THE SUPPORT PLATOON
Luke 8:1-3 NET.
1 Some time afterward he went on through towns and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and disabilities: Mary (called Magdalene), from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna the wife of Cuza (Herod’s household manager), Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their own resources.
When I was in the Army, I was assigned to the support platoon – a part of the headquarters company of my battalion. We provided particular support to our company and the other companies in the battalion. Besides the officers, most of the support platoon members were drivers, but I was not. I was part of a small team of specialists that provided the unit by purchasing and maintaining its weapons, ammunition, fuel, vehicles, general supplies, and equipment supply. We were proud of what we did because the unit could not function correctly without our support. The mission depended on us.
I thought of the name “support platoon” when I read today’s text. It describes the work of a unique team that did what they did so that Jesus and his apostles could continue their ministry. They ministered unto the ministers. They served the ones serving.
background information
We have little information about the nuts and bolts of Jesus’ ministry to his disciples and his evangelistic campaigns in Galilee, Samaria, Judea, and Perea. We know that sometimes Jesus performed miracles to provide what was needed. The feeding of the five thousand, the feeding of the four thousand, and the coin in the fish’s mouth are examples. But evidently, Jesus did not habitually support his work with miraculous means. Sometimes, he relied heavily on the generosity of the people receiving the message. But other times, he recruited supporters who would manage the everyday needs of the whole team.
This particular mission was part of Christ’s initial ministry in Galilee. It was before Jesus commissioned and sent his apostles to the same area in his final Galilean campaign. Luke says that Jesus went on through towns and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him. They watched him and listened to him. As he preached to the crowds, they observed and learned.
What was this kingdom of God that Jesus was preaching? It was the same kingdom of God that the Old Testament predicted. God was going to reign on earth. But first, he must reign in our hearts. The kingdom of God will not manifest first by overcoming the Roman empire. It will not come as the fulfillment of the eschatological hope first. No, it first comes by allowing God to reign in our hearts personally. The kingdom will most certainly come with power. The Christ must undoubtedly come in the clouds, riding a white horse with an army of angels behind him. But first, it comes through the word of God coming from the mouth of the Son of God, calling everyone to repent. That was the message of the kingdom that Jesus was preaching.
That was why Jesus and the twelve traveled from town to town and village to village. The kingdom of God is not primarily a political message. It is a personal invitation from God to every individual. Everybody counts. Now, to reach everybody, you have to go everywhere. That takes patient preaching and a great deal of personal support.
gratitude in action
Luke says that some women had been healed of evil spirits and disabilities. They were serving Christ out of gratitude for what he had done for them. They were people with independent means of support, but there was no mention of them being chosen because of their wealth. Remember, the rich young ruler was a person of means. He had great wealth. He wanted to join Jesus’ band of followers. He would have been a perfect fit if Jesus had been looking for people with money. But Jesus turned him down. Even Zacchaeus of Jericho was not invited to be a part of this support platoon. Instead, Jesus chose people who had been touched by him and experienced his healing and deliverance. These were people who did not have to be convinced by an argument. Their relationship with Christ was based on a personal experience with him.
They had known themselves at their worst; then they met Jesus. He made a difference in their lives. Unsurprisingly, these are the kind of people who are highly motivated to join Jesus and serve him. Remember the Gadarene who was possessed by a legion of demons? The Lord released him from that horrible bondage, and he first wanted to join the evangelistic team. But Jesus told him no. He had a mission for that man, but it was not to go elsewhere. His mission was to return to where he had caused the most hurt and instead minister healing.
But these ladies were different. They owed their lives to Jesus and they would follow him anywhere. Also, each appears to have been blessed with resources to ensure the mission could go on no matter where the Master led them.
a support platoon
We are not told where Mary Magdalen’s resources came from, but she was probably involved in some business venture she could manage while traveling. Joanna was the wife of Cuza, Herod’s household manager, so her income came from her husband. Incidentally, it took great courage to support Jesus while being related to a member of Herod’s staff. We are not told where Susanna and the “Many others” obtained their fortunes. But all of them were chosen by Jesus to assist and support him and the apostles. What a privilege it is to do something like that.
