26. Women

[Pastor Ralph]

Please share your thoughts on one or more of the questions in this lesson. 

[Katy]

Q1.Jesus proclaimed the good news of the gospel. Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God not as something in the dim and distant future but as being here now and being powerful. He cures people of illnesses and disabilities they have had all their lives and this proves to the people that He is different , He speaks about God in such a way that it feels real.

Q2.Jesus was always on the move, He knew He had a limited time and He wanted as many people as He could reach to hear the gospel message. He didn’t just go to the major cities and big towns but took the time to visit every small village and hamlet to ensure that the people living there had as much chance as anyone else to hear His life saving gospel message. He loved all people equally whether they grew up in a rich environment or a poor and humble environment.

Q3.Women at this time in history were treated as chattles. It was unusual to have unmarried men and women ( or widows) travelling around together on equal terms. I am sure critics would have questioned their roles, or their purpose in being part of this band of itinerants or nomads following Jesus. There was probably some suggestion of improper behavior between the men and the women. Jesus needed these women to provide for Him and His disciples, also for the practical things like shopping and cooking. Because they were constantly hearing Jesus teach they began to understand more deeply the things and ways of God, if they didn’t understand anything they had the opportunity to discuss it with Jesus in the evenings . Jesus needed people who throughly knew His ways and His gospel to be able to continue after He went to Heaven. Jesus couldn’t depend on the Pharisee’s to teach His ways properly! Jesus wasn’t worried about what people thought He was fixed on what His father sent Him to do, and nothing else mattered.

Q4.and 5.The women had been healed by Jesus of various afflictions, Mary had seven  demons cast out of her, some of the other women had diseases cured. Because of this they were thankful to Jesus and expressed that thankfulness by following Jesus and providing for Jesus and His disciples out of their own means. Their lives had been so remarkably changed that they were happy to be with Jesus and soak up His teaching and look after Him. 

Q6.Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. Malachi 3v10.

God is no man’s debtor. Whatever we give to the Lord finds its way back to us in some form of blessings. We are only giving back to God what He has given to us. 
We were never able to save for our retirement as there was never any to save, but God has graciously provided us with sufficient to meet our needs. Praise Him!

 

[Irmela]

1.According to Luke 8:1, what was the content of Jesus' message?

He brought the Good News to all and sundry about the good news of the Kingdom of God. 

2.   Why didn't he skip the smallest villages?

It was important to Jesus that  everyone had an equal opportunity to accept His Words, to learn of/from Him. To Jesus there was/still is no difference between people, be it rich or poor, able or not able  ...   all were alike in His eyes, all needed to be told. 

3.   What do you think Jesus' critics said about the women who traveled with Jesus' band continually? Why do you think Jesus allowed it? Do you think he encouraged it? Why?

Women or no women, critics will find something to complain about. Jesus does not turn anyone away from following Him. Jesus knows if we are fake or not. He does not even put out a smouldering wick, or flickering candle, as it were. He will encourage until the person again is fully enthusiastic and 'burning bright'. By giving these women were blessed over and over. Jesus definately did not want to rob them of a blessing. 

4.   Why did the women respond as they did to healing?

Imagine being bound. Suddenly set free and having the opportunity to follow the One responsible for the healing. What a privilege!!

[hanks]

1. According to Luke 8:1, what was the content of Jesus' message?

Jesus’ message was the good news of the coming of the “kingdom of God,” the new era of salvation which our Lord has inaugurated. The good news that sinners can be saved; that they can be delivered out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s Son; that they can be delivered out of the domain of Satan into the domain of Christ. In other words, Jesus was preaching salvation. The good news that God had fulfilled His promises and had sent Jesus as His Messiah and King, the one who would reign on earth and suppress all unrighteousness. There is both a present and a future aspect of His Kingdom, and presently, Jesus reigns from heaven over all who willingly submit to Him as Saviour and Lord. But in the near future, Scripture clearly teaches that He will return bodily to rule over the nations with a rod of iron (Rev 19:15; Ps 2:6-9). However, whether in its present or future aspect, the kingdom of God is built around the lordship of Jesus Christ.

[hanks]

2. Why didn't He skip the smallest villages?

Jesus’ ministry was always under complete sovereign control by God, His Father. Initially God had chosen Galilee, and although it was only a small area, it had over 200 towns and villages, and a preaching tour could take some time. Overall, Jesus spent three years just going around and around the little towns and the little villages and talking to the most ordinary people. Besides sticking to the geographical region God had chosen, He also did the Father’s will in the Father’s timing. He even went beyond that to say, "Not only do I do God's will only and God's will only in God's time, but only to those people to whom God sent Me." Jesus says to the disciples, "Do not go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The gentiles time would come. And furthermore, not just to the Jews but we remember in Luke 5:32 He said, "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."  Among the Jews, not the self-righteous, not the Pharisees, not the scribes, not the Sadducees, for the most part, but the sinners, those who recognized their sin. We see geographical concentration, economy of effort, and narrowness of topic in God’s plan. In His infinite wisdom and power this is the plan our heavenly Father chose, and what a success it turned out to be. We would want to go as far and wide as we could, as often as we could and speak to as many different people groups as we could, and yet Jesus had this amazing kind of concentration and achievement.

