Sermon Tone Analysis

Faithful Women

Mark 15.40,41

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Introduction

“/I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection.

Our visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow.

He wore rather baggy gray shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament.

A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him.

Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his features.

Sherlock Holmes's quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances.

“Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.”

Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.

“How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know that, Mr. Holmes?/”

I loved reading Sherlock Holmes as a teen.

This passage, from The Red-Headed League, is an example of the keen insight of Sherlock Holmes and how he did not pass quickly over what others did, but paid attention to details and in so doing, could assess things in far more detail than his sidekick, Dr. Watson.

There is a lesson for us here in how we approach the Scriptures.

We are going to dig into a passage this evening, which is very easy to pass quickly over, and at first glance tells us nothing very significant.

However, I think there are some crucial lessons concerning how we live faithfully as Christians in this passage, that, if we are not careful, we would certainly miss.

Let's begin with Mark 15.37.

“/And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last.

And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

And when the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

And there were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome.

And when He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him; and there were many other women who had come up with Him to Jerusalem/.”

I want to concentrate on those last two verses, concerning these women who were are the crucifixion with Christ.

There is something of great significance there for us, if we stop to consider it carefully.

!! Two Important Things

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First let me point out two important things.

We are looking at trees in the forest here.

We must remember that.

These women, faithful though they may be, are not the key point of this passage.

Christ is.

This passage marks the events surrounding the crucifixion, which is the crucial  event in all of human history.

Let us not forget that fact.

The forest is the crucifixion, apart from Christ these faithful women would mean nothing.

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Second, we do not want to venerate these women, or make them into something that they are not.

We want to point them out as an example, and admire their faithfulness, but we do not worship them, we worship Christ, and Christ alone.

This is how these women would have wanted us to look at them.

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Cast of Characters

So, first we have a cast of characters here.

In this passage Mark mentions that we have Mary Magdalene.

Christ had cast out 7 demons from here, Luke tells us, in his gospel.

Then we have Mary, the mother of James the Less and Joses.

This gets kind of confusing, because there are at least three Marys who witness Christ's crucifixion.

We think that this is the same Mary that John calls “the wife of Clopas.”

Hegesippus tells us that Clopas was Joseph's brother, so this was in all probability Mary, the mother of Christ's sister-in-law, also named Mary.

Then there is Salome, we think that this might be Mary's sister, because John tells us that Mary's sister was present, but does not list her name, but that is only speculation.

There is Mary, the mother of Jesus, we learn from John's gospel.

There is Joanna, who was healed by Christ, Luke tells us, and Matthew adds that there were “many women” who witnessed Christ's crucifixion.

3 Marys, Joanna, Salome, and many other women.

These are the women that Mark refers to in our passage.

!! Theme: These Women Were Devoted and They Were Devout

What do we learn about these women from this short reference to them?

What we find, is that we learn two things which capture the essence for us, of what it means to live in faithful obedience to Christ.

These women were devoted and they were devout.

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Their Devotion

First we see their devotion.

Look at what Mark tells us about these women.

“/And when He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and minister to Him/.”

He describes them as “following”  Christ, and “ministering” to Him.

The tense that Mark uses indicates that what he is describing is a continuous past action.

In other words, when they were in Galilee, these women were continuously following him around in order that they could continuously serve Him.

So what we see is that they were devoted to Christ.

Continuous pursuit indicates devotion.

We see that in every day life, don't we.

For some reason, animals seem to take naturally to my wife.

I'm not sure what it is, but they become devoted to her.

Two of our dogs follow her around wherever she goes.

She wakes up in the morning, they wake up in the morning, she goes down stairs, off they go down stairs following her.

She goes into the kitchen, they drop what they are doing and go into the kitchen.

It is like they are afraid they will lose her.

They are devoted to her.

These women were devoted to Christ.

It is obvious from their behaviour.

Look what else Mark tells us about them.

“/And there were many other women who had come up with Him to Jerusalem/.”

Now we know from Matthew's account that the women who came up with Christ were “ministering” to him while in Jerusalem.

Matthew uses the present tense, so we see that they were continuing in the present, what they had done in the past.

They were “ministering” to Christ.

That word “minister” simply means “to serve.”

It is the word that we derive the English word “deacon” from.

These women were devoted to Christ, but, and note this carefully it is very important.

They were actively devoted.

They weren't just following Him around because he was their personal guru, or because if they happened to get sick, they could get healed.

They were following for the purpose of serving him.

Of helping to meet His needs, and lightening his burden as it were.

Their devotion was expressed in action.

It was expressed in faithful service.

That is a good example for us, isn't it.

We are called, not simply to be devoted to a thing or an idea, but to be devoted to Jesus Christ, and not simply to be devoted to Christ, but to be actively devoted to Him.

To serve Him as He calls us into ministry.

What a beautiful example of service we have here, don't we.

We need to think about that for a minute.

Service is not something that is admired in our culture.

If these women lived in America, the culture would tell them to get a job and some self-esteem and fulfill themselves.

Quit wasting your life following this guy around and serving him, and serve yourself!

That is what life is all about.

The world will not come and pat you on the back if you tell them that your main purpose in life, mothers, is to serve God first, and your husband and children next.

Fathers, you will receive no accolades from the world for passing up a promotion because it would interfere with serving your wife and children, and teens you can imagine what reactions you would get at school if you told your friends that one great way that you can display commitment to Christ is by serving your parents!

Being a servant is not admired in our culture.

It is not an ideal that we are taught to reach for.