The Women in Jesus’s Life

Luke 8:1-3

INTRODUCTION

You’ve all noticed that in every church you’ve ever belonged to, there were more women than men.

Did you know that it’s always been that way?

Historians tell us that even in the earliest days of Christianity, women far outnumbered men in the churches in the Greek and Roman world.

Although women aren’t as prominent in the gospels and Acts as men, we have many, many names of women who followed and served God and helped spread the gospel.

I’m going to read you a text that I think you have never heard used in a sermon, but gives us a window into a feature about Jesus’s ministry that we might have missed.

It is in Luke 8:1-3:

Jesus went on through cities and villages,

preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.

And the twelve were with him,

and also some women who had  been healed of evil spirits and infirmities:

Mary, called Magdalene, from who seven demons had gone out,

and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward,

and Susanna, and many others,

who provided for him out of their means.

I. Picture Jesus and his followers as they journeyed from town to town and village to village on their preaching tour.

A. This is at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, and already it wasn’t just Jesus and twelve men.

Jesus had many disciples whose names we don’t know but who were with him, learning and serving.

We read that once he sent 70 disciples out on a mission trip.

Among these disciples there were many—I said many—women.

We read about them here. We have the names of several of them.

Three of them are named in the verses I read: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna.

These three were notable because they had been healed by Jesus. Mary Magdalene, we read had been cured of some very serious condition caused by seven demons who had tormented her.

It seems that Joanna and Susanna were also among those who had been healed by Jesus.

B. Because they owed so much to Jesus, they wanted to be with him—to learn and to serve.

But these three women weren’t the only women among Jesus’s disciples.

There were, according to Luke, “many others.”

I can imagine that these women disciples were important in three important ways:

1. They could testify to the grace of God in their own lives.

Christianity has always spread by personal testimony.

Some, such as the three we mentioned, had been healed of serious afflictions.

Others had found the joy of knowing sins forgiven and the promise of eternal life.

As they little group went from place to place, the members of the group would strike up conversations with the bystanders. Women would talk to women and men would talk to men about Jesus and the salvation they had found in him.

2. These women also served in the ways that women are good at. They shopped for groceries. They prepared meals, they washed clothes, they bandaged cuts. And, according to Luke, they also paid for the groceries out of their own resources.

I doubt that any of these women were rich, but they used what they had to supplo the needs of the group of disciples.

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus, who would feed 5000 men (plus women and children), with 5 loaves and 2 fishes depended on the generosity of friends like these women for daily needs for himself and his disciples?

3. But, most important, these women followed Jesus to listen and learn. They weren’t “groupies,” who just went along to get in on the action. They were serious disciples, and Jesus welcomed them and taught them the same as the men.

II. Historians tell us that this prominence of women in Jesus’s company was unparalleled in the ancient world.

A. According to Jewish custom in the time of Jesus, women didn’t appear in public with men.

Women didn’t converse with men in public—even with their own husbands!

Scholars tell us that although women were allowed in the synagogue, they couldn’t be disciples of a rabbi, unless the rabbi was their husband.

Girls received only enough education to teach them what was expected of them and what was forbidden. They didn’t learn theology or Bible.

Women sometimes supported rabbis out of their resources, but to leave home to travel with a rabbi was not only unheard of—it would have been scandalous!

You have probably heard of the prayer that was prescribed for all Jewish men to repeat every day: “Blessed are you that you have not made me a heathen, have not made me a woman, have not made me illiterate.”

There is no record of any other ancient teachers who were men and had women followers.

People who study ancient history are astonished at the prominence of women in the gospels, and how Jesus ignored the conventions of society.

Early in his ministry Jesus broke with Jewish custom when he visited with a Samaritan woman at a well—alone, just the two of them.

He asked her for a drink and drank out of her cup. And she was a Samaritan, and therefore unclean, and everything she touched was unclean. She was also a woman who had had six husbands and was living with a man who wasn’t her husband.

When the disciples returned, they were astonished that he was talking with a woman.

