Jesus, The Traveling Twelve...and The Women of Means!

After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. 

The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. 

These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Luke 8v1-3

Jesus and the Twelve get lots of attention.  But Luke pays attention to details - and he makes sure we know that some key women made the traveling ministry possible.  

Often times Peter, James and John are the best known of the Twelve, and Luke lets us know that Mary of Magdala, Joanna wife of Chuza, and Susanna were the primary supporters who used their resources to help Jesus, and the Twelve.

Mary of Magdala had seven demons cast out of her by Jesus.  Her life was irrevocably changed by the ministry of Jesus - no wonder she spent the rest of her days and resources supporting Jesus. Joanna's husband Chuza was the manager of Herod's household - she came from royal places, with prestige, power, connections, and confidence.  Jesus and Herod were two very different kings, and Joanna took great risk to funnel royal finances to a very subversive ministry.  Susanna was likely healed of a debilitating disease, and with her healed up body she used it to serve and care for her Healer.

Jesus called Twelve Men to follow him, men that - as far as we know - didn't follow Jesus because of something he did for them.  The women served and supported Jesus out of deep gratitude, the sacrificed out of love.  The men were called by Jesus, challenged by Jesus to leave one life behind and courageously choose another Way.  These men often doubted Jesus, questioned Jesus, were bewildered by Jesus' teachings and choices, denied Jesus, fled from Jesus.  But the women stayed by Jesus.  

The Twelve Men, a metaphor for the Twelve Tribes, reacted to Jesus much like they reacted to YHWH.  The women, unlike Israel, expressed the gratefulness and compassion that the Prophets plead with the nation to extend - to the poor, the enslaved, the crippled, the foreigners, the widow and orphan, the oppressed.  The women live out what God envisioned for his bride Israel, and his bride the Church - to support the work of Jesus in the world out of our own means, with our whole lives.

What was Jesus' work that the women supported?  The proclamation (word and deed) of the good news (Gospel) of the kingdom of God.  

Jesus, John the Baptizer and the Sinful Woman

Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.

Luke 7v23

Apparently even John the Baptizer wondered if Jesus really was "The One."  If John was confused over the purpose/identity of Jesus - well no wonder we sometimes have trouble with Jesus.  It seemed that Jesus wasn't living up to John's expectations of what Jesus was supposed to be.  I'll bet we have a similar struggle.  If John was on the verge of stumbling on account of Jesus, we may be also.

The Jesus that John expected wouldn't have said what he did to the Centurion.  This Jesus wouldn't have been wandering through small towns like Nain noticing grieving widows.  The Jesus that John expected was supposed to be...well...more glorious...more powerful...more effective at changing "things."  

But it seemed that Jesus spent most of his time in small cities, rural villages, and distant hills. He was continually surrounded by dirty crowds clamoring for a healing, a deliverance, a touch. Jesus was admired by the unclean, the poor, the impure, the sinners, the traitors, the filthy, the rejects.  Jesus was snubbed, ignored, scorned by the good people, the people with possessions, power, prestige, pretty looks - for the most part.  John wondered - "didn't Dad say that the One to Come would rescue us from our enemies?"  John wondered how healing the blind and deaf, forgiving the whores and cheats was going to rescue Israel from Rome.

The kingdom of God has come to Earth through Jesus.  The kingdom of God is now upon the Earth through the body of Christ (the Church).  The kingdom of God is now upon the Earth through you and me.  The kingdom of God encourages eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners.  The kingdom of God is about healing and good news.  Those that are part of the kingdom of God believe Jesus to be right about everything, and they accept God's purpose for them.  

This describes the Centurion.  This describes the Sinful Woman.  

Does this describe you...yet?

Jesus, the Centurion's Servant and the Widow's Son

It's easy, when reading through Luke, to think that the stories he includes are just random pieces he picked out from the assorted events of Jesus' life.  We know that Luke only includes a small portion of all the many things Jesus did.  So we also know that Luke didn't include stories in order to give us a complete picture of everything Jesus ever said and did.  So why does Luke include the stories he does?

Every story he includes in his account has layers of meaning.  It's helpful (and kind of fun) to sort through the different reasons for why each story is included. 

For the story of the Centurion and the Widow, we think of Deuteronomy 10v18: He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigners residing among you, giving them food and clothing.  We also think of the teaching in Luke 6v36: Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.  These stories connect the work of Jesus with the original Torah; it also connects his teachings with Torah, as well as his works.  Jesus is a man, a teacher, a prophet, a healer of integrity.

