Sharing Life

Each year on Mother's Day, my congregation celebrates Gifts of Women Sunday. My sermon today reminds us of all the gifts that women share to uplift us and help our lives to be full and rich!

Today is Gifts of Women Sunday. I always have difficulty deciding what to preach on that day. Now, that’s not because there are so few Bible texts about women. On the contrary; it’s because there are so many! Should I preach about Esther, the Jewish queen who saved her people from certain death? Maybe I should preach about Deborah, the Israelite judge who led her people into battle against an army with nine hundred chariots of iron. Or I could preach about Shiphrah and Puah, the two midwives who refused to follow Pharaoh’s order to kill all the newborn Hebrew baby boys when the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt. Wise, courageous women are everywhere in scripture! Even though the notorious women like Jezebel and Delilah seem to get all the press, the gifts of loving, faithful women have been vital to the story of God’s people.

I decided this morning to concentrate on two familiar women in the gospels: Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus. The story that I just read from the gospel of John is very brief, only three verses long (John 12:1-3); but it speaks volumes about women who share life in a world that is all too often filled with death. To appreciate that story, you need to know a little bit about where John placed it in his gospel. This story of a dinner party for Jesus takes place immediately after Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead; and John invites us to contrast the atmosphere in the two stories. The story that precedes this one – the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead – is permeated with death. Lazarus’ family and friends are mourning his untimely death, fasting and sorrowing together. There is no merriment, only mutual support in a time of grief. John tells us that when Jesus tells them to take away the stone from Lazarus’ tomb, they object, saying, “Lord, he has been in the tomb four days! There will be a bad odor.” Can’t you just see Lazarus’ friends wrinkling their noses in disgust as the stone is rolled away and the stench of death fills the air? There is no hint of life until Jesus arrives on the scene! Now, compare that story to the one that I read just a minute ago. Today’s story is filled with life! Lazarus’ family and friends are together again; but this time, they are filled with joy, eating and drinking in celebration of the life that Lazarus has regained. Even the stench of death has been replaced with the beautiful fragrance of expensive perfume. Everything has changed! The death that had shrouded the house of Lazarus has been replaced with life lived to its fullest!

So why did I choose this text to preach on Gifts of Women Sunday? Let’s take a closer look at that little story. Who is throwing the party in the text that I just read? Well, of course, Lazarus is the host; but Lazarus is reclining at table with Jesus, the guest of honor. The women, Martha and Mary are the ones who are keeping the celebration going! John tells us that Martha is serving, making sure that everyone has enough food and drink for the feast. She scurries back and forth from the kitchen to the table, serving bowls of lamb stew, plates of freshly baked bread, and bottle after bottle of the finest wine. And her sister Mary, not the domestic kind of woman, provides something equally important. She pours expensive perfume over Jesus’ feet that fills the house with its beautiful fragrance. Martha replaces the funeral fast with the finest food and drink; and Mary replaces the odor of death with the fragrance of life! There cannot be more of a contrast between the tomb of death and the house of life.

When I read this little story, I can’t help but remember all the women throughout history who have shared life even while everything around them was in the midst of death.

·         I remember Catherine of Siena, who, in the 14^th century, shamed local priests into returning to their city to minister to the people after those priests had fled the city out of fear of the Black Plague.

·         I remember Ann Hutchinson, 17^th century thinker in the Massachusetts Bay colony who led a Bible study for women when they were not considered capable of thinking for themselves.

·         I remember Harriet Tubman, who led over 300 slaves to freedom on her Underground Railroad, and never lost a passenger.

·         I remember Clara Barton, who tended wounded soldiers on the battlefield during the Civil War, and founded the American Red Cross.

·         I remember Audrey Hepburn, who worked abroad on behalf of UNICEF in the poorest parts of Ethiopia, Turkey, and South and Central America.

And I remember all the women today who are bravely spreading life in the midst of death. I remember our own Amy Acton, who advises our governor on how to keep the citizens of Ohio safe; but there are plenty of women who help to spread life in their own quiet ways. They are doctors, nurses, health-care workers, grocery clerks, custodians, artists, poets, writers, musicians, and myriads of other women who refuse to let death have the final word. Like Mary, they release the fragrance of life that overcomes the stench of death; and like Martha, they serve others so that they might enjoy the good gifts that God gives us so graciously.

On this day that we celebrate women, I invite you to give thanks for all the women who share life in the midst of death. I invite you to give thanks for all the women who have brought life into your life: your physical mother, of course, but all the other women who have given life to you mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. And then, sisters and brothers, I invite you to follow their example. As Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”