III. As I mentioned, this was also at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry—which would continue for two or three more years.

A. During the rest of Jesus’s ministry we read of many other women disciples

We read a couple of chapters on in Luke about the time when Jesus accepted hospitality at Martha’s house in Bethany.

It was called “Martha’s home,” I suppose, because Martha was the older woman and responsible for running the home.

But when there, Jesus surprised Martha by allowing Mary to sit at his feet and listen to his teaching while Martha got the meal.

This bothered Martha so much that she asked Jesus to send Mary in to help her.

Jesus objected—not because Martha was not doing what was good, but because Jesus wanted to make sure that both Martha and Mary knew that a woman’s place was not only in the kitchen, but also as a learner—just like the men disciples.

B. At the cross, we read in John’s gospel (19:25-26) that Jesus’s mother; his mother’s sister; Mary Magdalene; and Mary, wife of Clopas, and Salome were there. The only man John mentions as being present at the cross was “the beloved disciple,” whom we assume was John.

C. In Mark we read that as Jesus died, Mary Magdalene; Mary, mother of James the younger and Joses—who had followed him and ministered to him when he was in Galilee—and many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

D. In Luke 24:10-12 we read we read the names of some more of the women who had been following, serving Jesus, and listening to him. No men were at the tomb yet, early on that Easter morning, but Mary Magdalene; Joanna; Mary, mother of James and Joses were there, “along with other women.”

I’ve listed 9 women who are named in the gospels as disciples of Jesus. Here are their names: Mary Magdalene; Susanna; Joanna; Mary, mother of James and Joses; Mary, our Lord’s mother; Salome; Mary, wife of Clopas; Mary and Martha of Bethany. And we read that “there were many others.”

When you read the gospels and picture Jesus on the roads and in the villages, the picture in your mind should include many women, women who were learning and bearing witness and serving and providing out of their means.

APPLICATION

You know from your experience in your churches how important the ministry of women has been.

In many of your churches, women never preached sermons.

Their only teaching was of children.

And yet you know also that women did a good share of the work that was required to keep the church alive.

You taught the Sunday school, kept the music ministry going, cleaned the church building, ran the potlucks, were the prayer warriors, offered hospitality, volunteered in benevolent causes, served God in your workplace, and took responsibility for passing the faith on to your children.

My purpose in preaching this sermon is to remind you how important your role has been in the life of your churches, families, and communities and to encourage you to continue on in your work for God.

Because there is no more important work in God’s vineyard than the work that you are uniquely qualified for.

And I hope that you will continue to find opportunities to serve God while you are at Village Place.

I used to volunteer with Aging Service taking people who couldn’t drive to appointments.

Often I took people from Village Place.

On Thursday, January 4th, 1996, I wrote an account of this experience in my journal.

I titled this entry, “St. Dorothy”:

“Today as a volunteer I drove an elderly African American lady to Iowa City for a dental appointment. Dorothy is a tall, dignified lady who dresses with flair. Today she was wearing a purple hat.

It was apparent that she is intelligent but also that she hasn’t had much formal education. She told me that she is taking courses in basic skills at the community college hoping to become a teacher’s helper. She mentioned jobs in her past: factory work, nurse aide, and caring for invalids.

Dorothy sings in her church choir and in another singing group that sings in nursing homes. She takes piano lessons. She volunteers several places besides her church. She takes satisfaction in her accomplishments.

Dorothy is cheerful although she has experienced tragedy. She told me that her husband, two children and a grandchild have “been killed.” But she expressed no self-pity. She said, “The Lord knows what he’s doing.” Although she has little money, she says the Lord has always taken care of her, and she expects him to keep taking care of her.

Some of you have, like Dorothy, have served God by serving others. I want you to know that God is pleased and that your work will endure.

But whatever your accomplishments are in the past, God still has something for you to do.

In the words of the old Sunday school song:

There’s a work for Jesus, ready at your hand,

‘Tis a task the Master just for you has planned.

Haste to do his bidding, yield him service true;

There’s a work for Jesus none but you can do.