10.13.08
Witness to the King
Witness to the King (Luke 8:1-3)
Jesus now leaves to begin another tour of the area of Galilee. Notice that the twelve are with him. Also of note are some women who apparently had some means to assist in supporting Him and His ministry. These ladies – as is noted in verse 2, had been cured from various issues. I believe we can make the leap of faith that these ladies accepted the message of salvation from Jesus, and were therefore following Him and assisting Him on the journey.
Perhaps more importantly, these women could be called on as witnesses. What I mean by that is they could give testimony not only of the healing that took place, but also of the taking on of His burden and experiencing their own burden of sin being lifted from them. You see, they had been delivered from the chains of bondage and delivered to liberty – the freedom found only in Jesus Christ!
This is as good a place as any to look at the subject of women! Here is some information from the Life Application Bible.
Luke gives more attention to women than any other Gospel. Women played a special role in the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus’ acceptance of women as disciples and as participants in his ministry and teaching gave women a positive place in the New Testament church (Acts 1:14). Women traveling with Jesus and his disciples would have been completely uncharacteristic of rabbis in ancient times. Rabbis refused to teach women because they were generally considered to be inferior. Jesus, however, lifted women up from degradation and servitude to the joy of fellowship and service. By allowing these women to travel with him, Jesus was showing that all people are equal under God. These women supported Jesus’ ministry with their own money. They owed a great debt to him because he had healed some of them and had cast out evil spirits from others.
The Gospel names three of the women. First, Mary Magdalene (from a town called Magdala or Magadan, see Matt 15:39) from whom he had cast out seven demons. Apparently Mary Magdalene had lived a very sorry existence because demons were usually associated with mental or physical disorders. The number of demons indicates the severity of the possession from which Jesus freed her. Although some have suggested that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, there is no biblical evidence to support this. Mary stayed at the cross, went to the tomb, and was the first person to see the resurrected Christ (24:10; Mark 15:40,47; 16:1,9; John 19:25; 20:1,18). Because she is always first in any list of women indicates that she probably had a special leadership role.
The second woman named is Joanna, the wife of Chuza, who was Herod’s business manager (or steward). He may have been in charge of one of Herod Antipas’s estates. Joanna is also mentioned in 24:10 as one of the women, along with Mary Magdalene, who told the disciples the news of Jesus’ resurrection. Otherwise, nothing else is known of her; Joanna’s husband is mentioned only here. Perhaps Luke’s Gentile readers knew of this man and the exact nature of the office that he held. Some have conjectured that this may have been the man whose son was healed in Capernaum, recorded in John 4:46-53, after which he allowed his wife to be a part of Jesus’ supporters. But this is uncertain.
Finally, Luke mentioned a woman named Susanna who is found nowhere else in Scripture and about whom nothing is known. Perhaps Luke highlighted these three women because they would have been known to his readers.
Besides these women there were many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples. This provides an insight into how Jesus and his disciples met their basic needs. John 13:29 reveals that Jesus and the disciples had a common pool of money from which they bought food and gave to the poor and that Judas Iscariot acted as treasurer. This passage tells the origin of that pool of money. People, like the women listed here, gave money to Jesus and the disciples out of gratefulness for what Jesus had done for them. Note that, in the Gospels, no women ever reject Christ or become his enemies, only men. These women are models of the faith response that Christ desires.
These same women also would witness Jesus’ crucifixion (23:49) and see the empty tomb (24:10,22,24). Luke revealed that they had been with Jesus from the time of his ministry in Galilee. He also wrote that women stayed close to Jesus and would have influential roles in the church (Acts 1:14; 8:12; 16:13-15; 17:4,12; 18:24-26).
(from The Life Application Commentary Series copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 by the Livingstone Corporation. Produced with permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.)
These women were pretty amazing. They joined in with ‘the guys’ and worked in support of the ministry. They were faithful to the message and ministry of Christ. And, as far as we can tell, in this unusual situation. Let’s think of us…today…how are we doing? We may not be actually working during the first century with the Lord, His disciples, and serving with these ladies. But in a very real way, we travel daily with the Lord. We are His hands, His feet, and – very often – His mouth (with our choice of words). What kind of traveling companions are we? Do we wait for Him to whip up something to keep us fed, warm, amused? Or are we up to the task of working for Him, in the sense that all we do (the money or stuff we earn) goes to support the cause? Are we willing to make His priorities our own? These ladies were….
