Choosing Life giving (and Subversive) Community

After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. -Luke 8:1-3

Jesus included women in his inner circle. They sat at his feet learning. They travelled with him. He invited them to publicly tell their stories. They were the financial backbone of his ministry. They were there at his birth, his death, and his resurrection. They were essential to his community.

In so many ways, his relationships with women encapsulate the ways he broke the norm of what authentic community was supposed to be in the first century. Even now, in so many church communities Jesus’s relationship with women would be viewed with curiosity and distrust.

How do you limit what you think Christian community can be or should be by who you think is allowed to be part of your community? Think over the past few weeks and ask God if there might be someone who would be a fit in your community that you have overlooked - and then do something about it!