September 18
Women Disciples of Jesus
Today's Gospel: Luke
8:1-3
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| Image created using Google AI Image Creator. |
"Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means."
Reflection:
What a beautiful
picture this is! Jesus walks from town to town, and behind Him walks a quiet group
of women giving everything they have to serve their Lord: their money, their time,
their hands, and their hearts. Someone once told me, "I thought the church
handled all that." I smiled and said, "We… are the church, all of us!"
And that's the good news hiding in this verse: we get to be Mary Magdalene,
Joanna and Susanna; we are the disciples. We get to be the ones who provide,
right alongside Jesus, out of whatever means we've got.
Here's the exciting
part: Jesus never asked these women for anything. He didn't hand out a list of what He needed. Some had money, some didn't, and it didn't matter one bit. What
mattered was that they were giving. Jesus came to serve, not to be served, and
He invites us into that same beautiful, upside-down way of living. Imagine a
world full of people who lived like that, genuinely selfless, genuinely
generous. That's not just good for the soul; that's the blueprint that makes
Heaven on earth.
And here's the
best part: Jesus already sees your heart. Giving someone a glass of water, a kind word, a couple of dollars, or an hour of your time, none of it is too small, and none of it goes unnoticed by Jesus. Everything we have was His first
anyway; we're just stewards of it for a little while. So, let's give freely,
give joyfully, and trust Him to multiply it. In this life, be a Giver, not a
Taker.
What's one gift, big or small, that you're holding onto right now that God might be nudging you to release? What would it look like to give it away freely today, no strings attached, to someone who would genuinely appreciate your kindness?
