Our daily reflections follow the M'Cheyne Bible reading plan, designed for those who want to read the whole Bible in one year. Each reflection focuses on one of the chapters from that day's readings. Darllenwch rhain yn Gymraeg.
Lord, thank you for your word. Help me to listen. Help me to trust. Help me to act.
Yesterday’s passage, Luke 7, ended with Jesus showing respect to a woman of ill repute. Chapter 8 picks up where chapter 7 left off. Tormented and marginalised by disease and spiritual affliction, a number of women are set free by Jesus and join his band of male followers. Three of them – Mary, Joanna and Susanna – are mentioned by name. They have left the old, patriarchal religious order and become part of a new movement without gender barriers.
Notice the prominence of women elsewhere in Luke’s Gospel: Mary accepts the angelic message of the birth of the Son of God, whereas Zacharias, future father of John the Baptist, is slow on the uptake. Women trust the angel’s message of the risen Christ which the male disciples initially dismiss as old wives’ tales. Widows may be overlooked by men, but not by God: in Luke we see Jesus raising a widow’s son and hear a parable of a widow standing up for her rights. Only Luke mentions Jesus teaching Mary, in a culture that expected her to stay in the kitchen with her sister.
All of the above chimes in with a bigger picture: God’s boundless compassion, manifest in Jesus. Read on in chapter 8 and you’ll consistently find him noticing people who are overlooked by the good and the great: a demon-possessed tramp, a ceremonially unclean woman and a child.
The gospel is good news for everyone. Literally.
Lord, give me eyes for those who have received little love and are unaware of yours.
This reflection was written by Michael Pfundner, Bible Society's Publishing Support Manager
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