St Luke 24:23:56b-24:12
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
On the Sabbath day, while the disciples, men and women, rested according to the Third Commandment of the Law, Christ Jesus, Lord of the Law, having fulfilled the Law and the Prophets for you, through His innocent suffering and death, descended into Hell in both body and soul to proclaim His victory over sin and Satan.
But on the first day of the week, Sunday, the everlasting day and day of the new creation, before early dawn and the arrival of the burial party of the women, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Righteousness arose with healing in His wings. He emerged triumphant from the grave and was resurrected from the dead, never to die again, death has no dominion over Him. And He appears to these women, Joanna, Mary, and Salome, that they might carry His Word to the Apostles, who would, in turn, proclaim His Word in His stead and by His command to all creation, freeing people, men and women, from their sins.
As with St Mary Magdalene, whom the Eastern Churches call “the apostle to the apostles,” so with these faithful women, Joanna, Mary, and Salome, called myrrhbearers, our Lord Christ, in His wisdom and according to His mercy, chooses to reveal Himself alive first to them. For not only did these pious women support the earthly ministry of Christ and His disciples out of their own means, but, “in keeping with His ancient custom, the Lord was choosing what is foolish, undistinguished, and despised in the eyes of the world in order to put the strong and lofty to shame.”
Lutheran Father, Martin Chemnitz says it this way, “These women were despised not only due to the weakness of their gender but also because of Galilee, their homeland.” Chemnitz was not degrading women, but merely recounting the social milieu of the day in light of the high honor of being the first eye-witnesses and proclaimers of the Resurrection, which is an excellent and central article to our faith. Once more, this account of the women being the first eye-witnesses, only adds to the veracity of the Gospels.
Now, contrary to popular, liberal theology, Christ and Christianity honor women, above all other worldviews, as the blessed gift of the Lord that they are and for the blessed gifts He bestows upon them for the good of the Church and society. Yet doing so without negating God’s good order of His creation. For Christ restores that by His death too! Consider at the Fall how these three worked together: the devil, a fallen angel, who deceived; the woman, who proclaimed his talk further; the man who ate and corrupted human nature. So also at Christ’s resurrection, these three worked together: Christ, the true Man, who rose and redeemed human nature, the angel who proclaimed the resurrection, and the women, who carried the joyful and saving message further.
For these faithful women - Joanna, Mary, and Salome, whom the Church remembers on August 3rd - exemplify the receptivity of faith, living passively before God through Jesus Christ, and actively before the neighbor and the world in works of mercy. They are named in the Gospels, which cannot be overlooked for its importance and significance. Christ Jesus honored these women and submitted, if you will, to allow them to care for His bodily needs and the bodily needs of His disciples.
This is not to be understood in a vulgar manner, but rather, that these faithful women supported the proclamation of the Gospel in Word and act from their own sustenance and means. While little is known about each of them, it is to be assumed that they were women of financial asset. Joanna, the wife of Chuza, a steward in Herod’s household (Lk 8:3), provided care for Jesus. Likewise Mary, the mother of James the son of Alphaeus, otherwise known as James the Less, who was a disciple of our Lord Jesus; and Salome, who was the mother of the sons of Zebedee, a prominent fisherman (Mt 27:56).
These women, and the other nameless ones among the disciples of Jesus, have exemplified to the Church through the centuries the characteristics of humility and devoted service honored by our Lord. Unlike the male disciples of Jesus, they accompanied Christ not only through His Galilean ministry, but remained with Him at His crucifixion, even while Peter and James, and all except John, fled and abandoned Him. In this way, I suppose, they were more faithfully devoted to Christ, at least in this instance, than the Apostles, and provide for us an icon of the Church and her steadfast fidelity to the Lord who bought her at a price.
Moreover, they who cared for His body during His earthly life, Joanna, Mary, and Salome, mentioned variously in the Gospels, came together in solemn procession to the tomb on Easter Day with the express purpose of doing them same; taking the burial spices they had prepared. Somewhere along the line the Church took to calling them myrrhbearers. And this is fitting for it connects them to the Incarnation of our Lord and the arrival of the Magi. Then, three unnamed men, traveled afar to bestow gifts to the Boy King. Gold, frankincense and myrrh. Useless to a child. Gifts fit for a King. The sale of which likely bankrolled the Holy Family’s exodus to Egypt. I doubt they were very materialistic or nostalgic.
But now, three named women, honored thusly within the Church, bring myrrh, an aromatic burial spice, to anoint the body of the Lord Christ, the Incarnate Son of God. They who helped bankrolled His ministry, continue to cast aside materialistic notions, providing for the expense of myrrh and spices, to honor the Body of Him who paid for their sins in His Body on the Tree. Our Lord was pleased to reveal Himself first to them that morning. And they did not depart the tomb empty, but filled with the joy and life of His Resurrection to carry to others. So too does He do for all who approach Him in the meekness and humility of faith; He will not send you away empty, but fills you with the good things of His mercy and forgiveness, life and salvation, joy and peace that you may grow in faith toward Him and in charity and love for others.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
On the Sabbath day, while the disciples, men and women, rested according to the Third Commandment of the Law, Christ Jesus, Lord of the Law, having fulfilled the Law and the Prophets for you, through His innocent suffering and death, descended into Hell in both body and soul to proclaim His victory over sin and Satan.
