The women behind that great man Jesus

The women Behind the great man –‘Jesus’

Mc Crossan

Thewomen Behind the greatman–Jesus

The women behind the great man – Jesus

Brendan Mc Crossan

One

The women behind the man

We hear often enough in the Gospels about the apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ, but we don’t hear much about the women in Jesus life, I mean the real women that worked along with Jesus and the apostles that travelled with them everywhere they went preaching. There is very little mention of them in the scriptures.

Here was a bunch of stinking fishermen, smelly sweaty, armpits and other places also and reeking of fish smells. Who looked after them while they were travelling about with Jesus in a hot country? There were no underarm deodorants in those days and no aftershave for those who actually shaved; they must have been a very smelly bunch, and that included Jesus, he had no supernatural deodorant or cosmetics, he sweated just like the rest. Of course everyone in thosedays smelled, they had no tooth brushes and no toothpasteeither, and their breath must have smelled also unless they ate herbs to muffle the smell of bad breath.

Now I know you wouldn’t want to think of Jesus smelling and having no toothpaste and having bad breath, but for the love of God face reality those were the times people lived in and everyone smelled. Their clothes probably reeked of dirt, sweat and wear, they also had no washing machines in those days either in case you thought they had, and no tumble dryers with softener and freshener.

And as most people think they were a bunch of men with Jesus but you are wrong, there were a group of women also travelling with the group; in modern day terms we might call them Jesus groupies. {And this is just a joke} These women looked after Jesus and the apostles; they took care of them financially. I am sure there were times when those women said, ‘right lads get your boxers off and your other clothes out now we need those stinking clothes off of you now, and we are at a well with fresh water,’ ‘and you lot stink.’ {Please note; this is another joke}

There was more to these women than meets the eye these women were not only supplying the apostles and Jesus needs, but probably did do a bit of washing and cooking for them also, there’s something about a woman that likes to be clean instinctively while a man would go around for days wearing the same smelly socks

Luke 8:1-3,).NRSV Soon afterwards [Jesus] went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

If you read this scripture carefully you will see that these women were not just washers of the apostles and Jesus clothes or suppliers of their needs they were being taught by Jesus as they all travelled together. If you look at the first line of this scripture you will see that this group travelled through cities and villages of the region of Galilee as Jesus preached the Good News. Their only mode of transport would have been feet, the only mention of Jesus having transport in the bible is when he entered Jerusalem on a donkey, so presumably since it does not mention donkeys as transport, they walked there. They would have learned an awful lot from Jesus as he talked with them as he walked, or as they sat and had lunch or supper with him. He taught them all, the women as well as the apostles.

And they covered a lot of land in the heat of the Israeli sun and over rough ground, {there were no roads as such them days} and they would be sweating and sticky and of course smelly, and could have washed their clothes and the apostles and Jesus clothes, I just don’t know, but knowing women I believe they would have said, ‘lets have those dirty clothes boys and we’ll wash them with ours.’

But that is not the gist of this little book, it is that those women were being taught about the kingdom of heaven by Jesus and taught about the kingdom of God and how the kingdom works, they themselves would have gone on to be teachers of the Gospel after Jesus died. For those who think women have just a woman’s role in life, let me remind you that Mark -1615 say.

Mark 16-15-American Standard Version (ASV)

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieve shall be condemned.17 And these signs shall accompany “them that believe:” in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues;18 they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

In this scripture you would just think that it is “he” who believes, shall be saved but that is not what it means at all, it means that “them” that believe! Do women believe? Of course they do, there are more women saved than men, judge that by the amount of men you find in an average church or meeting as in proportion to women. So this scripture refers to women also to be preachers of the gospel to be casters out of demons, to be takers up of serpents and not be harmed, to be layers of hands on the sick and healers. Women are equal to men in preaching the gospel and to be healers of the sick and can do battle with Satan and demons and kick them out of people.

And these women who travelled with Jesus would be included in this work, and they would be well equipped to do a great job; these women were taught by Jesus himself, just as the apostles were taught, and women have an advantage over men, they have an inbuilt gift of wisdom, they are wiser than men and can tell when things are just not right, they instinctively

know when something is wrong in the home or about someone. My wife Rose has been right about every person in my life, if they are good friends or just wasters or worse. Remember I lived a not so good life and Rose discerned who was good in my life and who was not, women can do this, men can’t they learn by their mistakes, hopefully that is!

Jesus commissioned women as well as men to go preach the gospel, to tell others of salvation and he promised he would be with them as they preached the gospel and do the signs and wonders he promised them.

Mark

Standard Version (ASV)

20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.

‘They,’ being those who believed and preached the gospel the Good News of Gods saving grace; and ‘they’ included women. Churchy men have tried putting women down all through history; they said their place is beneath men to be subordinate to men, to be submissive to men, but Jesus equalized women with men, when he said ‘them who believe’ shall do all the things he said, he did not say, ‘only men shall preach the gospel,’ no he said to ‘them who believe’ they shall lay hands on the sick and heal them, they shall cast out demons, they shall take up snakes and not be harmed, he backed women up as well as men who obeyed him.

