Less Than?

<p>READ: GENESIS 1:27; LUKE 8:1-3; MATTHEW 27:45-56</p> <p>Sometimes, when I look at our broken world and I see more and more ways that women have been treated as less than men, I just get overwhelmed. Sometimes I wonder, does God see women as less than men? Are we less?</p> <p>One day, I was sitting alone in my car and praying, and this question was once again pressing on my heart. And I was reminded of how Jesus interacted with women. Their stories began to soothe the ache in my core. Jesus is God in human flesh. He reveals the way God sees women.</p> <p>(1) The arrival of the Son of God was announced first to a woman. Her name was Mary, and she lived in Nazareth. The angel Gabriel called Mary “highly favored” and told her that Jesus—who is Immanuel, God with us—would grow in her womb. The Son of God would take His first breath when she gave birth to Him. (Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:26-38)</p> <p>(2) Jesus revealed His identity as the Messiah to a woman. She lived in Samaria, and she was coming to a well to draw water when no one else was there—except Jesus. He asked her for a drink and had a conversation with her, even though, in that society, men weren’t supposed to talk to women, and Jews certainly weren’t supposed to drink from a Samaritan’s water jar. But Jesus treated her with dignity and listened to her questions with respect. When He told her that He is the Messiah, the Savior who God had promised, she ran to tell everyone! And many believed in Jesus because of what she said. (John 4:1-42)</p> <p>(3) Jesus commended a woman for sitting under His teaching. Her name was Mary, and she lived in Bethany. In a society where girls didn’t receive schooling from rabbis, this woman took the posture of a disciple, and Jesus honored her for it. (Luke 10:38-42)</p> <p>(4) After Jesus rose from the dead, the first person He appeared to was a woman. Her name was Mary, and she was from Magdala. Then, Jesus sent her to tell others that He was alive! In a society where a woman’s testimony in court wasn’t cons