The Women Who Supported Jesus' Ministry

The Women who Supported Jesus' Ministry

Luke 8:1-3

Sometimes, a passage of Scripture gets overlooked because it is seen as simple background information to the narrative. This is true of the passage we read this morning. At first it seems to act as a transition from the story of Simon the Pharisee, and the woman who came in and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and then wiped his feet with her hair and the Parable of the Sower, both of which are commonly preached. These verses are seen as telling what happened between these two stories in a very brief summary. In other words, these verses serve to add continuity to the Gospel. However, we should realize that as Paul tells Timothy, “All Scripture is God breathed and is profitable.” (2 Timothy 3:16) If we keep this in mind, then we can see how profound this short passage is. So let us now examine the text to see what it teaches us.

The first thing it mentions is that Jesus preached the Gospel in every city and village. There is much talk in evangelical circles about the early church centering on the large population centers in the important cities in the Empire. From there, the message spread out to the villages. There is a tension between the city and the small villages. Cities are important, but villages are not particularly esteemed. Villagers were considered superstitious and boorish. In Latin, villagers were called “pagani” from which we get “Pagan.” We see the contempt the leaders in Jerusalem called Peter, John and the other Apostles uneducated and stupid as they came from the Galilean villages. (Acts 4:13). The religious leaders of the Jews despised these common people calling them “am ha-aretz) which means “People of the Land.” This condescending attitude is expressed by them in John 7:49 in that these people were cursed because they were ignorant of the Law.”

One of the chief teachings of the early church is that God is no respecter of persons. (Romans 2:11, Acts 10:34, James 2:9, et al.) God does not favor one groups of persons over another, the educated and the uneducated, men and women, master and slave, rich and poor, etc. In fact the James passage condemns showing favoritism in seating in the assembly with the rich getting the important seats and the poor being told to sit in the back of the church. This is a besetting sin in the church today to show favoritism for the big givers. Considering how many different Gospel writers along with Jesus Himself condemn this practice, we commit a gross sin against the body of Christ and of the Lord. Away with the idea of letting the rich come in the front door while the poor line up at the back door of the church to get a biscuit or a handout. We leave the outcasts of society outside like the lame man at the beautiful gate in Acts 3. there he begged alms. But as a cripple, he was never allowed to come into the Temple. But this man needed something more than silver or gold. He was instead healed. Now he could enter the Temple, which he did, lea[ing and jumping and praising God. We read in this text that Jesus preached the Gospel in all the villages as well as the cities. Everyone is important in the eyes of God. The true need that everyone needs is to have the Gospel preached to them.

Even though we place emphasis on the main population centers like Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus. Corinth, and Rome, the Book of Acts also says that the villages were not neglected. When Saul of Tarsus before his conversion persecuted the church in Jerusalem, the believers were scattered like weed seed preaching the Gospel everywhere (Acts 8:4) One of these places was the village of Samaria to which Phillip the Evangelist went. This was God’s means of fulfilling Acts 1:8). Even on the way to the important Council of Jerusalem, the representatives preached Christ along the way (Acts 15:3). These are just a few examples which can be given. We might also consider Paul’s travel to the out of the way villages of Lystra and Derbe. Some saw this as a place to which Paul and Silas fled to after the uproar in Antioch of Pisidia. If that was the purpose, then it was a failure because the Jews found them, and Paul was stoned and left for dead. But what was God’s purpose for the trip. what good could come out of such a remote place.

There was a young man there who was the son of a Greek father and a Jewish mother. As a half-breed, he would have been rejected by Jew and Greek alike. His future in such a remote place was bleak in itself, at least by wordly standards. His being of mixed race would seem to be the final nail in his coffin. But what is despised by man is honored by God. When Paul and Silas first came to Lystra, they healed a man who had never walked (Acts 14:8-10). This crippled man in the remote village was as important to God as the man at eh beautiful gate in Jerusalem who had procured one of the best begging spots in Israel and had friends who brought him there every day. And God also cared for Timothy as well. Paul adopted the lad, circumcised him, and made him his junior partner in ministry. Would we have the vision of God to see potential in places which man overlooks and despises.