Seen and Heard | Hakikah Shamsideen

Seen & Heard: Jesus Speaks To Women

Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.
Luke 7:44

How the Word treats women is one of the world's best-kept secrets.

For Holy Week—April 2-9, I highlight biblical women. Those unSEEN women in the Bible; their stories reimagined, repurposed, retold.

These reflections will unearth fresh insights into your life from these archetypal women. You'll meet women who dispel the myth that the Bible is full of voiceless, dominated, evil women. In fact, these remarkable women, most hidden in plain sight, will encourage you through their failures as well as their successes.

You'll see how God showed up and shone through as they struggled to live with faith in a world filled with trials. You'll see how their lives, though lived long ago, speak with fresh relevance to the issues in your life and relationships today.

This series will introduce you to some of the key women around Jesus.

Throw out what you think you know and listen to them speak their truth.
.
This fresh look at the women in the Bible gives new insights and provides a powerful witness to God's gracious love that will leave you feeling challenged, encouraged, empowered, and deeply valued.
.
Priscilla gathered the women by the river. Let's join them. I invite you to ‘listen’ in…
.

Mary and Elizabeth. Our Sons Were Murdered!

Angel: Zechariah! Do not be afraid, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth will bear you a son. You are to name him John. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from before birth! He will persuade many to turn to the Lord his God. He will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, the prophet of old. He will precede the coming of the Messiah, preparing the people for his arrival. He will soften adult hearts to become like little children’s and will change disobedient minds to the wisdom of faith.

Angel: Mary, God has decided to wonderfully bless you! You will be with child and give birth to a son. Give him the name Jesus! He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God shall give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he shall reign over Israel forever;

Angel: And now, your cousin Elizabeth in her old age has conceived a son; she who was said to be barren, is in her sixth month.

For nothing is Impossible with God!
______________
Elizabeth/Mary: They say we were obedient. Faithful.

Easy to say, not so easy to live.

Being the mothers of two great men: John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ was more than we could have imagined.

Mary: How could we have known the joy and the pain that would accompany us? Only El Shaddai could have prepared us for what lay ahead for our two sons.

BOTH: “OUR SONS WERE MURDERED”

Elizabeth:I remember the day you came to meet me as if it were yesterday . . . John leapt in my womb; The Holy Spirit came and I knew we were on Holy Ground.

Mary: His Word prepared us.The birth of the Messiah was prophesied long ago. Your words gave me the courage and strength to go back to Nazareth.

Elizabeth: I told you to remember who you are-- chosen by God.

Mary: And you are a woman of faith and of grace.

Both: And we remember our God who has favored us, for with God nothing is impossible... Blessed be the Name of the Lord!
____________________________

The story of Mary and Elizabeth can be found in The Book of Luke 1 and 2.

Soundtrack: El Shaddai by Valerie Boyd

The Certain Women. So, where are we going?

He continued according to plan, traveled to town after town, village after village, preaching God’s kingdom, spreading the Message. The Twelve were with him. There were also some women in their company who had been healed of various evil afflictions and illnesses: Mary, the one called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod’s manager; and Susanna—along with many others who used their considerable means to provide for the company.*

Joanna: The “certain women” was just one of the names they called us. We traveled with Jesus and the Twelve from town to village. We who had been cured helped to support them out of our own means. Where were we going, and, how would it end?

Susanna: Who wouldn’t follow Jesus after what he’d done for us. Few could understand our devotion because few could understand the depth of our illness. We were sisters in sadness and sisters in faith. It was unheard of to associate with men, doing so we jeopardized our lives every day. But, we had tasted the sweetness of wellness and the freedom it brings.

Mary was with us then.

Joanna: The demons had us bound. We knew what it was like to be crazed, locked in the madness.

Susanna: There is no way to describe the feeling of freedom and love we now experience.

Joanna: How strange that of all that could be said of Mary, being a harlot is what people talk about. Why?
Where did it come from? Yes, Magdala is known for being a town where prostitutes lived, but surely her healing by the Christ and her work with the Christ meant more than where she was from!

Susanna: Yes, she loved Jesus so and was so grateful. We all were. We felt safe. Mary understood him in a way that few did. And she helped us to understand him. What he spoke, and didn’t speak . . .

Joanna: We all knew the risk of following Jesus; going to Jerusalem was dangerous . . . It seemed to be fine; we couldn’t tell what was coming. The people cheered him like a king rising out of the masses.

