Women of the New Testament
Today we mediated an amazing passage from the Gospel of St. Luke with only 4 verses. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the Gospels usually say a lot about Jesus and His disciples - men, and today there is also talk of the Twelve present with Jesus, but this passage mainly talks about women who belong to Jesus' circle, about many women, and three of them were mentioned by name: Mary, called Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna.
It turns out that Jesus' entourage is not only male company, but many women belong to it. How they joined the group of disciples. In these few sentences, St. Luke says they wanted to accompany Jesus after he freed them from demons and infirmities. Women can be grateful, much more so than men. Gestures of love, concern for them, genuine interest in them and dedication to them, when they feel loved and safe, they open their hearts and these hearts can stick so firmly and faithfully that no man's heart can do it. The evangelist says that these women ministered to Jesus and the disciples from their possessions, with their money. I wonder what would happen if there were no women around Jesus, but only men? In the Gospels we read of one incident where the disciples competed for the first place with Jesus. Were there more of it? Perhaps the presence of women inhibited male unhealthy aspirations to compete for positions with Jesus? Loving women can "civilize" male customs.
The fact that the women traveled with the group of disciples could be viewed as a scandal. There was no known co-educational adult education, and the participation of women in Jesus' teaching along with his male disciples certainly scandalized outsiders (cf. Craig S. Keener, Historical and cultural commentary on the New Testament, Vocatio, Warsaw 2000).
So, at this point, Jesus was transgressing the customs of that time, breaking social barriers and conventions. It was not unusual for women to be present at the wedding at Cana in Galilee. One can even say that it is Jesus who is treated as an additional person next to his mother: The mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding (cf. Jn. 2: 1-2). But there the presence of a woman turns out to be very important. It is Mary who sees the problem of the lack of wine and who urges Jesus to act. Thanks to this, the first miracle occurs. A miracle especially important. Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him (cf. Jn. 2:11). The miracle at Cana in Galilee is considered the completion of Revelation - its third element after the adoration of the wise men and the baptism in Jordan.
But there was a moment, one of the key moments, when it was mainly women who were present: His mother and his mother's sister, Maria Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene (cf. Jn. 19:25) stood at the cross of Jesus. From the next sentence we learn that John was still there, but the outnumber of women is beyond doubt and it can be said that it is devastating for man. Is that why the news of the resurrection was first heard by women?
Listening
Of course, both women and men listen to God's Word. If they answer Jesus' call and follow Him, they must undoubtedly hear the Word first. But the New Testament mentions only women as examples of listeners. First, we have to indicate Mary. "Keeping in the heart", "meditating in the heart" - these are the terms used by the Gospel of St. Luke, describing the attitude of the Mother of Jesus towards the words heard and the events in which she participates (cf. Lk 2:19, 51).
Another example is, of course, Mary, sister of Marta and Lazarus. Sitting at the feet of the Lord, she listened to His words (cf. Lk 10:39), deserving the teacher's unequivocal assessment: Mary chose the best part that would not be taken from her (cf. Lk 10:42). In the book of Acts, an example of a listener is Lydia, the saleswoman of the purple of Thyatira: the Lord caused her to listen carefully to the words of Paul (cf. Acts 16:14). The consequence of this listening was the emergence of the first Church on the European continent.
Interestingly, there are no examples of such listening to the Word in relation to men. Of course, men were part of a people who listened to Jesus with bated breath (cf. Luke 19:48), they probably even constituted the majority, but when we want to find a specific individual person shown as a model of listening in the New Testament, we only find women.
As you can see, women in the New Testament play a variety of roles - by no means are they limited to tasks commonly regarded as feminine. Of course - in the ancient world, however, mostly men were in the foreground, so we can read more about men in the New Testament. However, there are times when women come to the fore. And this is the most important event - the Death and Resurrection of Jesus is the time of women.
Women are so badly needed in the Church!