Insiders and Outsiders
Those who respond to Jesus are often those you wouldn’t expect. It’s easy to create categories of those we think would be “good candidates” for Jesus’ training program. Surely, we conclude, Jesus is looking for those who’re strong and disciplined and gifted and well-connected. Jesus’ followers, we may think, are those who’re outwardly impressive, those we’d look at and say, “Yeah of course they should be a follower of Jesus, they have a lot to offer the team.”
But what happened when Jesus began his ministry was just the opposite. Those you would’ve thought would be his disciples for the most part rejected him, while those you would’ve thought wouldn’t be his disciples flocked to him.
One of the main things Luke is doing is his Gospel is showing us that the insider-outsider paradigm we naturally gravitate to is actually backwards. In other words, he shows us again and again that those we think should be on the inside are actually on the outside while those we think should be on the outside are actually on the inside.
Jesus Not a Custodian of Social Norms
In our text today, Luke 8:1-3, Luke gives us one of the most stunning, even if short and sweet, pictures of this dynamic. In this text, we learn that some of Jesus’ most faithful followers were also some of the most unlikely.
The main point of this text is that Jesus’ program transcends cultural boundaries. Jesus did not come to be a custodian of social norms and expectations. He came to create a new humanity that reflects the new world that arrived in him. Jesus came to unravel the broken systems of the world and to weave together a new community around him, a community made up of men and women.
The World’s View of Women
Today we’re going to meet a group of women who no one would’ve thought belonged with Jesus. I want us to consider the world’s view of women, Jesus’ view of women, and then the hope of women, and men. First, what was the world’s view of women in the first century?
In the first century, women were not viewed as “coheirs of the grace of life,” as Peter puts it (1 Pet. 3:7), but rather as second-class citizens. For the most part, the male view of women was negative. Some male writers at the time even said women were responsible for most sin. Even in Judaism, there was a fairly consistent pattern of viewing women negatively. For example, Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, said that “the Law holds women to be inferior in all matters and that therefore women should be submissive.” And Philo, the first-century Jewish philosopher and biblical commentator from Alexandria, says throughout his writings that women and female traits are examples of weakness. He argues that women ought to therefore stay at home and desire a life of seclusion. Then there’s the Sirach, or a Jewish work written in 180 BC, that presents women as either good wives or as problems. It even says that “better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good; it is women who bring shame and disgrace.” According to another rabbinic writing, a Jewish man should pray three benedictions a day, including one in which he thanked God that he was not a woman.[1]
These Jewish texts and teachers created the social framework for how women were viewed and treated. This framework is seen in John 4, when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. After his disciples return from the town looking for food, John says, “They marveled that (Jesus) was talking with a woman” (v. 27). The disciples wondered how Jesus could even be speaking to a woman!
The ironic thing is that these cultural ideas came from men who were experts in the Old Testament, where we find unequivocal statements of the equal dignity and worth of men and women in Genesis 1 and the virtue of a woman who works both inside and outside her home for the good of her family in Proverbs 31. This is a good example of how our cultural biases often blind us to what’s right in front of us in the Bible.
Jesus’ View of Women
Jesus, however, didn’t miss it. He knew who and what women were, and he was glad to include them in his kingdom work. Let’s now consider, secondly, Jesus’ view of women. In Luke 8:1-3, we see Jesus including women in his work. This was a revolutionary thing to do. Rabbis didn’t allow women to be their disciples, their formal students. But Jesus welcomed women into his classroom of discipleship.
There are several things to notice from this text about Jesus’ posture toward women. First notice that it was the word and work of Jesus that drew them to him. Verse 1 says that Jesus was traveling around preaching the good news about the kingdom of God. This was his main purpose (4:43), and it was this message that got people’s attention, including these women.
But it was Jesus’ healing work in their lives that made them his disciples (v. 2). Jesus healed these women of demons and sicknesses and, as a result, they began traveling with him around Galilee. These women didn’t just hear Jesus’ word with their ears; they experienced the transforming power of the Word, the Son of God.
