“…and many others, who provided for them out of their means.” (Luke 8:3).
I have been thinking about the women who served Our Blessed Lord.
These were ordinary wives and mothers who had no real paid occupation and no real rights in their society.
They were responsible for the care of the home and the children within it. They were less than their husbands, and in childbirth, if it were a choice between saving the mother’s life or that of her child, the child’s life would be saved.
They were the souls who lived their lives in true service of everyone around them.
And I have been thinking in particular about the women who willingly followed Christ to minister to Him during His earthly life.
“Jesus went on through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.” (Luke 8:1-3).
You see, in general at that time, women took on the role – effectively – of servants, not through any choice of theirs, but rather because they had no choice at all. Their society dictated that they be completely submissive and so, in fact, they were.
But these special women – these followers of Christ – they did something more… They chose to take on more. They chose to be even more submissive to people who were not part of their immediate family. They chose to submit not only to the will of the husbands, but also to the will of God Himself. And they chose to do this in a practical manner.
How?
Surely, they asked Our Blessed Lord what He wanted for dinner that day? Surely they asked Him at what time He wished to stop walking that day?
Surely, they listened to the instructions that He gave and performed those tasks without complaint.
And what generosity they must have had for God Himself! What patience and generosity! How much extra they would have given, to be remembered by name twenty centuries later – these women who could not read or write or work in exchange for money.
And I have been comparing these women with myself today. You see, I do not have Our Blessed Lord standing physically in front of me. Or do I?
If every Baptised person is a Temple of the Holy Spirit, and every human is a child of God, then every single time I interact with another, I am in fact interacting with Our Blessed Lord inside them. And when I think about that today, I hang my head in shame, because it seems to me that I have spent my entire life begrudging my submissiveness to others, when in fact I should have made myself a servant to them so that I – like those women in the Bible – could be a servant to God…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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