“Many other women”

Read Luke 8:1-3

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The Jewish rabbis said that it was a sin to teach women. But Jesus accepted women as his followers and Luke emphasises this – the stories in 7:37-38, 8:1-3, 10:38-42, 15:8-10, 18:1-5 are all unique to his Gospel. He also says that several women went to the Lord’s tomb, including Joanna and others from this group in Galilee (3; 23:55; 24:10).

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The same emphasis is continued by Luke in Acts where “the women” are counted in the group of 120 who waited for Pentecost (Acts 1:14). The coming of the Spirit was on “both men and women” (Acts 2:17-18) and there is frequent mention of women as well as men becoming believers (Acts 5:14; 8:3; 8:12; 17:4; 17:12; cf. 9:36; 12:12; 12:13; 16:14). All of this shows the new status that women had within Christianity (Gal.3:28).

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Women were not only qualified to be disciples of Jesus but also to serve him. This is illustrated by Priscilla (Acts 18:18,26) and by the four daughters of Philip “who prophesied” (21:9). We see it too in this group of women who travelled with Jesus and the Twelve, and who “helped to support them out of their own means” (2-3). Like the woman in the previous story, these women all responded to Jesus with love and gratitude.