Friday, Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Woman tend to have a higher profile in Luke’s gospel than in the other three gospels. The gospel passage we have just heard is unique to Luke’s gospel. Luke informs us that as Jesus went through the towns and villages of Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, he was accompanied not only by the Twelve but also by a group of women. Just as Luke had earlier given us the names of the Twelve, he now gives us the names of some of this group of women, Mary Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward and Susanna. There women provided for Jesus and the Twelve out of their own resources. They were benefactors of Jesus and the Twelve, so they were clearly women of some means. What is explicitly said of Mary Magdalene may have been true of all of them. They had experienced God’s healing and life-giving presence through Jesus’ ministry and, now, out of a sense of gratitude, they wanted to serve Jesus in some way. Having received from the Lord, they now wanted to give back to him. This is the dynamic of the Christian life. We first must learn to receive from the Lord’s love. He loved us first and his love for us was so wide and deep that he was prepared to die for us. Our primary calling is to open ourselves up to receive this gift of the Lord’s unconditional love. Having received the Lord’s love, we will be moved to answer the Lord’s further call to love him and one another as he has loved us. The life of faith is a life of grateful loving response to the Lord’s love for us, which finds expression in the practical service of the Lord, especially as he comes to us in and through one another. The women in today’s gospel reading have a lot to teach us about what is at the heart of our lives as the Lord’s followers.