Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning, we’re going to look at a person from Scripture who had a great impact in the spreading of the Gospel, even though their circumstances at the time would be considered a hindrance to their service.

Turn to Luke chapter 8, that’s on page 588 of the pew Bible.

We’re going to start in the first three verses of this chapter.

As Luke begins this part of his narrative, he opens with a summary of one of Jesus’ itinerant preaching circuits.

While Jesus was on earth, a good portion of his ministry, of course, was going through the countryside, preaching that the kingdom of God had come and that forgiveness for sin and reconciliation with God was being made available through him.

But there is something odd going on with Jesus’ preaching tour; let’s read verses 1-3:

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Luke 8:1–3 CSB

1 Afterward he was traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God.

The Twelve were with him,

2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her);

3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions.

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In his narrative of Jesus’ preaching ministry, Luke includes the fact that several women were traveling with Jesus and the Twelve.

In fact, he names three of the women, indicating that they were of no small importance to Jesus’ ministry.

This week and next, as we pick up from last year our series called The Characters of Easter, we’re going to look at two of these women who Luke tells us saw Jesus’ ministry and stayed with him until the very end.

Today, we’ll look at the second woman in Luke’s list, Joanna the wife of Chuza.

And our big idea this morning is this: Jesus saves unlikely people from unlikely places.

Jesus saves unlikely people from unlikely places.

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Joanna Provided for Jesus

Joanna came to Jesus from an unlikely place.

One one hand, that’s not surprising at all.

Many of Jesus’ followers came from unlikely backgrounds: Matthew was a tax collector, nobody liked him.

Simon the Zealot, a religious terrorist committed to kicking the Romans out of Israel.

Most of the disciples were poor fisherman.

Hardly the crew you would expect to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.

However, Joanna’s inclusion is unlikely for the entirely opposite reason.

We know that Jesus called the poor and the outcast.

But Joanna wasn’t that.

Joanna was wealthy and connected.

Luke says that she was the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward.

Herod, of course, being the king of the region of Galilee and Peraea.

This was the son of Herod the Great, who was king when Jesus was born.

Chuza had a prominent role in the court of the king.

Stewards were the high-ranking managers of the government.

Think of, say, the cabinet members of the president of the United States.

High-level advisors and executives.

But, all of her wealth and proximity to the elite of society couldn’t help with the trouble Joanna had.

Luke says that these three women had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses.

We’re not given any insight as to which of these Joanna was healed from, but we can see that, though she probably had access to the finest health care available, it was ineffective for her ailments.

She needed something more.

And she found healing in what might seem an unlikely place — a traveling carpenter turned rabbi.

The Bible doesn’t describe the details of her healing other than that it happened.

But we know that it was dramatic enough that Joanna’s life changed forever when she encountered Jesus.

She came from an unlikely place, the household of a dysfunctional and corrupt government.

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And that’s not the only unlikely part of Joanna’s story.

It’s not just about where she came from, but who she was.

And the key word is, “she.”

Joanna was a woman.

It was not uncommon, in fact it was expected, that rabbis had an entourage as they traveled and preached in Israel.

Jesus wasn’t doing anything strange by calling disciples.

But, in a bold move against the patriarchy of his day, Jesus invites women into his entourage as disciples.

An unlikely person, a woman, from an unlikely place, the cultural elite.

Luke also tells us that Joanna and this group of women were bankrolling Jesus’ ministry.

She, and apparently some others who were following Jesus came from some wealth and wanted to show their gratitude by supplying Jesus and the Twelve with the money they needed to travel and preach.

An unlikely person from and unlikely place providing for the needs to Jesus.

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Joanna Persevered With Jesus

The next time Joanna is named specifically in Scripture is on Easter morning, but there is a reference to her, among others, in chapter 23, so turn there if you will.

Luke 23, on page 602 of the pew Bible.

Jesus was tried and crucified on Friday of Passover weekend, and his body was removed from the cross and buried that evening.

Let’s read about his burial from verse 48:

Luke 23:48–56 CSB

48 All the crowds that had gathered for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, went home, striking their chests.

49 But all who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

50 There was a good and righteous man named Joseph, a member of the Sanhedrin,

51 who had not agreed with their plan and action.

He was from Arimathea, a Judean town, and was looking forward to the kingdom of God.

52 He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body.

53 Taking it down, he wrapped it in fine linen and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever been placed.

54 It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed along and observed the tomb and how his body was placed.

56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes.

And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.

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We’ll see in just a moment for sure that Joanna is included in this group of women, but I want to cover things in chronological order, so just stick with me for now.

Joanna is part of the group of women named in verses

49 and 55 that watched while Jesus died and went to the tomb was buried.

Joanna was there near the start of Jesus’ ministry when he healed her from some malady, and she was there at the end when he healer died.

Luke means for us to understand, then, that Joanna was one of the few who persevered with Jesus as a disciple through the span of his ministry.

Joanna provided for Jesus and she persevered with Jesus.

And this was unlikely, as well.

There were, relatively speaking, very few who came to Jesus who also stayed with Jesus.

In John’s gospel, he makes it clear that many were following Jesus mostly for the free food and the spectacle.

After Jesus fed the 5000 in the wilderness, this is from John 6, the very next day the crowd asked him, “What sign are you going to do that we may see and believe you?”

He had literally the day before miraculously provided food for the thousands from two fish and five little barley rolls, and they’re telling him to do another miracle as proof.

Instead, Jesus tells them the story of Moses and God providing manna for their ancestors in the wilderness.

Then he says, “I am the true bread that comes from God. Feast on me and live forever.”

And verse 66 of chapter 6 says this:

John 6:66 CSB

66 From that moment many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him.

There were very few who persevered with Jesus when his teaching got tough.

When they were called to fully put their trust in him, most of those who came decided that it was time to go home.

But Joanna stayed.

She was there at the cross.

She had come from Galilee to be with her healer when he was being put to death.

And even in his death, she stayed and they prepared spices for his body that evening.

What disappointment Joanna and the others must have felt that night.

I think that sometimes we forget that the disciples didn’t get it on Friday.

The Bible is pretty insistent that they weren’t thinking about the possibility of a resurrection when Jesus died.

When they saw him on cross, they weren’t thinking redemption; they were thinking failure.

The one they had put their hope in, the one they thought was the Messiah, was dead, their hopes of Israel’s glory crucified and buried like a common criminal.

But even in the disappointment and heartache, Joanna persevered to care for Jesus’ body.

An unlikely person from an unlikely place with an unlikely perseverance.