Jamin Bradley

In most of the coalitions I serve, I find myself surrounded primarily by women. They are the ones that make the city of Jackson tick. They’re hard at work, ensuring that everything that needs to be taken care of, is taken care of, and they don’t let anything get in the way.

Jesus, too, was surrounded by such women. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna and others kept Jesus’ ministry afloat with their support. Mary Magdalene was the first disciple Jesus appointed to tell the good news of the Easter resurrection, and he commissioned her to proclaim it to the twelve disciples.

Paul also writes of the many women that he worked alongside in ministry. He mentions Eudia, Syntche, Mary, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, Priscilla (who he mentions six times), Phoebe (a deacon in the church), and Junia (an apostle in the church).

“Jesus treated women as he did, not because he was ‘gallant’ or ‘nice,’” says Walter Wink, “but because the restoration of women to their full humanity in partnership with men is integral to the coming of God’s egalitarian order.”

*This devotional was created out of the themes of Luke 8:1-15 found in today’s reading at CommonPrayer.net.