This story of the Centurion and the Widow connects Jesus with the great prophet Elijah, who was sent to a foreign widow to heal her son (see also Jesus' straight-up talk with his neighbors at Nazareth).  Malachi (the last prophet of the OT) ends his prophecy by declaring that Elijah will return and will turn (same word as "repent") the children to their Fathers (Israel to God) and Father to the children (mercy and forgiveness).

This story of the Centurion and the Widow show Jesus as very human: he is amazed by the centurion's faith, and he is moved to compassion by the widow's mourning.  The healing of the centurion's servant was initiated by the town elders (who argued that Jesus OUGHT to heal the servant because of all the good stuff the soldier had done for the town).  Jesus was open to requests even if made with mixed motives.  The healing of the widow's son came about as a random act of kindness.

Up through Luke 9v50, Jesus' ministry is concentrated in the Capernaum area, in Galilee.  This reminds us of Isaiah's prophecy in 9v1: but in the future [God] will honor Galilee of the nations...the people walking in darkness have seen a great light....  Luke is giving us specific stories that reveal how the light of God was breaking through in Galilee - raising of the dead, healing of foreigners, healing on the Sabbath, healing of the paralyzed, the demon-possessed, the leprous, the blind, the deaf, the lame, etc.  And all of this also sets up the next story of Jesus and John the Baptist.  But that's another post.

So know do you see more reasons for why Luke included the story of the Centurion and the Widow?

Jesus and the Teachings

According to Luke, Jesus begins his ministry by doing a lot of teaching.  When he arrives in Capernaum, the people are amazed at his teaching; when he prepares to leave the city, he reminds them that he has come to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.  When Jesus is standing by the Lake Gennesaret, the people are standing around listening to him speak the word of God.  When Jesus is presented with the paralyzed man, he had been in the house teaching amongst the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  And finally, Jesus is invited to a banquet by Levi, a feast which includes a time for teaching.

So...what was the content of those teachings?  I think that Luke provides us the summary of the content in chapter 6:20-49.  Jesus' teaching takes on a new dimension when you connect it with the stories that precede it.  For example: 

Nazareth and Capernaum: Blessings and Woes/the Builders

Peter and Levi: Love Your Enemies/Fruit & the Heart

Pharisees & Paralyzed Man: Do Not Judge

Jesus' Blessings and Woes

Blessed are you who are poor, 

for yours is the kingdom of God.

But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

Luke 6v20, 24 [TNIV]

Jesus' first sermon is reminiscent of Moses last sermon.  It was typical of Jewish prophets and teachers to preach about God's blessings and curses upon his people.  Deuteronomy 11 has a famous decree from the LORD on how he will bless Israel if they love him and keep his commandments and how he will curse Israel if they reject him and disregard his commandments. 

Since Jesus is working to restore Israel through the creation of a New Israel and a New Covenant, one would expect a sermon from him outlining the conditions of blessings and curses.  Jesus has come to proclaim good news about the kingdom of God - his reign has come now!  God is walking upon the earth in the man Jesus of Nazareth, and he is making his blessings evident through his healing of the diseased, disable, and demon-possessed.  But for those that reject God as revealed through Jesus, there will be cursing similar to that of those who rejected God as revealed through Torah.  

Israel was created through Abraham by God as a instrument of blessing for the whole earth.  If Israel had faithfully kept the Torah, the outcome would have been beautiful - the whole earth would have praised God.  But Israel was unfaithful, and so now Jesus has come - not only as the fulfillment of the Old Israel - but as God to initiate a New Israel - a group of men and women who will be an instrument of blessing for the whole earth.

On the heels of the blessings and curses Jesus instructs his disciples - the core of the New Israel (note the appointment of twelve apostles - representing the twelve tribes of the Old Israel) his Torah: love God by loving your enemies!  Become like God - be kind to the ungrateful and the wicked!  Be merciful just as your Father in heaven.  Do not judge without all the evidence, do not condemn out of hatred.  Give with the kind of generosity you would like to receive - mercy, forgiveness, kindness.  Make it your goal to become like God - not a God of the rich and powerful, but a God of the poor and excluded - a God who looks like Jesus.

Blessed are you when you give mercy like God.  Cursed are you when you resist giving mercy like God.  God is merciful - mercy matters; beware withholding mercy from the poor, and beware favoring the rich with mercy.  Give mercy out of the goodness in your heart, as prompted by the Spirit of Christ with no regard for whether the recipient deserves it or not.