Luke 8:1-3--Women Accompanying Jesus

Luke 8:1-3
English Standard Version
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Women Accompanying Jesus
8 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

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Luke wants to be sure that we know that the crowd following Jesus is not made up exclusively of men.  He did not distance Himself from women or children, nor did He treat them as second-class citizens as the religious leaders did.  It was tradition, though I can see no biblical basis for it, to have three courts--the Court of the Gentiles, the Court of Women, and the Court of Israel (meaning Israelite men who were "clean").  Beyond there were the areas that only the priests could enter which is biblical.  While there are definitely some prohibitions in the Old Testament about who could approach the LORD's altar, women and children were never meant to be excluded from coming to the Temple to hear about the LORD and worshiping Him.  Jesus being the heavenly Temple where the Spirit of God resided as God "tabernacled" among His people showed us that and He broke down many barriers to entry, though He did not say that anyone could come to Him any way they wanted--they must still come to Him by way of grace through faith.

We see that grace was not withheld from women who were in need of healing.  We saw this in our last passage we studied where Jesus very clearly told the woman that her faith had saved her.  Now Luke is reinforcing that point saying that there were many women (some of whom were prominent enough that Luke named them thinking even his Gentile audience would know of them).  Women of all class and status from those who had been prostitutes to those that served in government administration for the Romans to everyday women who would only be described as being the wife of their husband--Jesus accepted all of them.  They were also His disciples and He was their Teacher and Master (as we'll see some of the women call Him).

This is not a message about "social justice," though there is equality of all at the feet of Jesus.  This is Luke's invitation to let everyone know that this message is for them, be they women or children or Jew or Gentile.  Would that be offensive to the Jewish men?  Probably.  They would have to deal with their years of tradition that stood in a place equal to God's Word for them, but you will not find God pushing women and children away from Him in the Old Testament, but you will see the LORD giving men the responsibility both through the priesthood and through leadership roles in their community and in their homes of teaching their community and their families, leading by example, and making sure that everyone had access to the truth of God's Word, knew it and lived by it.  No one was meant to be shut out and Jesus is making that clear through His earthly ministry.