HOSANNA! HOSANNA, both said sarcastically.

Joanna: We went to the tomb before dawn,
Dying ourselves, dragging our heavy hearts
Finding the tomb empty, we left.

Susanna: Mary stayed. Always. Mary stayed.
Later she told us all what He spoke of. She told the Twelve too; perhaps they thought she had gone mad again. We were all mad with grief. At any rate, they did not believe her.

Joanna: And she is still not believed! She was not a harlot! She was a true believer!

This is what happens when those who don’t know you are left to tell your story.

Susanna: We knew her. She was our sister, our friend,
Our leader.

Both: I am Susanna, and I am Joanna.

Both: We, who had been possessed by demons, She, who had been possessed completely, have been freed completely
Freed to love.

Delivered.

*Book of Luke Chapter 8:: 1-3

Power of Faith At Work. Woman With an Issue of Blood/Jairus' Daughter

Woman: It had been so long since anyone had touched me, in any way. I had heard about this Jesus and something drew me to him. The crowd was overwhelming. I thought that I would never get to him. Then, just when I was about to give up, I got a burst of energy. I crawled and crawled knowing that even though he would probably never touch me, if I could just touch him; I knew that I would be healed. I took a chance after all, you see, l was breaking the law, but I said: “What do I have to lose”? I was able to grab his hem as he passed. Instantly I was healed! Jesus didn’t care that I touched him. He praised my faith! Thank God I listened to that voice within me.

Jairus’ Daughter:
Watch out for the non-believers. If you listen to the doubting Thomases and Thomasina’s you may miss your healing. Someone told my father not to bother the Teacher because I was dead. Jesus stepped in and told my father that I was not dead, but asleep. When Jesus arrived at my house, he cleaned house! Jesus may have to clean house and get rid of some people in order for your healing to occur.
Jesus spoke my healing into existence. He spoke to me. He said “Little Girl, Arise!”

Both: I got up!

Woman-daughter; Girl-child. Different paths? Are we so different? We both needed healing.

Woman: One 12 years old.
Jairus’ Daughter: One bled for 12 years.

Soundtrack: Mercy Seat, Vicki Yohe

Linked in Faith. Jairus' Daughter/Woman with the Issue of Blood.

The Well is Deep. The Samaritan Woman

There are many ways to be touched by someone

I know the physical ways all too well
I live with the shame of having no children
But it makes it easier to live on the edge of society
We all have to survive; my way is with a man who is not my husband
He is good to me, so I stay.

There are many ways to be touched by someone
I saw him by the well at high noon
Both of us out of our place.
,
What, you, a Jew ask me for a drink?

He gave thanks to God for the water and for me.Then he made a strange remark,
If you knew who was asking, you would have asked him for Living Water!

Well, I’m no fool
I didn’t hesitate to ask for the living water!

Then he switched up on me and asked for my husband. AHA!

Just as I thought, no different than the others.
However, he acted as though the question of my husband was more to reassure himself that I knew who I was than to get information he did not have.

I never met anyone who responded to my story the way that he did
No judgment, no law,
He simply said it was true.

The midday air felt different now

As though the I AM of God was between us.

Is he the prophet we’ve been waiting for?

Then he said it . . . I Am He.

I put down my jar as though it were full of all the things I wanted to leave behind and ran back to the village.
I felt light, free of the shame and guilt that had kept me apart from my people.

I called out to everyone:
"COME, SEE THE MAN
WHO TOLD ME EVERYTHING I EVER DID!

I knew inside that I had been set free.

Jesus, that was his name, let me know that I was.
Some say I was an evangelist—I was only doing what came naturally--
sharing the living water that was inside me.

Changed!
Not who I was when I came to the well!
Changed!
Free from my past!
Changed!

Praise the lord!
__________________________

The story of the Samaritan Woman can be found in The Book of John, 1-42.

I Am Changing

The Mary's. We Were There

“There are no words to describe what we saw and felt at Calvary.”

The crowds, the noise, the blood.
It was horrifying!

No, this was not our first lynching.

Still, we hoped He would save himself …

We stayed.

We who, at great risk had supported him, could not, would not, leave the teacher to die alone

And, we were sisters…
we would never leave Mary

Even in the process of dying,
he taught us about love,
making sure Mary was cared for.

We didn’t know it then, but our ministry had only just begun.

But first, we will grieve.
__________________________
God entrusted the most powerful and important news in human history to these women first. Women have always had a role to play in the kingdom of God, and the importance of that role should never be diminished.