But on the first day of the week, Sunday, the everlasting day and day of the new creation, before early dawn and the arrival of the burial party of the women, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Righteousness arose with healing in His wings. He emerged triumphant from the grave and was resurrected from the dead, never to die again, death has no dominion over Him. And He appears to these women, Joanna, Mary, and Salome, that they might carry His Word to the Apostles, who would, in turn, proclaim His Word in His stead and by His command to all creation, freeing people, men and women, from their sins.
As with St Mary Magdalene, whom the Eastern Churches call “the apostle to the apostles,” so with these faithful women, Joanna, Mary, and Salome, called myrrhbearers, our Lord Christ, in His wisdom and according to His mercy, chooses to reveal Himself alive first to them. For not only did these pious women support the earthly ministry of Christ and His disciples out of their own means, but, “in keeping with His ancient custom, the Lord was choosing what is foolish, undistinguished, and despised in the eyes of the world in order to put the strong and lofty to shame.”
Lutheran Father, Martin Chemnitz says it this way, “These women were despised not only due to the weakness of their gender but also because of Galilee, their homeland.” Chemnitz was not degrading women, but merely recounting the social milieu of the day in light of the high honor of being the first eye-witnesses and proclaimers of the Resurrection, which is an excellent and central article to our faith. Once more, this account of the women being the first eye-witnesses, only adds to the veracity of the Gospels.
Now, contrary to popular, liberal theology, Christ and Christianity honor women, above all other worldviews, as the blessed gift of the Lord that they are and for the blessed gifts He bestows upon them for the good of the Church and society. Yet doing so without negating God’s good order of His creation. For Christ restores that by His death too! Consider at the Fall how these three worked together: the devil, a fallen angel, who deceived; the woman, who proclaimed his talk further; the man who ate and corrupted human nature. So also at Christ’s resurrection, these three worked together: Christ, the true Man, who rose and redeemed human nature, the angel who proclaimed the resurrection, and the women, who carried the joyful and saving message further.
For these faithful women - Joanna, Mary, and Salome, whom the Church remembers on August 3rd - exemplify the receptivity of faith, living passively before God through Jesus Christ, and actively before the neighbor and the world in works of mercy. They are named in the Gospels, which cannot be overlooked for its importance and significance. Christ Jesus honored these women and submitted, if you will, to allow them to care for His bodily needs and the bodily needs of His disciples.
This is not to be understood in a vulgar manner, but rather, that these faithful women supported the proclamation of the Gospel in Word and act from their own sustenance and means. While little is known about each of them, it is to be assumed that they were women of financial asset. Joanna, the wife of Chuza, a steward in Herod’s household (Lk 8:3), provided care for Jesus. Likewise Mary, the mother of James the son of Alphaeus, otherwise known as James the Less, who was a disciple of our Lord Jesus; and Salome, who was the mother of the sons of Zebedee, a prominent fisherman (Mt 27:56).
These women, and the other nameless ones among the disciples of Jesus, have exemplified to the Church through the centuries the characteristics of humility and devoted service honored by our Lord. Unlike the male disciples of Jesus, they accompanied Christ not only through His Galilean ministry, but remained with Him at His crucifixion, even while Peter and James, and all except John, fled and abandoned Him. In this way, I suppose, they were more faithfully devoted to Christ, at least in this instance, than the Apostles, and provide for us an icon of the Church and her steadfast fidelity to the Lord who bought her at a price.
Moreover, they who cared for His body during His earthly life, Joanna, Mary, and Salome, mentioned variously in the Gospels, came together in solemn procession to the tomb on Easter Day with the express purpose of doing them same; taking the burial spices they had prepared. Somewhere along the line the Church took to calling them myrrhbearers. And this is fitting for it connects them to the Incarnation of our Lord and the arrival of the Magi. Then, three unnamed men, traveled afar to bestow gifts to the Boy King. Gold, frankincense and myrrh. Useless to a child. Gifts fit for a King. The sale of which likely bankrolled the Holy Family’s exodus to Egypt. I doubt they were very materialistic or nostalgic.
But now, three named women, honored thusly within the Church, bring myrrh, an aromatic burial spice, to anoint the body of the Lord Christ, the Incarnate Son of God. They who helped bankrolled His ministry, continue to cast aside materialistic notions, providing for the expense of myrrh and spices, to honor the Body of Him who paid for their sins in His Body on the Tree. Our Lord was pleased to reveal Himself first to them that morning. And they did not depart the tomb empty, but filled with the joy and life of His Resurrection to carry to others. So too does He do for all who approach Him in the meekness and humility of faith; He will not send you away empty, but fills you with the good things of His mercy and forgiveness, life and salvation, joy and peace that you may grow in faith toward Him and in charity and love for others.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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