The Good News Girls - The Word About Women

The Good News Girls

So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Matthew 28:8-10

For context, read all of Matthew 28

Perhaps you’ve heard the argument that the Bible excludes women and favors men. Maybe you’ve even believed that lie. But I have spent months scouring the Scriptures for passages that speak specifically about women and I have not found Scripture to support that claim. Actually, I have found the opposite. In Scripture, we see Jesus seeking out women in addition to men and drawing them to Himself. I have found multiple examples of women being included in Jesus’s ministry—not excluded. In fact, many women were the first to hear of the Good News of Jesus and played an important role in delivering Jesus to the world.

Remember back in the Garden of Eden? Remember Satan’s deception and Eve’s horrible decision? The world seemed without hope until God made a promise: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). The promise of the offspring. The Savior, born of a woman, will crush Satan’s head.

Remember when the angel, Gabriel, appeared to Mary? The good news that the promised offspring was on His way came directly to a woman. What a privilege, what a blessing, for Mary to have been chosen as Jesus’s mother!

Remember the women at the foot of the cross? Matthew 27:55 records that many women were there watching the horrific happenings from a distance. John mentions 3 specific Marys standing beside the cross: “...but standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene” (John 19:25). It must have seemed like the world had just lost all hope and yet, they didn’t leave His side.

Remember the women who went straight to the tomb the day after Sabbath at dawn to anoint their Lord with spices? An angel appeared to the and said “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you” (Matthew 28:5-7). As they were on their way to tell the disciples what the angel had said to them, Jesus appeared to the women Himself! He charged the women with telling the men the Good News about His resurrection!

The WORD about women is that Jesus includes us in His story in important ways. In fact, women are a vital part of the Biblical narrative. God saw fit to use women to be the first to proclaim the Good News of His resurrection to His disciples. Sisters, you are not excluded from God's story and You can proclaim His Good News, too!

Reflect

How does knowing that God chose to use women in His story encourage you?

Pray