During the climactic events of Jesus’ earthly ministry, many of His closest friends and followers were noticeably absent at the crucifixion. Most had fled; others had gone into hiding. However, the gospel writers all note the presence of several key individuals who had not fled and instead had chosen to follow Jesus all the way to the cross and beyond.

Who were they? The gospel tells us that it was the women who stood at the foot of the cross and greeted their Lord face-to-face at His resurrection.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus had many followers beyond the 12 disciples, women among them. In fact, the gospels tell us that many women traveled with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem. They loved Him and ministered to Him. They witnessed His miracles, heard His teachings, and wept at His crucifixion.

Some were the mothers and sisters of those called disciples. Others were women who’d been healed or delivered from various forms of sickness, demonic influence, and forced professions. There were also those who’d simply chosen to follow and minister to Jesus along the way.

After Jesus had been arrested, put on trial, and sentenced to death, three of the four gospel accounts mention the names of several women who followed the procession and “watched from a distance” as the events of Christ’s execution unfolded (Matthew 27:55-56, Mark 15:40-41, Luke 23:49).

Only the Apostle John writes of these women being close enough to hear Jesus’ final words on the cross. This was something he could testify to as he was likely the only gospel writer who was a direct eyewitness to what actually happened (John 19:16-30).

But who were the women who had followed Jesus to the hill of Calvary and were the first to visit the tomb after His burial? The gospels list several names:

Mary Magdalene, a woman whom Jesus had cast out seven demons (Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40-41; John 19:25).
Salome, the wife of Zebedee and mother of James and John, the “sons of thunder” and two of Jesus’ disciples (Mark 15:40-41).
Mary, the mother of James the younger and of Joseph (John 19:25, Mark 15:40-41).
Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her sister (John 19:25).
Many other daughters of Jerusalem (Luke 23:27-31), unnamed women (Mark 15:41), and acquaintances of Jesus (Luke 23:49).

These women followed Jesus where others had not, watching and weeping during Christ’s agonizing moments on and leading up to the cross.

___________________________

Story of The Mary’s can be found in The Book of John 19:16-30

Soundtrack:
Richard Smallwood and Vision: Calvary

Witness To The Resurrection. Mary Magdalene.

If you’ve been chosen or misunderstood, you experience what Mary Magdalene experienced. If you are at the right place, at the right time. Then you are following in the footsteps of the Magdalene. If you’ve ever been a woman alone–with and then without a good man in your life–you know what it’s like to be Mary Magdalene.

According to biblical accounts of the Magadalene’s life, with the exception of Jesus , it seems men misunderstood her.

She saw something no one else did, and she reported it.
Her reports were not believed by the men she had served with for 3 years.

A man who would say that he was in the process of Ascension, who had actually been seen to walk on water, to appear and disappear at will, to willingly suffer and survive public crucifixion chose to have a woman carry his message.

A man able to move his physical self through time and space is not a man to be taken lightly, not a man who overlooks details. He could have chosen anyone, but he chose her, a woman.

Commonly mistaken by countless pastors as the sinning woman forgiven by the Lord, when she was actually a true disciple and only witness to the resurrection.

If you’ve been chosen or misunderstood, you experience what Mary Magdalene experienced. If you are at the right place, at the right time. Then you are following in the footsteps of the Magdalene. If you’ve ever been a woman alone–with and then without a good man in your life–you know what it’s like to be Mary Magdalene.

According to biblical accounts of the Magadalene’s life, with the exception of Jesus it seems, men misunderstood her.

She saw something no one else did, and she reported it.
Her reports were not believed by the men she had served with for 3 years.

A man who would say that he was in the process of Ascension, who had actually been seen to walk on water, to appear and disappear at will, to willingly suffer and survive public crucifixion chose to have a woman carry his message.

A man able to move his physical self through time and space is not a man to be taken lightly, not a man who overlooks details. He could have chosen anyone, but he chose her, a woman.

Commonly mistaken by countless pastors as the sinning woman forgiven by the Lord, when she was actually a true disciple and only witness to the resurrection.

Mary Magdalene is mentioned in all four gospels:
Matthew 27:55-56
Mark: 16:1 and 9
Luke 8: 1-56; Luke 24:10
John 19:25; John 20:1-18
Mark 15:40-47

Seen & Heard: Jesus Speaks To Women

Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. Luke 7:44

Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.
Luke 7:44