Jesus journeyed from one town and village
to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Accompanying him were the Twelve and some
women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called
Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s
steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their
resources. (Luke 8:1-3)
When we look
at the people who accompanied Jesus every step of the way on His mission of
proclaiming the Good News, we find an extremely diverse (in that day and age) group
that came from many backgrounds. Of the Twelve,
there were fishermen (and business owners, as they owned their own boats)
[Matthew 4:18-22], a tax collector [Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:13-17, Luke 5:27-32],
a ‘zealot’ (another word for ‘revolutionary’, or possibly a politician)
[Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:14-16, Acts 1:1-13], and a thief [John
12:6]. Of the others mentioned in Luke we
have a prostitute, those cured of demons and other ailments and the wife of a
member of the court of King Herod. They came from every walk of life, from the
outcast and poor, to the rich and privileged.
Part of what
I love about Jesus is that He made God more "reasonable." When we imagine Jesus moving from town to
town, proclaiming the liberating good news of the coming of God's Kingdom, we
see Him travelling with the Twelve, and with a group of women who had been
healed by Him and by some women who bought food for them along the way. It's supposed to be a surprising image
because men, especially "religious" men were not supposed to be seen
in public with women. Just being with
people who were sick or who were sinners (often considered the same) would mean
that a person would be unfit for worship.
I love how Jesus just shatters the possibility of thinking that God
could support those kinds of prejudices.
Maybe that’s why the women were so very faithful to Him. When almost all the apostles fled, it was
these women who were there with Him all the way to Calvary. It was Mary, "from
whom he drove seven demons," who is, according to John’s Gospel, the one Jesus first
called to proclaim the good news of the resurrection to His apostles (John
20:14–17).
Luke also
says there were “many others who provided for them out of
their resources." These people, regardless of their
place in the social structure of the time, provided for the Lord with whatever
resources they had. It’s really no
different today.
The Church
around the world comes from all walks of life, some rich, some poor, and we’re
all called to provide out of our resources.
In my opinion, there are two lessons to be learned from this
gospel. First, we’re called to care for
the Church and also each other. Second,
in the eyes of our Lord, we’re all equal and as such, we all receive of His
love and gifts equally.
It would
probably do us all well to ask ourselves some questions, and ask for any graces
available through our examination of conscience: With
whom do we journey down the road? Do we
just hang around a group of "like-minded" people? Do we avoid people who are "not
well" or who are obvious "sinners"? Are we a healer or a divider? Do we cling to old wounds, old categories,
self-protective ways of thinking and living? What are our attitudes toward women (if you’re
a man) or men (if you’re a woman), really? How far away do we stay from the
"untouchable" people in our faith community, our city, our world? How many of the choices of our daily lives
place us in solidarity with the people Jesus befriended?
Let's all
remember the next time we see someone who "just doesn’t fit in" that
God sees things differently and His desire is for us to see all as loving and
loved people who are made in His image and likeness, and therefore carry the
imprint of the Most High Himself.
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