[hanks]

3. What do you think Jesus' critics said about the women who travelled with Jesus' band continually? Why do you think Jesus allowed it?  Do you think He encouraged it? Why?

There was much criticism about the women who continually travelled with Jesus. This was largely due to the Jewish culture at the time. This was a culture where women played invisible roles, and the mention of women travelling with Jesus and His disciples would have been completely uncharacteristic of rabbis/teachers - since women were considered to be inferior. Jesus allowed women to travel with Him thereby showing us that all people are equal under God. And He encouraged it, resulting in the uplifting of women, enabling them to enjoy fellowship with Him and to be of service to Him. One woman in particular, Mary Magdalene, seemed to have followed Him everywhere. She was with Him during His ministry. She also wept at His feet as He died at Calvary. She followed His body to the tomb and sat outside His tomb after He was buried. She was also among the first to return to the tomb following the Sabbath. And, she was the first one to whom He appeared when He arose from the dead. These women, and many others, were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and His disciples. People, like the women listed here, gave money to Jesus and the disciples out of gratefulness for what Jesus had done for them. This passage of Scripture (8:1-3) provides us with an insight into how Jesus and His disciples met their basic needs, and how the women were able to supply the daily necessities of Jesus and His disciples. Without them, humanly speaking, Jesus and the twelve would have had to spend time working to support themselves and would not have been free to preach the gospel.

[hanks]

4. Why did the women respond as they did to healing?

Their response was that they wanted to serve Jesus Christ out of love and gratitude. We see this in the story of the sinful woman (Luke 7:36-50) who loved much because she had been forgiven much. Many woman must have been healed of evil spirits and various sicknesses, and so they were now serving our Lord Jesus and His disciples. In Joanna’s case she was probably willing to give up the comforts of palace life and endure the hardships of following Jesus on His travels because of what He had done for her. Her entire value system was transformed, and now we see that she lives to serve her Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. We don’t know anything about Susanna but she would have had her reasons for serving Jesus. God’s grace as shown to us at the cross of Christ is always the supreme motive to serve Him with all our might.

[hanks]

5. What was the women's chief motivation for contributing financially to support Jesus' mission?

Here again, the women’s chief motivation for contributing financially to support Jesus’s mission, is out of love and gratitude for what He has done for them. It is not that Jesus and His disciples ever solicited funds for their ministries. These faithful women could see that Jesus and the disciples were not getting rich off the gospel, and they saw the needs and took the initiative to give without being pressured. The women in this story, like the woman in the previous story, had been forgiven much and so they loved Jesus much. Those who have experienced the Saviour’s mercy have the privilege of serving Him out of love. These women were delivered and healed from the afflictions that had dominated their lives, and they wanted to serve the Lord. Here we see that when Christ powerfully breaks into a life with His good news of salvation, the captive sinner is released from bondage. The gospel always makes a demonstrable difference in the life of the person who has responded to it.

[hanks]

6. How can we be responsible to save for retirement and still give generously to Jesus' work?

The principle is the same as above. Much forgiveness, much love. Here our love is displayed by our giving, since our giving is motivated by our Lord’s grace and should follow our salvation. By the time of our retirement, we should have learnt to be content with what we have, to live with less rather than desiring more, and we know by now to rely on God’s promises and Christ’s power to help us to be satisfied. We can trust the LORD with all our heart, not to lean on your own understanding, in all our ways to acknowledge Him, and He will make our paths straight (Prov 3:5-6). At the same time, we must not forget to see God’s love in all that He has provided, and that money and possessions will all pass away. If we start thinking that God can’t or won’t take care of us, it can result in a feeling of insecurity, which can lead us to focus solely on our bank balance instead of relying on God to meet all our needs. For, He will supply all our needs, but in a way that He knows is best for us. Besides in 1 Tim 6:18 we are reminded that the money we possesses is not our own. We are only stewards, and we are responsible to use it wisely for the glory of God by donating to His ministry. But giving to the Lord’s work and other forms of ministry are the privilege of believers only. A person who is not yet a believer may wrongfully think that by giving or by serving, he can earn his way into heaven. But the Bible is clear that no one is saved by good works (Titus 3:5).

[haar]

1.    According to Luke 8:1, what was the content of Jesus' message? 

Proclaimed / preached the good news about the Kingdom of God

2.    Why didn't he skip the smallest villages?

Everyone, everywhere needed to hear the Good news and be saved

3.    What do you think Jesus' critics said about the women who traveled with Jesus' band continually?

Given their experience with the carnal world around them where immorality prevailed, they probably concluded that Jesus was having immoral relationship with the women.

Why do you think Jesus allowed it? Do you think he encouraged it? Why?

If you mean why he allowed the women to follow him everywhere, then my take is that- he did not see any thing wrong with that. After all, he was not immoral and thus did not care what people wrongly thought about his relationship with the women. Furthermore, the women were supportive to him and his ministry.