Our local churches have their support platoons as well. They are the unsung heroes and heroines of the kingdom’s mission. They make it possible for the message of the kingdom to go out. They make it possible for people in need to be helped in Jesus’ name. They make it possible for the gospel to be preached among all the nations. The mission of Christ has never been focused on a single locality, and even at this early stage, Jesus planned to go from town to town and village to village. Today, he calls on his followers and his churches to go and make disciples of all nations, in every language, among every people group. To do that, we need support platoons in every local church, denomination, conference, region, and nation. If we cannot go, we who stay must learn how to pray and pay for those who can go.
One other aspect of this particular support platoon needs to be addressed. Of all the potentially helpful supporters our Lord could have chosen, why this group of ladies?
Why choose women?
Part of the answer is that the Lord knows every heart. He knew who had what it would take to stand with him amid the complex problems that would have to be solved. He knew each lady’s spiritual gift. He knew their mentality, their psychological makeup. He knows all men, and he knows all women.
But another reality is relevant to this question. It is a reality that Luke accents in his Gospel. Luke goes out of his way to always mention the women associated with Jesus every step of the way. If we are looking for information about Mary, the mother of Jesus, look in Luke’s Gospel. Luke also mentions Elizabeth, Anna, the widow at Nain, Jairus’ daughter, Mary, and Martha (sisters of Lazarus), the widow who gave the two small copper coins at the temple. Luke also mentions the slave girl who identifies Peter during Jesus’ trial. He also mentions a group of women who are mourning and wailing for him. Jesus addresses them, saying, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children. For this is certain: The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never nursed!’”
Luke mentions, “The women who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee followed him, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then, they returned and prepared aromatic spices and perfumes. On the Sabbath, they rested according to the commandment. Early Sunday, these went to the tomb, taking the aromatic spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly, two men stood beside them in dazzling attire. The women were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has been raised! Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then the women remembered his words, and when they returned from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary, the mother of James, and the other women who told these things to the apostles. Some of these same ladies in the support platoon were there at the resurrection!
Luke shares Jesus’ parable about a woman who mixes yeast with her dough. Another parable has a woman looking for a lost coin. He warns women not to divorce their husbands to marry another man. He tells his listeners to remember Lot’s wife. He encourages them to be persistent, like the widow who kept appealing to the unjust judge.
Even after writing his Gospel, Luke was not finished telling us about all the women that mattered to Jesus and his kingdom. His companion book, Acts, continues with Peter’s sermon announcing that God had poured his Spirit on all people and that sons and daughters would prophesy. One of those daughters was named Tabitha of Joppa. Peter raised her from the dead, and because of her testimony, many at Joppa believed in the Lord. One was named Mary, the mother of John Mark, who was holding a prayer meeting at her house. Another, a Jewish woman with a Greek husband, had a son named Timothy, who would be helpful to Paul in his ministry to the Greeks. Another woman named Lydia opened her home to Paul. She and her family were baptized, and her home became the first church in her city. Another woman named Priscilla would help to train Apollos in theology.
Paul elaborates on the principle that all this information points to in his letter to the Galatians. There he says that there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female — for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). Christ dissolves all the social and political barriers. When we become part of his kingdom, the barriers that separated us in the world cease to matter. Every society still struggles with that reality. We will probably continue to struggle with the ramifications of this equality until our Lord returns. But, for Jesus, it is already settled. We are all one in Christ. The gospel is liberating. If true, why not have a support platoon of women caring for Jesus as he preaches and the apostles as they learn? Indeed, the door is open for anyone called by Christ and empowered by his Holy Spirit to do whatever he calls them to do.
The New Testament mentions many women who proved to be exceptions to the idea of only men in ministry. Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Lydia, Euodia, Syntyche, Apphia, Nympha, Phoebe, Priscilla, Junia … their names are listed because these women mattered. If history has chosen to ignore their roles in building the kingdom, it is not because they didn’t matter. It is because history has been mainly written by people who don’t want to admit our essential equality.
But the Lord wants us to stop ignoring one another. He wants us to appreciate one another. We are all different. That is a good thing. But our differences are not supposed to keep us from living up to our potential. Jesus has a role for each one of us, regardless of the categories the world puts us in. Remember the support platoon if you think you cannot do anything significant for Christ and his kingdom. Whatever the Lord wants, he will call people like you to do it.
jeffersonvann 