Substance Of A Woman

Scripture

Luke 8:1–3 KJV 1900

And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

Jesus began his public ministry in the northern part of Israel, in the region known as Galilee. Some Bible scholars say that his ministry in this region lasted about 16 months.

The Gospel writers did not record everything about Jesus’ ministry. In fact, Jesus’ ministry was so extensive that the Apostle John wrote at the end of his Gospel in John 21:25, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

And so the Gospel writers carefully selected certain events in order to follow particular themes or to emphasize key aspects of Jesus’ ministry. In today’s verses, Luke gives us a short summary of the ministry of Jesus toward the end of his time in the region of Galilee.

Jesus lifted women up from degradation and servitude to the joy of fellowship and service. In ancient Jewish culture, women were not the disciples of rabbis like men were. By allowing these woman to travel with him, Jesus was showing that all people are equal under God. These women supported Jesus’ ministry with their own money. They wanted to support him because he had driven demons of of some of them, had healed others, and was teaching them all about God’s kingdom.

Here we catch a glimpse of a few of the people behind the scenes in Jesus’ ministry. The ministry of those in the foreground is supported by those whose work is less visible but just as essential. Offer your resources to God, whether or not you will be on center stage.

Matthew 4:23 KJV 1900

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Matthew 27:55–56 KJV 1900

And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.

Mark 15:40–41 KJV 1900

There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; (Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.

Luke 23:49 KJV 1900

And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.

Matthew 14:1 KJV 1900

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,

Most importantly, Mary Magdalene became a woman of substance----able to minister to Christ Jesus, to tend to his needs while he was about his Father's business in his public ministry. Just thinking about how Mary Magdalene grew in faith in the ministry of Christ Jesus to become a woman of substance compelled us to think how Christ Jesus beheld the widow with the mites, another woman of substance even though it appeared she was just a poor widow:

Mark 12:41–44 KJV 1900

And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

More importantly, I know how it feels to give all that you have and to have all that you have looked upon by some folks as pithy---not of great substance but thank God for Christ Jesus whose eyes beheld the widow's two mites and highly valued her substance. If, it was not for Christ Jesus, then the widow's two mites would not have taught the disciples to see with the eyes of Christ Jesus---a valuable lesson, indeed. For there was a woman who found herself in terrible trouble, in need of much money to untangle herself out of the snare of the devil but the eyes of Christ Jesus looked upon her and provided daily prayer petitions to God on her behalf until Satan took his hands off her and she was loosed, free, indeed, for whomever Christ Jesus frees, is free, indeed----all the ministering was made possible as a vow with no scheduled payments. Thank you, Jesus for your eyes beholding the widow's mites.

Three of these many women are specifically named. One of these is Mary Magdalene from whom Jesus had cast out seven devils. Some think that Mary is the unnamed woman Jesus had pronounced to be healed from sin because of her faith. (Luke 7:50) Tradition has often thought that Mary was a harlot like the woman in Simon’s house, but the Scripture is silent on this. It seems best to think to list this woman as one of the many women Jesus had healed rather than associating her with Mary Magdalene. But having said this, Mary had to have been one troubled soul. Seven is a perfect number, and seven devils had been cast out of her. Yet, the emphasis should not lay upon this, but rather because of the compassion of Jesus, she was forever free from this oppression. She went from a woman with seven devils to being the first witness to Christ’s resurrection. In other words, she became the church’s first evangelist when she went back and proclaimed the risen Christ to the terrified apostles who hid behind locked doors.

The other named women were a woman named Joanna, the wife of Herod’s chief steward, Chuza and Susanna, of which we know nothing more about. David had his mighty men, but Jesus His mighty women. These women, as well as many other unnamed women who ministered to Jesus and His apostles from their substance. In other words, they helped pay the bills for the ministry of Jesus. The three named women had been healed by Jesus. Jesus had ministered unto them, and now they were ministering to Jesus’ financial needs. These women must have had some means, and women of means had much more freedom that the common women. They had their own money, and they chose to spend it to support the gospel. The needs of Jesus must have been considerable. He had seventy men whom He had sent out to proclaim the word. Other than the incident where Jesus told Peter to catch a fish which had a shekel in His mouth with which Jesus commanded it be used to pay the half-shekel temple tax fro Peter and Himself (Matthew 17:24-26), Jesus never used His privilege as the Son of God to minister to Himself. He refused to turn the stones into bread to feed His hunger (Luke 4:3-4). Instead, He allowed people to minister to His needs, including these women.

What ties this passage together is that Jesus cared for everyone, and did not just cater to the rich. Village people need the Gospel, and women need the Gospel and to be ministered unto as much as city folk. Women needed to be healed physically and spiritually as much as men. The second unity is that God used many of these people whom men thought unworthy of personal care to respond to the ministry by doing ministry in return. In the case of these women, it was to minister directly to Jesus and His band of disciples of their substance. In most other cases. ministry is rendered back to support the ministers of the Gospel who have given up wordly goals and ambitions to proclaim the Gospel. The ministry of thanks-giving is also rendered to the poor and other needs, first within the congregation, but also to those outside as a witness to Jesus Christ. There is a place for the ministry of women. There is a place for the Timothys as well. We need to consider this as were conduct our ministries in the church.

Closing

The bible has around 1254 characters approximately, both named and unnamed.

Among whom only 185 approximately are women.

Sarah, Miriam, Rahab, Ruth, Esther, Deborah, Jael, Abigail, Shunamite Woman are the most predominant women of ministry from the Old Testament.

Mary, Elizabeth, Mary Magdalene, Eunice, Lydia, Joanna, Susanna, Junia, Lois, Phoebe, Dorcas are names of few women of the ministry in the New Testament.

Jesus and Women

Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman at the well

Jesus raises a widow’s son from the dead

A sinful woman anoints Jesus’s feet

Jesus forgives an adulterous woman

A group of women travels with Jesus

Jesus visits Mary and Martha

Jesus heals a crippled woman

Jesus heals the daughter of a Gentile woman

Weeping women follow Jesus on his way to the cross

Jesus’s mother and other women gather at the cross

Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene

Jesus appears to other women after his resurrection

Matthew 28:8–10 KJV 1900

And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

As a non-Jew recording the words and works of Jesus’ life, Luke demonstrates a special sensitivity to other “outsiders” with whom Jesus came into contact. For instance, Luke records five events involving women that are not mentioned in the other Gospels. In first-century Jewish culture, women were usually treated as second-class citizens with few of the rights men had. But Jesus crossed those barriers, and Luke showed the special care Jesus had for women. Jesus treated all people with equal respect. The above passages tell of his encounters with women.

What can we learn from Mary Magdalene?

— God brought her from a bleak existence and God has saved us from a bleak future.

— We should be serving the Lord physically and financially, with our strength, time and money

— She was near Christ in His hour of need – We are also in a time of urgency. The harvest is ripe, and the workers are few.

— She followed to be informed about where the body was laid. – Are you informed about the needs around you?

— She rose early, anxious to serve the Lord.

— She was available to receive His message – You aren’t available if you are so busy that you never stop to meditate on the things of the Lord or listen to that still, small voice. You aren’t available if you never open God’s Word.

— Mary recognized the Master’s voice. My sheep know my voice.

— She carried His message to the disciples.