The women who shared in the mission of Jesus

In the liturgy, we are now hearing the gospel of Luke. His gospel is the only one that contains the proclamation of the mission of Jesus in such clear terms as it is presented in chapter 4. There Jesus tells us that the Spirit had anointed him to bring the good news to the poor, to captives, the blind and the opressed. At the time of Jesus, tax collectors, shepherds, the sick, children and women were all disregarded by society. But Luke is continuously showing us how those were the very people to whom Jesus came to be with. He respected them and told them that his kingdom is for them. Today's gospel from Luke 8:1-3 is a great example of that. It was unthinkable that a Jewish teacher would have women disciples but here we are told that as Jesus went through towns and villages proclaiming the good news he was accompanied not only by the twelve apostles but also by a group of women. They are named. There was Joana, whose husband had an important position in Herod's government, another was Susanna and then there was Mary Magdalene. Luke tells us that Jesus had cured her, casting out evil spirits. As a result she dedicated her life to following Jesus. She was the first one to see the Risen Lord and the one called to proclaim the Resurrection to the apostles. Women were not allowed to preach but they accompanied Jesus and provided for him out of their own resources. As we thank Luke for showing us how Jesus valued the presence of women in his life and mission we pray that the important presence of women in the church today will be more recognized so that all those who are accompanying Jesus today will be treated as equals. Jesus did not have an A and a B team so may we all be together in the A team in the church today.