There are stories of extreme courage when despite heavy risks, and personal danger, a person does what seems like the impossible. When we hear of these stories, we picture men, in excellent shape, of a young age, able to perform at the peak of their fitness. Sometimes the stories surprise us, when it is someone older who steps into the breach. Children can only do so much, so few stories exist here other than heroic fights against disease, or the courage to stop a bully. But what few of us imagine when the words extreme courage are uttered; is a mom, and a prostitute. These two are hard to associate with the ideas of extreme courage. Add to their pair, a servant girl, and then another. Add to that group a cook, a maid, and a daughter with a famous name. How could a band of women be associated with terminology we reserve for our military in action, and yet have no military association at all?
Courage begins with standing against the popular. In a time when reputation is everything, and particularly so for a woman, courage begins with risking it to do what is right, instead of what is popular. Religious association, being a student of the Word, is one way to help maintain both spirituality and reputation. Being cut off from religious association for what you do, or what you say, is a recipe for ruin, and ruin on a public scale. Could you face this, to do what is right? To face it not boldly in arrogance of your beliefs, but in humility, seeking truth, unsure you have found it. Courage for a woman in the time of Christ was to ignore the threats of the Sanhedrin to be cast out of the Temple forever, and serve at the feet of Jesus. Courage was not defined as railing accusations against those still in the wrong, but humble service in the ministry of Jesus. It was feeding them. It was washing what needed to be washed. It was caring, without arrogance and confrontation, all the while suffering the greatest loss a woman could suffer, her reputation damaged beyond repair, in a time when that was all she had.
Courage remains by loving those we should not love. This was not a group of the holy, it was a group of the injured, the sinful, the untouchables. Hookers are not often welcomed by women of any church. Demon possessed hookers even less so. But Jesus repairs a life, sometimes more than once, and those women never acquainted with such pain, are expected to accept, embrace, and love the reclaimed without limit or reproach. Hookers, now former, are to love housewives, and vice versa, without a word of condemnation from either. Hookers who know the hypocrisy of families where husbands cheat in secret. And housewives who fear the unbridled sexuality of a prostitute will lure away that which should not be lured. Now intermixed by a Rabbi who loves everyone, in a society that does not. But not just the hookers are of ill repute.
The woman was alone at the well in Samaria because of who she was, and what she had done. Her lack of commitment in marriage, her trivial treatment of the forever, had landed her many husbands, and now only a live-in lover. She too was destined to join this band of women. She too was to be reclaimed, and after the evangelism in her region which converted so many, would become yet another servant, of no reputation whose name we do not even know. She too would be listed as only part of “many women” who served and ministered to Jesus and His disciples … as if this was all she did in the furtherance of the gospel, and the redemption of souls. But acceptance into the collective of other women required forgiveness in the hearts of them all, not just in the heart of Jesus.
These women, one and all, sacrificed their reputations, whether by their deeds in a former life, or by their association with each other in the spirit of forgiveness and love. And now they were willing, to a woman, to risk their lives in a display of courage the world had never seen. An act so great, the Holy Spirit will not let Peter forget it. In the brevity of Peter’s telling of the gospel at its end, Peter takes time to recall what women did. When the courage of men failed, the courage of women did not. When the followers of Jesus, His disciples, were scattered to the wind; the assembly of women began. These women gathered themselves, and presented themselves in growing numbers at His trial. It was not their voices calling for death in tones of hate. It was their voices calling for mercy, as it had always been given to them. But they were drowned out by the screams of evicted demons now bent on revenge.
But women of no repute, continued to assemble, and without fear, or perhaps without concern that it should cost them their very lives. You cannot stamp out the message of Christ, until you kill all of His followers. While men hid themselves in upper rooms afraid to see what would transpire, women were out in the places they needed to be. They followed His procession up the hill of Golgotha in tears, and in association for all to see. Peter recalls it to John Mark in his gospel in chapter fifteen picking up in verse 40 saying … “There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;”
Notice Peter first points out that in this group of women is Mary Magdalene. The Hooker is listed first. The demon possessed former hooker is listed first, above all other women there. Why? Could it be that for whom much is forgiven, much is expected? Could it be that the woman with the most corrupted idea of love had been reclaimed the farthest in what love is now. Chief among sinners is listed first. Reputations of those who follow her, of those who dare to be with her, are done. Next Peter lists Mary the mother of Jesus, but in an unusual way. Peter lists her by the names of the siblings of Christ. So much for the idea of a perpetual virgin. Mary was a normal wife and mother after the birth of Jesus. James, Joses, and Salome (whose name was also given to the daughter of Herod Phillipi living with Antipas at the execution of John the Baptist). These were the names of Jesus’ family at the recollection of Peter. He would know. The hooker and the housewife lead this assembly.
