Homily for 18 September 2020, Friday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time, Luke 8:1-3
One of the most radical and counter-cultural things that Jesus did as a Rabbi in the first century world in which he lived was his inclusion of women in his movement of itinerant preachers. The move was considered revolutionary in the context of a Jewish society that was largely androcentric and patriarchal.
In fact, I am inclined to believe that this was one of the reasons why Jesus did a lot more preaching outside than inside the Synagogue setting. He preferred the less formal setting where women and men, adults and children, rich and poor were mixed together, not segregated. And since the kitchen and dining room seemed to have been Jesus’ favorite places in the home setting, he tended to be more closely in touch with women.
In the Gospels, we hear about him calling attention to certain unseen or unnoticed characters, like Peter’s mother in law, the mother of James and John, the widow of Naim, the poor widow who donated her two copper coins to the temple treasury, the Syro-Phoenician woman, the woman with hemorrhage, the woman accused of adultery whom he defended against her detractors, and the women who were bringing their children to Jesus. Of course there was also the woman who anointed him, whom we heard about yesterday. In Mark, Jesus would give this anonymous woman a special recognition which I don’t remember Jesus giving to anyone else. He says, “Wherever the Gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told IN MEMORY OF HER.” (Mk 14:9)
Most, if not all, the Rabbis in his time had only male disciples. Jesus went around with both male and female disciples. And some of them are identified by St. Luke in today’s Gospel: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others. Meaning, these women walked along with the twelve.
Even the designation “apostle” is not to be equated with just the twelve. Luke tells us Jesus sent out on a mission not just twelve but seventy-two. The first disciple ever to be sent as an apostle by the Risen Christ was not even a male but a female, Mary Magdalene. Pope Francis seems bent on calling attention to the importance of women in the life and mission of the Church. It is the reason why he elevated Mary Magdalene’s memorial into a Feast that acknolwedged her as an “apostle to the apostles.”
John’s Gospel speaks of the importance of that Woman he met by the well who became Jesus’s apostle to the Samaritans. In John 4:39 we hear, “Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman…” Later, in v. 42 and the Samaritans would say to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.” Meaning, they confirm the veracity of the woman’s testimony. This is in complete contrast with the attitude of the twelve, who refused to believe the testimony of Mary Magdalene that he was risen and ignored the instruction Jesus had communicated to them through the women, and for which they would later be reprimanded.
It is in the Gospel of Luke particularly, where one can really feel Jesus’ partiality for women. In his infancy narrative, it is the women characters like Mary and Elizabeth, more than their husbands Joseph and Zechariah, who play the more significant roles. In the temple, at the presentation, aside from the old man Simeon who gives witness to the boy Jesus and what he is destined to be, there is also Annah the prophetess.
Finally, it is only in Luke Chapter 10 where we hear of Mary of Bethany, “sitting at the feet of Jesus”, which means wanting to be counted as a disciple. Her sister Martha of course shows discomfort about this, but Jesus tells her, “Your sister has chosen the better part and it shall not be taken away from her.”
Foremost among all his female disciples, of course, we have Mary, his own mother, the most significant of the women in the life of Jesus. John tells us it was only this woman who could pressure Jesus to do something about a crisis situation even if “his time had not yet come.” And it is to this woman that Jesus would entrust his beloved disciple as a son to a mother. And of course, at calvary, only the women bravely stood by Jesus at the foot of the cross, according to the first three Gospels. Where did the males go? They went into hiding. (Of course we have the fourth Gospel attributed to John who tells us one male disciple was there, that he had stood by the cross with Mary and the other women. But he does not give him a name.)
In his homily this morning, Fr. Willy Samson SJ called attention to the fact that majority of our active volunteers and leaders in our parishes and mission stations are women. He says, it is women who dominate our church goers, our BECs, chapel leaders, pastoral councils, our youth groups, our scholars. He says “We cannot deny that without women, very few our ministries in the Church will be able to function. The Church’s main strength comes from the love and dedication of women, their participation in the mission and ministries of the Church.” I agree with him.
