Sermon Title: Faces in the Crowd: the Women
Sermon Text:
Matthew 1
Sermon Date:
As a rule I have not talked much
about Women in Ministry because with a woman pastor, I figure you are reminded
of that every week. But this week as we
come close to the end of the sermon series about the faces in the crowd, it
wouldn’t be fair to leave out a special group of people who offered Jesus a lot
of support during his ministry – both present with him and present around him.
First I’d like you to turn in your
bible to the first chapter of Matthew.
It is one of my absolute favorite scriptures and I really would read it
to you but I can’t. I can’t pronounce
all of those names. I’m sorry. It is true.
I cannot pronounce all of those men’s names. However I can pronounce the names of the
women listed there. No surprise there!
Look at verse 3: We have Tamar.
Then go to verse 5 – we meet Rahab.
Verse 5b – Ruth
Verse 6 –Bathsheba
Verse 16 –Mary
Could you tell someone about all of
these women? Do you know what they have
in common?
(drum roll please) they all have a
“checkered” past.
Tamar was the daughter-in-law of
Judah, one of Jacob’s sons.
Rahab owned the house of ill repute
where Joshua’s men hid when the walls of
You’ve read the Book of Ruth, I’m
sure. I know I’ve spoken of it many
times. Ruth was a widow who stayed with
her mother-in-law and laid beside Boaz so he would marry her. Juicy stuff!
Ruth eventually became the
grandmother of David who took Uriah’s wife Bathsheba and when she became
pregnant, David had him killed rather than face him. Their baby died but later
they became the parents to the wise king Solomon.
Then we meet Mary, mother of Jesus
and in her time she was known as having gotten pregnant out of wedlock.
What
do all of these women have in common besides their checkered pasts? They are all related to Jesus.
More faces in the crowd – his
ancestors.
I’ve always found it fascinating
that the only women mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy are the ones with the “sexual
sins.” This is definitely one of the
questions I have to ask when I get to heaven.
Yet these faces in the crowd hung in
Jesus’ balcony cheering him on, understanding his trials and tribulations. The women in Jesus’ life always did that for
him.
Women tend to do that, you
know. Not all of course but we tend to
be nurturers. That is how God wired
us. We soothe cranky babies, change
messy diapers, patch skinned knees and offer consolation to broken hearts. We even celebrate well.
When Gregg took his first step I
called my mom. Dad answered and I asked
for mom to tell her the good news. She
was delighted but wondered why I hadn’t told Dad first. I don’t know why!!!! You turn to Mom when your knee hurts, your
prom date stands you up and your heart sings.
For most of us that is just the way it is; although I know it isn’t the
same for everyone. But if your mother
has not been the nurturer, someone has played that role for you….at least I
hope so. Everyone needs a nurturer.
These invisible faces in the crowd
offered Jesus encouragement from afar.
We don’t know much about his relationship
with his mother. We read about his
birth, his dedication at the temple and when they took Jesus to
48He
replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 49Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother
and my brothers. 50For whoever does the will of my
Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
It does make you wonder, doesn’t
it? But Mary was there at the end. In John, Jesus asked his beloved disciple to
take her and care for her as his own mother.
That is really about it for his mother Mary.
There were other Marys though. There was Mary and Martha, sisters of
Lazarus, the friend whom Jesus raised from the dead. There was Mary Magdalene. Mary of Magdala, a fishing town on the
western shore of the
Mary was portrayed as the prostitute
who anointed Jesus with oil much to the dismay of Simon, his host for the
evening. But the woman isn’t named and
although there were those who named her the prostitute, even the Catholic
Church has admitted there is no evidence of that.
In many books she is named as a very
close friend of Jesus, maybe the beloved disciple and author of the Gospel of
John or even his wife….but again, there is no evidence to fully support that.
What we know is that she is
mentioned often in the gospels and that she was there at the end of his life
and at the resurrection. This alone says
to us that Mary of Magdala was a very important person in Jesus’ life and the
lives of those writing the gospels.
Mary was another face in the crowd,
a very prominent face.
Those were some of the faces in the
crowd around Jesus in first century
Today we are celebrating the
baptisms of Jennifer Christos and Christine Webb. Two more faces in the crowd. Did you realize that? You are among the faces in the crowd around
Jesus.
I met Jennifer at Worship in the
Street a few years ago. She was the
reporter writing the story and later she wrote the story of the
Christine Webb came into our church
through the choir. When Ben became our
choir director he was already giving voice lessons and she was one of his
students. Ben invited her to sing with
us and she came with her lovely voice and exuberant spirit….and has not
left. She is a senior at
And now I invite them to join me as
go into water for their baptisms.
As we make our way ….would you think
about this? Do you know that you too are
faces in the crowd?