The Women Who Followed Jesus
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Introduction
Introduction
Turn to Luke 23:49-56.
If you were to read through the four Gospels, you would find that their accounts focus mostly on the lives of Jesus and His twelve disciples. After all, they were His chosen followers. Of all people, they were privileged to spend the most time around Him. They received the best of His teaching. They observed the most miracles. They even assisted in His ministry. This focus on the twelve disciples is only magnified in the final week before our Savior’s crucifixion. However, when the Gospel writers tell of our Savior’s death, burial and resurrection, the most important hours of our Savior’s earthly ministry, I don’t find much said about the disciples. Matthew 26:56 says that in the Garden of Gethsemane, “all the disciples forsook him, and fled.”
Instead, I find another group of Jesus’ followers who take center stage in the narrative and who would witness His death and His burial, and consequently, who be among the first to witness the risen Christ.
Who was this group? They are identified in our text as the women who followed Jesus.
Read Luke 23:49-56.
The actions of these women teach us that…
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They were not ashamed - Luke 23:49-56.
We find this first indicated in verse 49. As Jesus hung on the cross, the women that followed him from Galilee stood afar off, beholding these things. Yes, it may have been from a distance, but at least they were there. You see, throughout Jesus’ ministry, many of his followers came and went like a revolving door.
When He did great miracles, the crowds loved him and packed all around him! But when He preached repentance and that he was the bread of life, they replied, “this is an hard saying; who can hear it?
John 6:66 “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”
Again, when Jesus entered Jerusalem at the triumphal entry, He was at the height of his popularity! The Pharisees felt powerless! They even said among themselves, “Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.” But, within a week, at the crucifixion of Christ, the crowds had melted away into the shadows of Jerusalem.
These women, though, they were not ashamed of Jesus. Standing afar off, they publicly mourned His death.
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.
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.
You would think that after His death on the cross, they would have gone to their homes, but no, they were not ashamed. In the hours that followed, Joseph of Arimathaea worked quickly to bury our Savior’s broken body. John chapter nineteen indicates that Nicodemus assisted him. They were not alone, however. Who else was nearby? The women who followed Jesus.
Read Luke 23:55.
And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.
You would think that after His burial in the tomb, they would have gone to their homes and quietly mourned alone, but no, they were not ashamed. They went to their homes so that they could return to the tomb again after the sabbath.
The story continues in Luke 24.
Read Luke 24:1-3.
Who came to the tomb early that Sunday morning? Not the disciples. No, the women who followed Jesus.
Read Luke 24:4-10.
The women who followed Jesus were the first to hear the good news that Jesus was alive! They had the honor of being the first to see the resurrected Lord! They had the distinction of telling the disciples of what they had missed! Usually it was the other way around! Usually it was the disciples telling stories of Jesus calming the seas and working other great miracles! But this time, it was the women telling the disciples the good news! Why? Because they were not ashamed.
Application: Christian, from time to time our hearts need to be griped with this question: “am I ashamed of Jesus?”
Living in a relatively comfortable place like America, silence is easy. According to John 20:19, most of the disciples spent that Sunday huddled together in some place with the door shut.
For these women, staying at home through these dark events would have been easy also. But they didn’t. They witnessed the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ because they were not ashamed.
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They were not inconvenienced - Luke 24:1.
Let’s face it: we Americans are all about convenience. From the convenience of your recliner, you can book a driver to pickup your fast food order for lunch, swing by the convenience store for a few essentials, and drop it all off at your front door. You can order just about anything online and have it delivered to your front door. And if that’s not convenient enough, in a few years, we’ll probably have home robots who will get your deliveries from the front door and bring it to your recliner. Like I said, we’re all about convenience.
All of the Gospel accounts emphasize how early it was when these women made their way to the sepulchre.
In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
Altogether, it seems that it was dark when they began walking to the tomb and the sun was just rising as they arrived. That’s not the most convenient time to go for a walk. That’s not the most convenient time to go to a tomb and apply spices to the body of the deceased.
But Jesus was not an inconvenience to the women who followed Jesus. Dead, or alive, He was their priority.
These women could have gone back to their old lives.
These women could have taken care of other responsibilities.
These women could have justified themselves by remembering how they ministered to Jesus when He was alive.
But no, they prepared their spices and very early Sunday morning, they got up and walked to the tomb. They were prepared to minister to the dead just as they had when He was alive, but oh, what a surprise was awaiting them! The stone was rolled away! There was no body! The spices would not be needed after all! All thought of inconvenience forgotten, they would soon find themselves running every which way to share the news that the angels told them: He is risen!
Application: Christian, we live in a time where it may seem inconvenient to be a follower of Christ, but He is worthy. May He never be inconvenient to us. These women were not inconvenienced by their early morning walk to the tomb. Neither should we ever by inconvenienced by serving our Lord.
If they could get up early to go to the tomb, surely I can get up early this next week and mow the church yard. If they could get up early to say their final goodbyes at the tomb, surely you and I can get up to spend time with the one who is alive today! If they could get up early to apply spices to His body, surely you and I can serve the risen Savior somehow today! Why? Because He is worthy.
The women who followed Jesus, they were not ashamed, they were not inconvenienced, and thirdly…
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They were not unbelieving - Luke 24:8-11.
Verse eight is a short one, but don’t miss it. The women remembered what Jesus had said - and they believed.
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
Eventually, the disciples believed also, but not at this point. They didn’t believe the women! Their words were as idle talk - a bunch of nonsense! These women believed, however, and maybe for that reason Jesus appeared to these women before He ever appeared to the disciples.
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
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.
Perhaps Jesus appeared to the women first because they were not unbelieving.
Application: My friend, on this Resurrection Sunday, have you believed? I’m not asking if you believe in the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. A nationwide poll was just conducted earlier this month which indicated that nearly 70% of Americans believe that is an historical fact. So I’m not asking if you believe that.
Rather, I’m asking if you have believed in Christ alone to save you from your sins. Jesus died as a sacrifice in your place to appease God’s wrath against your sin. But the only way His sacrifice gets applied to your account with God is if you choose to trust in God’s Son to save your soul. If you change your mind about your sin and take God at His word that He will save your soul, He promises that He will. I invite you to make that decision today and then tell me or someone that you trust so that we can rejoice with you.
Conclusion
Conclusion
There’s a lot that we can learn from the disciples, but on that resurrection Sunday, these women provided some wonderful examples to us. They were not ashamed, they were not inconvenienced, and they were not unbelieving. I challenge you: be like the women who followed Jesus.