Notice that the text says that “the twelve” and “also some women who had been healed” were “with him” (vv. 1-2). Jesus healed these ladies and then allowed them to follow him around Galilee and be a part of his itinerate ministry of preaching and healing. The twelve apostles had a unique role, as those chosen by Jesus to be his authorized representatives. But they weren’t the only ones Jesus invited into his work. Jesus wanted these women to be “with him” as well.
A New Family
Let’s zoom out for a moment and notice something that Luke is doing in this section of his Gospel. Back in 7:31-35, Jesus censures those who refuse to respond to John or him. Then there’s the account of the sinful women who lavishes love on Jesus in Simon the Pharisees house (7:36-50). Her love is in sharp contrast to Simon’s cynicism. That episode is a prime example of how those who respond to Jesus aren’t those you’d expect.
It was an illustration of how “tax collectors and sinners” believe that God is just and fall at Jesus’ feet in gratitude, while the pharisaical in heart reject God’s purposes and, as one commentator says, “sit on the sidelines in stonyhearted silence.”[2]
Luke wants us to see that there is a divided response to Jesus, as illustrated by the sinful woman and Simon. This theme is further illustrated in this section by Jesus’ parable of the sower in 8:4-18. With this parable, Jesus tells us why there’s a divided response to him.
But interestingly the parable is framed by the sacrificial ministry of these women in 8:1-3 and Jesus’ redefinition of his family in 8:19-21. On the one side of the parable is a picture of women following and serving Jesus, and on the other side is Jesus’ statement that his family is made up of those “who hear the word of God and do it” (v. 21).
These two short sections (8:1-3 and 8:19-21) wrap around the parable, showing us who Jesus’ true people are. Literarily, Luke is showing us that these women are part of his family. The seed of the word of God has taken root and is growing in their lives, revealing them to be his closest kin.
Their service to Jesus is because they belong to Jesus. Again, having women followers was unheard of in Jesus’ context. But Jesus says that, because these women have heard and obeyed the word of God, they’re not just groupies or servants or hired hands, but should be regarded as family members. In Jesus’ mind, there’s no scandal here. These women have every right to follow him and be part of his work because they’re family.
Overflowing Generosity
Notice what these women are doing for Jesus and his apostles. Verse 3 says they’re “providing for them out of their means.” Financial support is what you’d expect among family members and is evidence that the seed of God’s word is growing and bearing fruit in their lives. Those who hear the word and obey it are liberated from slavery to their money and determined to sacrifice whatever they can for Jesus’ sake.
Like the unnamed woman from 7:36-50, the love of Jesus has created generosity in their hearts. The word “means” in verse 3 refers to possessions, property, goods, or money. These women were pooling their material resources in order to support Jesus’ ministry. The tense of the verb tells us that this provision wasn’t a one-time thing, but a habitual action.
The Humility of the Son
This shows us something of their heart, but also of Jesus’ heart. Ever since Jesus left the carpenter’s shop and began his itinerate ministry, he was poor and without possessions. We never hear him or the apostles asking for money. And we never see him use his divine power to provide for himself. In this we see his humility.
The eternal and all-sufficient Son of God humbled himself so deeply that he was willing to be provided for by a small band of women. He could have turned stones into bread any time he wanted, but he humbly allowed himself to be served through the efforts and sacrifices of others. Jesus, the Son of God sent to save the world, doesn’t need anyone’s help. But in his wisdom and love he allows us to enter into his saving work.
Jesus Calls All Kinds of Women
Notice also that Jesus humbly calls all kinds of people, in this case, all kinds of women, into his work. Mary Magdalene had seven demons cast out of her. We don’t know much about her background, and some have supposed that she’s the sinful women from the end of chapter 7. But in the New Testament, demon possession isn’t connected to moral failure. Those with evil spirits needed deliverance, not just forgiveness. And the fact that Mary had seven demons tells us how completely horrific her situation was. But Jesus had healed her and set her free.
Then Luke mentions “Joanna” in verse 3, “the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager.” Luke tells us that Joanna was married to someone in the upper echelons of Galilean society. Her husband managed the estate of Herod Antipas, or the Jewish ruler of Galilee.
