They Traveled with Jesus

Hello everyone.

I have finished sharing my exegesis through Luke 7, and today will start on Luke 8.  I'm covering only three verses, and it will be a short of some of Jesus' travelling companions. Here is my translation of the three verses:

 1 Shortly after this, Jesus traveled through the towns and villages preaching and declaring the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him. 2 There were also certain women that had been healed of evil spirits and diseases: Mary, who was called Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons, 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the official in charge of Herod’s household, Susanna and several others, who were ministering to them out of their own possessions.

We see in verse 1 that Jesus was travelling around the Galilean countryside, doing what Jesus did: preaching, teaching and healing. A band of disciples traveled with him. That group obviously included the Twelve. But we see in verse 2 that the group was more than that, and included women.

Luke mentions three women specifically: Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna, but also says that there were several others. It mentions that these women were meeting the needs of these men out of their money. Think about it, Jesus used to be a carpenter, but wasn’t doing that any more. Peter, Andrew, James and John had a fishing business that they weren’t doing any more. Who was paying for all of this? Well, it appears that a group of women were at least in part helping to foot the bill. Mary Magdalene, and others who had benefited directly, perhaps through exorcism or healing, from Jesus’ ministry.

Darrell Bock says that traveling as an itinerant rabbi was not uncommon in Jesus time. Neither was receiving support from women. What was uncommon was that the women were traveling along with the rabbi. (Bock, 713.) In Jesus, we see a teacher who didn't always hold with the social conventions of his time, and he elevated women to a much higher place than the society around him.

Who were these women, who gave out of their own means to support Jersus and his ministry? We see great diversity here. Mary Magdalene was on one end of the spectrum, a woman who had been rescued from demon possession. Infact, Jesus had cast seven demons out of her. Joanna was at the other end of the spectrum, the wife of a prominent official in Herod’s court. The scope of Jesus’ ministry is all people, regardless of gender or station.

It is no coincidence that in Luke 24:10, Mary Magdelene and Joanna are in that group of women that find the empty tomb and announce it to the Apostles. Two very different women, with very different life stories, are brought together through Jesus and get to share in this great news of the Resurrection.

Tom