Women

WOMEN IN LUKE PART 4

by GLENN PEASE
02/27/21
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LUKE 8:1-3
1 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages,
preaching 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 steward, and
Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of
their means.

Here were 12 men and a number of women who were not
married to the men, and, who in some cases had been evil
women, and yet here they are together. A task not to be
attempted by any but the Lord Himself, for only He can
make the lion lay down with the lamb and not have trouble.
Peter did have his wife along as we see in I Cor. 9:5. Most of
the disciples may have had their wives as well.

G.K.Chesterton writes, "It is constantly assumed that when
the lion lies down with the lamb the lion becomes lamb-like.
But that is brutal annexation and imperialism on the part of
the lamb. That is simply the lamb absorbing the lion instead
of the lion eating the lamb. The real problem is-can the lion
lie down with the lamb and still retain his royal ferocity?
That is the problem the church attempted; that is the miracle
she achieved."

Barclay writes, "There is nothing which the church needs
more than to learn how to yoke in common harness the
diverse temperaments and qualities of different people."
Christ did it, and in Him it can be done. Behind the service
of these women was deep gratitude for service received. True
dedicated service grows out of a sense of gratitude. If one has
not received much from Christ, it is hard to be motivated to
give much to Christ. Jesus did not depend upon chance
hospitality. He had women of means to support Him. Each
had apparently been healed by Jesus. We do not see a group
of men who had been healed, but rather women. Is it
because women were more grateful? Remember the ten
lepers, and only one returned to give thanks. Men were not
as grateful. Women responded to their healing by giving
their lives for His service. This is a unique aspect of the
ministry of Jesus. He raised womanhood to a level of active
service. Jesus restored women to a place of service along side
of men. They were not equal to the men in status, but they
were in service.

Many feel like Archie Bunker who said to his wife in a
theological debate, "Stifle yourself Edith. God don't want to
be defended by no dingbat." These women were people
saved from sickness, both mental and physical, and they
followed Jesus, and were likely among those 120 at Pentecost.
No doubt they did the work of women in that day. They
cooked and cleaned and washed garments, but they also
likely bore witness verbally to what Christ has done for them.
You had wives and single women right alongside of the men
doing what was needed to help Jesus accomplish is purpose,
and this has always been the case. Women have played a
major role in fulfilling the great commission.

These women would also be available for counseling with
other women who had needs, or who feared to come to Jesus
to be healed. It would not have been proper in that day for
men to counsel with women, and so to give the ministry of
Jesus a ministry to all, he needed women with him. Also,
Jesus did not do a miracle to feed his disciples three times a
day, and so he needed their expertise in their cooking skills.
"We can live without science, and we can live without books,
but even Christians cannot live without cooks." Jesus
depended upon women and not miracles to provide for the
physical needs of his disciples. It is never God's will to do a
miracle to provide what can be provided by natural means.
Paula 347-404 A. D. was a wealthy Roman noble woman.
She helped Jerome translate the Vulgate, and she founded a
monastery, a convent, and a hospice. Other women in the
middle ages founded religious orders and became leaders
over huge monasteries for both men and women. "To
paraphrase John, there are also many other things which
women have done in the church's history; were everyone of
them to be written, I suppose that the volumes would fill
library shelves equal to those already devoted to the history
of men's work in the church." None of the gifts of the spirit
have a label on them that say, for men only.

MARY MAGDALENE
Barclay writes, "Clearly she had a past that was a dark
and terrible thing." Many conclude that she was a prostitute,
but there is no proof of this. The 7 demons she had cast out
does not indicate she was an evil person. She was apparently
a woman of means like the other women.

JOANNA The wife of Cuza. He had a good job working for
Herod and so she had means. She could use them to support
Jesus, and so we can assume her husband was in support of
Jesus as well. Her following of Jesus was not a mere fly by
night temporary gratitude, which quickly faded. She was
with him to the end, and is with Mary Magdalene in the
resurrection story in Luke 24:10. While her husband
devoted time to king Herod, she gave her time to the King of
Kings. Often women can do more than men, for men are
busy earning a living, and women can share that living with
Christ. At least this was true for much of history.

Some feel that Cuza was the nobleman of Capernaum
whose dying son was healed by Jesus in John 4:46-54. If so,
this would be one of the reasons for Joanna being so devoted.
There was great Christian influence in the house of Herod for
in Acts 13:1 we read of another notable Christian from
Herod's house.

SUSANNA means lily. Jews named their women after flowers
and trees. Rhoda for example means a rose, and Tamar
means a palm. Nothing is known about Susanna. All we
know is that she was a follower of Jesus and a supporter of
His ministry.

AND MANY OTHERS. Very few are named, but there were
many unnamed women that we will never know in time. God
knows them, and their names are in the Lamb's book of life.
The three that are named are well known. Most of the
followers of Jesus all through history are not people known
by name.

