Special Insights No. 5
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
Gender and Discipleship
The cost of discipleship is whatever “everything” means
to you.
In last week’s lesson, when confronted by the rich young ruler,
Jesus did not directly challenge his claim of keeping the commandments.
He simply showed him that he had not given up everything to serve God.
For the rich young ruler, “everything” was his great wealth.
“Everything” is different for each of us.
Each of the women in this week’s lesson already knew something
about Jesus before their “crisis” moment. They all decided
that their valuable “everything” could be put in the dust
in order for them to follow Jesus.
Christ’s mother Mary was asked to sacrifice the only thing that
was worth something to a poor young woman in her society, her pure reputation.
Being pregnant out of wedlock almost made her unmarriageable. If the
Lord had not intervened, Joseph would have quietly divorced her. A single
mother in those days had very few options, the usual being prostitution.
Mary was not pregnant when the angel came to her. There were many practical
questions that could have destroyed her faith. If she had refused, heaven
would have honored her wish. Instead, she chose to believe that she
had been chosen to be part of that mysterious union between humanity
and divinity. Had she held on to her earthly “glory” of
a pure and chaste reputation, what a blessing she would have missed.
The woman with the distressing malady risked severe public embarrassment
if she had been required to explain her situation to Jesus. He was constantly
surrounded by crowds, so any explanation would have been for all to
hear.
In Jewish society, a man was not allowed to have relations with an
“unclean” woman (see Lev. 15:19-33). If this condition began
before she married, she probably never did. In addition to embarrassment,
she risked great anger from the crowd because whatever touched her or
her garments was considered unclean for seven days. When she recognized
her only hope was Christ, even fear of public embarrassment and anger
was set aside.
The woman at the well had many secrets which probably confronted her
in some way on a daily basis. Though she did not seek Him out, once
Jesus had won her confidence, she rushed to her neighbors to tell them
about Him. No longer caring about her reputation, she told everybody
that Jesus knew all her secrets. Once she gave up her “everything,”
she became a disciple.
Martha is the only woman cited in our lesson who received a negative
but gentle comment from Jesus. She allowed her desire for a nice, well
run home and life to keep her from discipleship. She was so blinded
that it kept her from seeing the better choice her sister Mary had made.
Martha could have rationalized that “cleanliness is next to Godliness,”
but Jesus didn’t mean that. He expects us to lead reasonably clean
and orderly lives, but not at the expense of discipleship. The story
of Lazarus gives us the happy ending for Martha. She told Jesus, “Yes
Lord, I believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, He who comes
into the world” (John 11:27, NAS). Whatever her “everything”
was, she was willing to make this strong statement of faith to the Man
who challenged her need for control in her life.
Although the lesson doesn’t specifically mention Mary Magdalene,
she is the one Jesus commends to Martha. Mary had nothing to lose. She
was the worst there was in her society. But she had seen something no
one else had. She saw and at least partially understood the cross. She
saw that it was for her many sins that Jesus was going to die that horrible
death. She knew she was forgiven much and she owed everything to her
Lord and Master. She put up with all the scorn, disdain, and ridicule
that must have been directed at her in order to be near Jesus. In the
garden after He died, she risked arrest and worse from the soldiers
guarding the tomb because she needed to be near Him.
Her understanding of the cross had not come without struggle. But Jesus
was patient those seven times. Each time her besetting sin overcame
her, Mary continued to place her faith in Jesus. She learned the lesson
of “let this mind be in you that is in Christ Jesus.”
We believe we need to pray for strength to overcome temptation to gain
victory over sin. But that battle has already been won: Christ has obtained
the victory and He wants to give us His victory. His victory is sufficient
for us; we don’t need to repeat His history. How do we accept
His victory? The prayer is simple: “Lord, give me the mind of
Christ. I have no strength in myself for You to add to; I need a complete
re-creation of my mind and will.” Then, choose to believe He gives
it to you and praise God for His unspeakable Gift!
—Arlene Hill
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