Those women were never given their true place in history or in the church; these women probably preached, ‘taught’ their neighbour's and probably reached more women than the men did. Women were looked down on in those times and sadly to say in many countries today they are still downtrodden.

But to get back to the women who walked with Jesus and the apostles, these women were hardy women they weren’t weak women, they were tough women living in tough times, they looked after themselves, they didn’t live a pampered life in a palace they were hard working women, one worked very hard at being a prostitute Mary Magdalene before she encountered Jesus, who saw the potential in her, just as he sees the potential in each of us, he sees the positive side and the loving side of us. This woman had a hard life not a very glamorous one, she had to sell herself to make a living, not a very nice profession, especially when you think that most of her clients were dirty old men and I mean that literally, they would have been dirty and smelly unwashed for a lot of them, so this lady was used to rough treatment, probably beaten up at times. This woman was oneof thewomen who stood at thecross on Calvary while the apostles ran away except for Peter and John, and we all know Peter denied him, Mary Magdalene did not, she stood with Mary, Jesus mother, and his aunt, the wife of Cleopas. These women could have been equally arrested and tortured by the Romans, who had no compassion them for men, women, or children, these were the people who perfected torture, and who threw babies and little children to the lions for fun.

And this woman was the first to be seen by Jesus after he appeared from the dead, and two white robed angels appeared to her also and talked with her-John-20- full chapter;

And in the book of acts, the scripture tells us that several women were there at the prayer meeting, it lists the name of the men and mentions the women at the end of the list, saying; sever women were there including Mary the mother of Jesus, and in the original scriptures there were no chapters and verses, so it says the meeting went on for several days, and that the meeting went on till the day of Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit fell on everyone present, and it just was not men he fell on , for the scripture says in Acts-2-18 - Yes, the Holy Spirit shall come upon all my servants, men and women alike.

So God made no distinction between women and men in the gift of his Holy Spirit, and these women were those women who walked with Jesus and ate with Jesus and listened to Jesus preaching the Good News and following it up with signs and wonders, teaching then how to do the same after he would send the Holy Spirit after his death, and in Mark -16-17 - those who believe shall use my authority to cast out demons, and heal the sick and preach the Good News. He said the believers shall do these things, not just the apostles; and these women were believers, they proved that by standing at the cross letting all around them know they were followers of Jesus; you could hardly mistake it; there they are standing weeping and wailing at the foot of the cross. I am more than confident to claim that it was the women who supported Jesus ministry and who walked with him throughout Galilee who were there and who were in the upper room at the several days prayer meeting and at the baptism in the Holy Spirit and with fire.

These were tough women and I am sure they also preached among the women in their society the Good News, as women were not allowed to teach men in those days. These are good women strong women, faith filled women, Godly women who walked and talked with Jesus and were taught by him also, and showed their faith by their actions.

We see only the men who walked with Jesus being mentioned and not the women but the women were the backbone of the group, they didn’t run away when danger threatened they stood their ground, and at least one of the was rewarded because of her faithfulness, Mary Magdalene, she was the one Jesus chose to appear to first, a recognition of a faithful follower what an honour!

A girl named Rhoda went to the gate when she heard Peter knocking on it after he was released from jail by the angel, acts-12-13, the rest of the meeting didn’t go to answer the knock at the gate for fear it would be the Romans, and it was in a woman’s home that the prayer meeting took place, it was the home of Mary, mother of John Mark. These are probably the women who supported Jesus and the apostles and walked with him and took care of their needs. All these women deserved to be mentioned as equals to the men, the apostles. If you read the scripture it says Peter kept knocking after Rhoda asked who it was and ran in to tell the others

and it says “Finally” they went out and opened the door, finally means after some time, they took their time answering, probably afraid thinking it was the Romans, while Rhoda just answered asking, who is it?

These were great women whom every woman should be proud of, these are the women that are leaders whether they are unrecognised by church or others, these were the women who supported Jesus in his ministry and who looked after him and the apostles these were loyal women who more than likely told their neighbour's the Good News face to face, these were Godly women.

These women are worth mentioning in this little booklet, these are great faith filled women, these women are an example to follow, they like many other women in the bible are to be honoured for their dedication to God and to his saviour.

Now the next time you hear someone preaching the apostles walked with Jesus as he preached the Good News around Galilee, remind yourself that there were a large group of women who followed Jesus and walked side by side with him and the apostles as equals, that first scripture is worth repeating because it says there were many women with Jesus.

Luke 8:1-3,).NRSV

Soon afterwards [Jesus] went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

You see it says many others who provided for them out of their resources, it just mentioned this particular few. It isn’t only men who follow Jesus it is women also, we are both equal in the sight of God, and both are expected to preach the Gospel, if men wont, then women should; women you should be asking for the graces that men ask for, you are equal to men and God will use you to heal the sick and work miracles through. Don’t leave the work of the gospel to men, for many could not be bothered to do anything about it, ‘seek you first the Kingdom of God’ and ‘you seek the gifts’ the very best of them and you will get them.

Be you another great woman walking with Jesus.

Amen