Jesus’ Support Team Identified

Take Every Passage to Prayer - Volume 2, The Gospels
^{Saturday July 06, 2024}

Luke 8:1-3

Father, thank You for these women who helped support Jesus’ ministry. Thank You for all the women throughout the last 2,000 years who have humbly served You without fame or recognition. Thank You for all the nameless women who have been the backbone of the ministries of more well-known preachers and teachers. Father, thank You for a special lady whose service to You, expressed by her loving support for me, gives me the freedom to minister to others in Your name. Amen.

Father, the text informs us that Jesus departed from Simon’s home and traveled around the region of Galilee, from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of salvation.
Luke chose this moment to describe in a little more detail the entourage that is traveling around with Jesus. He describes two groups:

1. The twelve disciples.
2. Women who were supporting the work of Jesus and the disciples.

To understand this passage, I must revisit the status of women in this culture. They were second-class citizens in this society, expected to confine themselves to the home and domestic activities. They certainly would not be considered key contributors to a growing ministry. However, that is not how You valued women and that is not how Jesus valued them either. Your Kingdom consists of many people who are outcasts and rejected by society.
Based on the text, I can imagine the women doing the following tasks so that Jesus and the disciples could focus exclusively on ministry:

1. Earning a living, most likely by selling things they created while traveling.
2. Buying food and necessary supplies.
3. Preparing meals, which included setting up the portable kitchen, cooking, serving the food, and cleaning up after the meal.
4. Keeping the clothing of the guys in shape, including doing the laundry and mending tears.
5. Providing first-aid when necessary.
6. Setting up bedding and taking them down.
7. Packing the supplies for travel and carrying the supplies while on travel.
8. Waiting on Jesus to do what He asks them to do.
9. Serving as encouragers and companions to the disciples.

Father, these tasks were obviously critical to the “success” of Jesus’ ministry. While Jesus would have been fine without their support, His disciples certainly needed the women’s support. The women’s ministry to Jesus, by supporting His disciples, was most likely a contributing factor as to why the disciples never abandoned Jesus. Their needs were taken care of.

The passage indicates that there were “many” women supporting Jesus’ ministry. However, the three most important women, perhaps consisting of the leadership of the women’s ministry, were the following:

1. Mary (called Magdalene).
2. Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household.
3. Susanna.

It is reasonable to imagine several dozen men and women, encircling a campfire, laughing, and chatting while they ate. It is reasonable to imagine playful teasing between the disciples and the team of women. It is reasonable to imagine men and women pairing off into “couples” while on journeys, even if the relationships were merely platonic.

I can assume that there were relationship dynamics in Jesus’ entourage that the Bible never mentions: men vs. women (“men are slobs”), women vs. women (“I can’t believe she said that”), flirtation (“did you see how the disciple looked at you”), drama (“I’m not speaking to…”), etc.,. Did Jesus instruct the disciples in the Sermon on the Mount not to say “Raca”, which essentially means “idiot”, because He heard this spoken within this collective? After all, these were flawed human beings. Jesus not only preached and healed people in Israel, He most likely also had to deal with resolving conflict within His support team. Amen.