Flora Larsson in My Best Men Are Women is about the
Salvation Army. The scene is described in a Bethesda
Chapel on a Sunday in 1860. The crowd of over 1,000
listened to William Booth as Catherine sat in the minister's
pew with her 4 year old son at her side. She sensed an inner
voice urging her to speak a word, but she resisted, for she
had not prepared, and she did not want to be a fool. Then
she said to herself, I will be a fool for Christ, and when
William finished, she rose to go to the pulpit. He was startled
and puzzled knowing her timid nature. He asked her what is
the matter? And she said she wanted to say a word. He let
her, and thus began the history of women preaching in the
Salvation Army. When she finished William announced that
his wife will preach this evening.

Catherine was a strong believer in women serving Christ
with all of their gifts. She wrote in a love letter to William:
"God has given to women a graceful form and attitude,
winning manners, persuasive speech, and above all, a finely
tuned emotional nature, all of which appears to us eminent
qualifications for public speaking....I believe that one of the
greatest boons to the race would be women's exaltation to her
proper position, mentally and spiritually. Who can tell its
consequences to posterity? If indeed there is in Jesus Christ
neither male nor female, but in all touching his kingdom they
are one, who shall dare thrust women out of the churches
operations, or presume to put any candle which God has
lighted under a basket?"

She met resistance, but she got the door open, and
thousands of others in the Salvation Army became women
preachers. In 1878 out of 91 officers in the field 41 were
women. William Booth was reluctant at first, but when he
saw the success of women he gave it full support. He wrote a
manual for guiding the Salvation Army in which he said,
"Women have the right to an equal share with men in the
work of publishing salvation. A woman may hold any
position of authority or power in the army. Women must be
treated as equal with men in all the intellectual and social
relationships in life.

The results were that a 17 year old girl led a revival in
Wales, and hundreds of men were converted. Police reported
crime down 50%. In London the young female officers saw
over one thousand repent in the first 6 months. Some came
to America, and in a short time had tremendous crowds
coming to an old fortress they had purchased and turned into
a meeting house. Many of them were only 16 and 17. Some
of these teen age girls were born leaders, and they preached
night after night to great crowds.

In 1881 the call came from Paris to send troops. It was
decided that Katie, the daughter of Catherine Booth, be sent.
She was only 21, and there was much opposition in Paris.
The first meeting drew the roughest element into the little
hall. A near riot made the police close the hall for 6 weeks.
Poor Katie had preached to thousands in England, but the
way seemed blocked in Paris, but she did not give up. When
they opened again, a heavy woman nicknamed the devil's
wife sat in the center of the hall, and she mocked all that
went on. One night some of the audience got up to dance.
Katie cried out, "I'll give you 20 minutes to dance if you give
me 20 minutes to speak." They agreed, and after she spoke
one young workman responded-her first convert on French
soil. Then more came, and one night a young lout swore at
Katie, and the devil's wife gave him a blow that nearly felled
him. This amazon from then on became Katie's bodyguard.
She preached at night, and during the day she helped girls
who were trapped in prostitution to get out of it. Converts
grew and the Salvation Army became well founded in
France. The women of the Salvation Army dared to go
where policemen would not go, and win people for Christ.
No army was ever more brave than this woman's army.
In 1900 the Salvation Army launched a crusade in Japan
to liberate prostitutes. Every city had its district where the
poor girls were prisoners, and where the police would return
them if they did escape. The only way out was suicide.
When they became old or sick they were thrown out. A
special edition of War Cry offered to help any who wished to
escape. The group marched into the district in Tokyo singing
and handing them out. The brothel keepers attacked them
and broke their instruments, and tore their uniforms, and
they were beaten.

The next night two girls came knocking on the door of the
Salvation Army, and they were hidden. Letters came from
others asking for help. There keepers threatened death to all
Salvation Army people. The press became alarmed at
foreigners being beaten in the streets for opposing evil.
Public opinion ran high, and the Emperor signed an
ordinance stating that any girl who wished to leave a brothel
was free to do so by filling a notice of cessation. Within a
year 12,000 girls gained their liberty. The Army set up a
home to receive them. They taught them cooking, sewing,
and housework. They helped them get respectable work.
Many became Christians who would never have heard the
Gospel without this freedom to escape.

Evangeline Booth, the daughter of William and Catherine,
holds the record for the longest female leadership in the
Army's history. She was Commander for 30 years in the
United States, and then General of the whole Army from
1934 to 1939. She was preaching at 10 years old with power
and eloquence. As a teen she filled the halls of London, and
even great preachers came to hear her. She had her
opponents, and in one open air meeting a man threw a stone
and cut her arm. She marched up to him and said,
"Bandage this quick! You did it, so you fix it!" The man
did and later joined the Army. She was clever . One time
she was being hissed and could not be heard. She left the
stage and came back with the American flag wrapped about
her. Hiss if you dare she shouted, and with dead silence she
went on to charm the crowd with her eloquence. The point
of this history of the role of women in the Salvation Army is,
they were practicing the New Testament principles of the
equality of the sexes long before other denominations realized
they were only using half of their potential for the kingdom
of God. Jesus was grateful for all the help He received from
women.