What Jesus’s “working women” friends can teach us about our work today
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…Mary (called Magdalene) …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)
We’re in a series exploring wisdom for our work today from some of the “Mere Christians of the Bible”—believers who did not work as pastors or donor-supported missionaries, but as entrepreneurs, tax collectors, and more.
Today’s passage introduces us to three mere Christians: Mary, Joanna, and Susanna who “were helping to support” Jesus and the twelve disciples “out of their own means.”
Most scholars believe that Joanna was likely the wealthiest of this trio, given her position in Herod’s court. But many also believe these women were likely small business owners who worked hard to produce the profits needed to fund Jesus’s ministry.
Mary, Joanna, and Susanna remind us of three important truths.
First, God frequently celebrates women who work “outside the home.” From Eve working alongside Adam in the garden (Genesis 1:26-28), to the midwives God used to defy Pharaoh (Exodus 1:15-21), to Deborah’s leading of Israel (Judges 4:4-5), to Mary, Joanna, and Susanna supporting Jesus’s ministry, Scripture consistently shows God delighting in the work of his daughters.
Second, our work has intrinsic and instrumental value to God. I talk a lot in these devotionals about how your work has intrinsic value to God—in other words, it matters for eternity even when you’re not leveraging it to some instrumental and spiritual end such as sharing the gospel or writing a check to the missionaries pictured on your refrigerator.
But these women remind us that our work does have important instrumental value. In fact, Paul says that is one of the reasons why mere Christians ought to work: so “that they may have something to share with those in need” (see Ephesians 4:28) including those who rely on the generosity of others to preach the gospel (see 1 Corinthians 9:14).
Finally, God values offstage work as much as he does onstage work. Scripture doesn’t mention these women preaching or performing miracles like the twelve disciples, but their offstage roles were so valued by God that Luke records them in his gospel. If you’re working in relative obscurity today, take heart—God “will not forget your work” either (Hebrews 6:10).
How should we respond to the three truths above?
- Thank God for the gift of working women (and, if you’re a woman, for a God who delights in the work you do inside and outside the home).
- Ask the Lord whose work he might be calling you to support “out of your own means.”
- Remind a mere Christian working “offstage” that God sees and values their work today.