This means that Joanna had a high social status. Jesus’ movement has reached Herod’s house, meaning that the gospel is reaching into the high places. This shows us that the gospel isn’t only for the down-and-out like Mary Magdalene, but also for the up-and-in. Joanna is wealthy and but when Jesus heals her, he sets her free to live a life free from the bondage of money.
A New, and Better, Bondage
What would compel both a demon-possessed woman and a wealthy woman to follow Jesus and use their material resources to fund his ministry? Verse 2 says it’s because Jesus healed them. Their problem wasn’t their gender but their bondage. One was in bondage to evil, the other in bondage to status and wealth. Both needed freedom, and both were set free when Jesus, as one writer says, kidnapped them from “Satan’s landfill and made them part of his family.”[3]
This is instructive for us. While we must not forget what we were, we must also remember what we are. This is what Paul means when he writes, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:9-11).
After these women were freed by Jesus, a bond of gratitude held them to Jesus. They were freed so that they’d be bound to a new and better Master.
The Hope of Women, and Men
Jesus challenged the social norms of his day by inviting these women to be part of his work. He healed them and they followed him. His power and grace created love and sacrifice.
But their love and sacrifice weren’t just a flash-in-the-pan desire to be part of whatever was trending in Galilee at that time. No, their bond to Jesus held them all the way to the cross. This is where we find, thirdly, the hope of these women, and all women, and men.
These women were there when Jesus died (Lk. 23:49), when he was buried (23:55-56), at the empty tomb (24:1-10), saw him after he rose (24:33-26), and were there waiting for the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14). These women were all in with Jesus, from beginning to end.
Jesus had so captured their hearts and transformed their lives that they didn’t run away when everyone else did. In fact, besides the Roman soldiers and the apostle John, the women were the only ones at the cross, with Jesus in his most agonizing moments, watching him die.
A Change for Women
Amazingly, within a few centuries after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Christianity had swept over the Roman empire and become the dominant religion. Sociologist Rodney Stark argues that one of the reasons why was because of Christianity’s appeal to pagan women. Many are quick to denounce Christianity as being patriarchal or sexist or misogynistic. But the truth is that, as Stark points out, “it is easily forgotten that the early church was so especially attractive to women that in 370 the emperor Valentinian issued a written order to Pope Damasus I requiring that Christian missionaries cease calling at the homes of pagan women.” Christianity was “unusually appealing” to women because in the church women “enjoyed far higher status than did women in the Greco-Roman world at large.”[4]
What led to this change? Stark mentions that Christians didn’t practice infanticide or abortion and so had higher birth rates and other factors. But what he doesn’t mention is that, in Christianity, in the gospel, women found that they were seen and heard and accepted and loved for who they were. They were no longer objects for men to use but rather sisters and mothers to be loved and cared for. Jesus’ ministry changed the way the world sees women. Has it changed the way you see them?
Womanhood Won’t Save You
But even Jesus’ earliest female followers knew they weren’t saved just by being a woman. As Mary Magdalene and Joanna and all the other women who followed Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem stood and watched Jesus hanging on the cross, as they saw the empty tomb, as they saw the scars in his resurrected body, they knew where their salvation lay.
They worshiped and blessed Jesus at his ascension because they knew he was their Savior (24:50-53). They didn’t care what the world thought of them. They knew Jesus had healed them and then died and rose for them, so nothing else mattered.
The women disciples we meet in Luke 8 are saved like anyone else: they heard the word of God and then obeyed it. These women were saved because they followed Jesus all the way to the cross.
This is the only way for any woman, or man, to be saved. You must go to his cross and understand what he did there for you, turn away from your former life, and follow him no matter what it costs. Have you done that?
[1]These examples from D. M. Scholer, “Women I: Gospels,” in The IVP Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 1095-6.
[2]David E. Garland, Luke, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2011), 335.
[3]Dale Ralph Davis, Luke 1-13: The Year of the Lord’s Favor, Focus on the Bible (Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus, 2021), 135.
[4]Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries (New York: HarperCollins, 1996), 95.