4.    Why did the women respond as they did to healing? To show their appreciation to the great restoration of health to them.

5.    What was the women's chief motivation for contributing financially to support Jesus' mission?

6.    How can we be responsible to save for retirement and still give generously to Jesus' work?

We can do so when we realise that when we give, more will be given to us and we will thus not lack anything at retirement. More so, we should realise that what we have belongs to God and we are just stewards.

[Nana Karlsson]

The content of Jesus message in Luke 8: 1 . Jesus proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God. Jesus travelled to many towns and villages with His team teaching about the Kingdom of God not as a far away place but present and powerful. He demonstrated the power of the Kingdom and love of God through miracles, healings of all kinds of diseases, deliverance and wholeness. He spoke of the reign of God so real that you could feel it.

[kreilly]

How can we be responsible to save for retirement and still give generously to Jesus' work?

A good principle is to give of our firstfruits, as Abel did, and it was pleasing to God.  We can then save for retirement from what is left.  Giving back to God from what He has provided for us is always the most important thing that we do.  Everything we have comes from His hand.  We are only stewards.  We must be careful to use the resources He has provided wisely, not overspend, and have bills due, when we could be giving or saving more.  We cannot outgive God.  Jesus held up the widow, who gave all she had, as our standard.  Regardless of how much or little we have, we can always trust Him to take care of us. 

[Old Jerry]

According to Luke 8:1, what was the content of Jesus' message?

 

A. Jesus was proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God.

 

Why didn't he skip the smallest villages?

 

A. The people in the small villages needed to hear what Jesus had to say.

What do you think Jesus' critics said about the women who traveled with Jesus' band continually? Why do you think Jesus allowed it? Do you think he encouraged it? Why?

 

A. The critics probably though that they were loose women. Jesus probably wanted these women to connect to the women that he was trying to teach about the kingdom of God. I think that he did encourage it because he knew it would be more effective to hear from the women.

 

Why did the women respond as they did to healing?

 

A. They knew that they were with the messiah and wanted to be with him and to help support him.

 

What was the women's chief motivation for contributing financially to support Jesus' mission?

 

A. Not only was he preaching the kingdom of God but he was also healing people and the women wanted to be a part of that.

 

How can we be responsible to save for retirement and still give generously to Jesus' work?

 

I have found that if you give generously to Jesus’ work, for some reason it will all work out. You end up having more then you actually gave even it is more friends or some other non-materialistic treasure.

[Bailey]

Bailey - Greetings   7/24/21

What was the content of Jesus' messages?  It was to spread the good news of the kingdom of God, as a present and powerful.  He spoke of Reign of God in ways so real that you can feel it.

[Godswriter]

 1.   According to Luke 8:1, what was the content of Jesus' message? 

His message mirrored the message in Isaiah 61 about the Messiah. He was to preach the Gospel, open the eyes of the blind, bind up the brokenhearted, free captives and prisoners and much more.

2.    Why didn't he skip the smallest villages?

His whole purpose was to seek and to save that which is lost.

3.    What do you think Jesus' critics said about the women who traveled with Jesus' band continually?Why do you think Jesus allowed it? Do you think he encouraged it? Why?

They probably mocked the devotion that the women had to the Lord. I believe that He knew their hearts and knew that they were sincere in their devotion to Him. Yes to prove that women should be given a chance to worship the Lord.

4.    Why did the women respond as they did to healing? 

Because they finally found true freedom.

5.    What was the women's chief motivation for contributing financially to support Jesus' mission? To bring the Gospel to everyone else 

6.    How can we be responsible to save for retirement and still give generously to Jesus' work?

By remembering that all we receive is not truly ours we are just stewards of it. We must be willing to give a portion back to the Lord in return.

[George L]

1. According to Luke 8:1, what was the content of Jesus' message? The glad tidings of the kingdom of God
2. Why didn't he skip the smallest villages? Mat 4:43 “I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns, too, because that is why I was sent.”
3. What do you think Jesus' critics said about the women who traveled with Jesus' band continually? They may have whispered in private, but rich well politically connected women are a force today and were then. It would becunwise to bring their ire to oneself. Why do you think Jesus allowed it? Ls.  he was a Rabi anf did not breal the law. Custom was a Rabi  spoke to his wife and women of his family. Do you think he encouraged it? Yes Why? Because they could speak the good news to the women of every town visited.
4. Why did the women respond as they did to healing? In their culture there was little care available to them. Many of their isdues became unclean conditions and so they were essentially cast out of their own society.
5. What was the women's chief motivation for contributing financially to support Jesus' mission? It encased them in protective covering to continue the termendous effectual ministry to the women by their wittness and the word.
6. How can we be responsible to save for retirement and still give generously to Jesus' work? The whole is the seed planting principle. Plant seed into ministries God puts on your heart. When the 30, 60, 100 fold increase comes, continue to bless and reinvest in God’s kingdom work. Full corn in the ear uf corn mot wheat id 12 to 20+ rows of 50 or more fully formed kernels. So 600 : 1 is a low yield in God’s true plan.