Jesus Must Be The Priority

𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓. 𝟏𝟗, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝟏 𝐓𝐢𝐦 𝟔:𝟐-𝟏𝟐

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟒𝟗:𝟔-𝟕, 𝟖-𝟏𝟎, 𝟏𝟕-𝟐𝟎 “𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐬”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟖:𝟏-𝟑

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒅.. 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝑵𝒆𝒘𝒔.” (𝒗.1)  

Because today’s gospel passage is very short and it doesn’t say anything except narrate what Jesus was doing and who were the people with him, those who are reading this may come to think this is just a feeler as we come to the end of the week, but this is not so.

         If we closely read through the three verses in the Gospel, we will readily see, however, that there is more to it than just an account of who were traveling with Jesus as he went out to preach the Good News throughout the towns and villages in Galilee.

         What makes this Gospel account written by Luke interesting is that this is the only record in the Scriptures of the identity of the women who were among the disciples traveling with Jesus as he went about his ministry to bring the Good News of salvation to the Jewish nation.

         While Mary, the mother of Jesus, and other women were at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified, Luke’s account was the only record that made mention of the women who were with the group of Jesus and his disciples and what they did in the course of these journeys.

         Among those who were with Jesus and his disciples were Mary from Magdala who has been wrongly portrayed as a prostitute but who in reality was a woman whom Jesus healed when he cast out seven demons that were the cause of her illness. In the group was Joanna, the wife of Chuza, who headed the household staff of Herod Agrippa and there also was Susanna and many other women who have not been identified.

       What makes the women important was that they supported Jesus and his disciples in these journeys “𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔” (𝒗.3) which showed that these women were spending their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples as they went about their ministry.

         But beyond the financial support and the service these women rendered to Jesus and his disciples, these women were also regarded as the first women disciples of Jesus as they were privileged to hear and listen to the teachings of Jesus whether these were made in the synagogue, on the shore, on the mount and elsewhere.

         These women like the disciples heard it first-hand from the Master himself and not only did they occupy places of honor in the ministry of Jesus, but they were most probably present too when Jesus exchanged pleasantries with his disciples at night as He expounded and explained in detail the parables that he frequently used in his preaching.

          What this Gospel also shows us is that discipleship is not limited to men alone and that while women are not allowed to preach there was no law prohibiting women from supporting a Rabbi or a prophet in those days as it was not just a tradition during the time of Jesus but to support a Rabbi was considered an act of piety. At the same time, this was probably the only way these women could repay Jesus for what he did for them as many of them like Mary of Magdala were healed by Jesus.

         The group that went with Jesus during his earthly ministry could actually be likened to the beginnings of a church in which both men and women could gather together as one to worship God and by allowing the women to join his group, Jesus was actually sending out a message that everyone is equal in God’s eyes and, was providing the people at the time with a glimpse of how a church should be in which “𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑱𝒆𝒘 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒌, 𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆, 𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒆, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔.” (𝑮𝒂𝒍 3:28)        

And for standing by the side of Jesus, Mary of Magdala was given the ultimate reward of being the first person to whom Jesus appeared as she was also chosen to report his resurrection to the other disciples and while the other disciples did not believe her at first, Jesus “𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒖𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒃𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒏” (𝑴𝒌 16:14).        

We can also experience what Mary of Magdala went through if we will only remain with Jesus as we set out in our own journey of faith. To see him as Mary Magdalene did following his resurrection is the reward that awaits those who will join Jesus in his journey.

         But the question that we need to ask now is can Jesus also depend on us when the need to support the church/ community activities arises especially when it involves spreading the Good News to the world. This is a hard question to ask because we all have different ideas on what money means, what it can or can’t do and perhaps we should call to mind what St. Paul said in his letter to Timothy: “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭.”        

This “love of money” is what has separated many of us from God because the desire to have everything that money can acquire such as freedom, power and fame will ultimately lead us to replace God with an idol that we have created for ourselves. And most of the time, it leads many of us to live dichotomous lives – one that expresses our allegiance to God and the other in which our lives are ruled by everything that money represents.

         Can we honestly say to ourselves and before God that we can also do what the women in this Gospel did to pursue the mission that has been left to us by Our Lord Jesus Christ? As this work has already been entrusted to us, how generous have we been with our time, talent and most of all our treasure?

         In particular, this is a question that those in positions of leadership and authority in the church/ community should ask. I am very much familiar with the leaders of some spiritual communities who have become experts in the way the policies and guidelines of their respective ministries are to be followed.

         To them, the policies and statutes of their ministries take precedence over the one thing that could lead to salvation which is to step out in faith and worship God in spirit and in truth. The sad part is that while these leaders have proven to be a tickler for rules, statutes and policies, the ministries that have been assigned to them are barely moving.

         In fact, many of these ministries are merely surviving and notwithstanding the call for a radical shift in the way the gospel is to be proclaimed, these ministries handled by these Pharisaical leaders are faced with a gloomy future with no viable plans to revive what otherwise has become moribund ministries.  

         Perhaps it is time to ask ourselves how faithful have we been to our duties and responsibilities and to our covenant with God? As availability is the primary criteria in discipleship and leadership, have we given of ourselves to wait on the Lord? Have we given of our time, talent and treasure to support our ministries and apostolates? Or have we become boardroom and armchair evangelists who are good at looking for gaps to criticize others but not mindful of the speck in our own eyes.?

Now is the time to look inwardly and see if Jesus is our priority. If not, then make Him your priority now before it's too late. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵. 19, 2025)