have your chief
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priests and your Levites. And then you and you also have
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your Sanhedrin and and you had your teachers.
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And down in the lowest of the low are the women and the
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children. And Christ completely turns that
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culture upside down. As I repeated over and over
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again, Christ wants to teach masters how to serve.
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So Christ's emancipation of women and servitude is very
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different. He wants women to come up and be
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acknowledged and witnessed and speak and teach and learn.
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And he wants all masters to learn how to serve like the
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women and the children and the servants, and that we may all
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become exalted if we follow the path of our Savior that He set
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out. This is a very different look at
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the New Testament. And I hope as you continue your
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study right now in the New Testament, that you will be able
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to take this and allow it to percolate into your heart so
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that every cell in your body will realize that if we want to
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walk where Christ walked, if we want to do and become like our
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Savior, we need to serve. We need to share the ability to
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nurture. It's not who's who's sitting in
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this city is the Bishop. It's who's willing to be in the
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nursery. That's where Christ would be.
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I'm convinced that whoever is called, wherever you're called,
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if we do it as a meekservant, we will receive the Spirit of God
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to bless us. And one of the things that the
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Savior restored during His mission is the blessings of
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understanding, the need for all of us to serve each other.
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And I leave this with you. In the name of the suffering
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Servant, even Jesus Christ, Amen.