Mark continues in verse 41 saying … “(Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.” These women ministered to Jesus, to each other, and to assemblies so large they were hard to number. They did this at the cost of their reputations, shunned by the religious leadership for association with Jesus. Shunned by the public, for association with women of ill repute, hookers, divorcees, and such. They lost what could not be replaced, and without a word of discontent. For they had found something of far greater value, a vision of love and what love should be, that does not look for credit or disdain, only to serve.
But this was no book club, knitting circle, or potluck. They were assembled in the place of a skull. They had no weapons, or skills to use them. They were sheep. They were witnesses to a fallen Lord now dead upon the cross. They had no one to protect them, or give care should they be raped or killed without mercy from soldiers who paid no mind to the virtue of a woman. They were Jews in front of Romans. They were apostates in front of priests and rabbis who governed in absolute control over religious matters. And their Lord was dead, unable to hear their cries, or offer assistance or love. Everything they had hoped for was dead on that cross. Everything they had dreamed of for the Jewish nation was lifeless on that cross. Jesus hung naked before them, without a shred of dignity. And they were there assembled as sitting ducks for a raging temple system, and Roman military to do with as they pleased.
Their lives, their reclaimed virtue, their reputations were as vulnerable as it gets, and all of this was by choice. For the women in this assembly could be in no other place. They MUST be with their Lord, even if He dies. Even if He is dead, these women cannot tear themselves away from their Lord. That is faith. That is a courage in spite of death or worse, that knows NO fear at all. This is where a maid, and a cook, and a mother, and a hooker defy the entire Roman empire with steadfast steel in their bones. This is where Truth stands against the corruption in hearts of religious leaders who wish to kill it. This is where a housewife comforts a hooker, who reaches back to comfort her. Jews are amazed by this. Even in death these women do not flee, they remain. Even when there is nothing more to gain for any of them, they do not flee, they remain, and they still love each other. When hope is gone, the extreme courage of a woman is revealed.
This confounds the Roman soldiers in attendance. Romans have seen families of victims come out to a crucifixion before. But never does a mother welcome a prostitute in comfort. Never does such an assembly of women seem to genuinely care for each other in love that defies explanation. This is not some wailing performed by those hired to wail. This is silent crying by those who love so deeply no sound can emerge from it. This is not the noise of grief; it is a grief so profound it lacks all noise. Where Romans who hate Jews would have been prone to move sin from the crucified to his entourage, no such inclination is present today. The darkness, the earthquake, the plea of forgiveness from the cross itself, has dampened further ideas of evil in the soldiers at the cross. These women represent only another marvel the Romans cannot understand.
It is not their perfection that defines this moment, it is their imperfection. Mary Magdalene is still known for her former life, a hooker, with multiple demons. She is present, but still imperfect. She has not transcended as Enoch did, to a life ready for heaven. She is in its process, but not at its conclusion. But despite her imperfections, she is here, where she must be. This is why it is courage. Because risk is still present, perfection is not. Damage is still present, immunity is not. But despite the reality of this situation, a demonstration of true ministry occurs. Love for each other in full display, even when Jesus is dead. Love for each other, even when reputations are in the mud, and death is at the doorway, and Jesus will not be here to save them. This is the moment Peter must recall to John Mark. And by contrast, to further deepen his own shame.
Peter must faithfully recount the deeds of women, when his own stand in contrast as abject failures. When our churches stand, and debate the roles of women in the gospel, we forget that in times like these, men fail, and women deliver. Those who are in tune to the Holy Spirit, who become a vessel of the love of God, are those destined to preach the word. This assembly was not preaching in word, but the lesson in deed has survived 2000 years, and will live on in infinity, because even when Jesus was dead, love lived on in His followers. This love was not done in secret, or in a place of convenience, or in denial of who they served. It was there when He was dead. It was there when Hope was dead. It was a courage that could never be mimicked again.
To be embarrassed to be associated with Jesus in our day … is such a thing possible? In our modern age when a co-worker, or associate, asks us if we are a Christian; is hesitation still possible from a thought to what our answer will mean to our reputation? If the answer was not already apparent, the need for the question, is what will break my heart. If my actions, my words, and my motives are not already in such tight alignment with His, that those who casually know me, must ask if I follow Christ, I still have far to go in my journey. I want that answer brazenly self-evident. I want a measure of love from God, to mimic the love of mothers, hookers, servants, and housewives in an age where extreme courage was defined. To love like that before He had arisen, was proof, that His Father remained. It was proof that Jesus provides us a connection to His Father. We are not connected to only Jesus, but to the Holy Spirit, and to His Father. This was reconciliation His death was to accomplish for us, and we need only do the simplest of things: to accept it.
Then watch what a reclaimed life looks like. Watch how extreme courage becomes so common it can no longer be thought of as courage, but just as nature. Witness how the love for a hooker becomes transcendent. Love that is no longer a filthy thing, but a holy thing, able to flow from husbands and housewives alike without a moment of condemnation from anyone. Watch how a risen Lord, who reclaims lives, can change how you love so profoundly that words lose their ability to describe it …
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