Male & Female

John 20:^16,20,27 “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” … As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side…  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side… Believe!”

Jesus used voice recognition with Mary but showed His scars to the disciples and Thomas. Why? Did you do your homework? When Jesus resurrected and made Himself known to Mary, He used His voice and Mary responded “Rabboni!”.  But when Jesus showed up to the disciples, the men, He used physical signs. Jesus showed them His hands and wounds. Thomas was not present at the time and when the others told him they had seen the Lord; Thomas did not believe them. Thankfully, Jesus showed up again and showed Thomas His wounds and scars. Why did the women hear and believe but the men needed to see to believe? When He was showing Himself to the lady, He did not need to show His scars, all He needed to do was speak. But when He was showing the men, He needed proof. Why?

Men are visual and logical; sometimes they are so brutally logical it is as if they are insensitive. While for men, it has to make sense; with women making sense is not the issue. For women, what is most important is, can I feel something. Once a woman hears the voice of the Lord and feels the love of God, that is it. But for a man, it is different. It is easy to say one is better than the other, but I do not think one is better than the other. I think Jesus will meet everybody at his or her point of need and his or her point of curiosity. He will reveal Himself to us in a way that we understand. He did not bother showing Mary His hands, He just called her name. But with the men, He needed to prove by the first principle that He was alive and well.

This is just what we see play out in our marriages; women are more emotional while men are logical. While the man is saying, ‘this thing you are saying does not make sense’, the woman is saying, ‘you are hurting my feelings’. The man is puzzled, ‘what feelings? This thing does not make sense!’ God help us in Jesus’ Name. Once you understand the difference, it is easier to navigate. You should not be shocked that your wife is emotional. For some men, it is a huge shock. ‘What have I said that she is crying? I just said this thing does not make sense.’ And the woman in between sobs responds, ‘that is my father you are talking about.’ However, when we understand this difference, we would not be shocked. Similarly, the ladies would not be shocked at how logical their men are. Again, I pray that God will help all of us in Jesus’ Name.

How do you show God that you love Him? Different people show God they love Him in many ways. However, over the next few days, we are going to learn that there are different levels and requirements for each level. Please read John 21:1-25. Several of the disciples were together and in John 21:³ “Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” “We’ll come, too,” they all said…”. Homework; Why do you think Peter led them back to fishing?

Prayer: Father, help me to be able to operate based on both the intellectual faith [to think] and the passionate faith [to feel], in Jesus Name. Amen!