If you are interested in reading a book that will give you further insight into LMPC’s sermon series on the Gospel of Luke, then let me encourage you to read Jesus Through the Eyes of Women: How the First Female Disciples Help Us Know and Love the Lord, written by Rebecca McLaughlin. McLaughlin is the author of several books, including Confronting Christianity, Secular Creed: Engaging Five Contemporary Claims, and No Greater Love: A Biblical Vision for Friendship. Since the Gospel of Luke tells us more about the women who followed Christ than all the other Gospels combined, McLaughlin’s book further supports the case that a lot of what we know about Jesus’ childhood and resurrection would be lost if it were not for the eyewitness testimony of women.1 In Jesus Through the Eyes of Women, McLaughlin features what we have come to learn about Jesus in Luke’s gospel: he is the Messiah who ushered in the upside-down Kingdom of God, upending the power structures of his day while welcoming the marginalized and the outcasts as his disciples.
According to McLaughlin, during the Greco-Roman era, Christianity was seen as counter-cultural. “From the earliest evidence we have about the composition of the church to our best data today, it seems that Jesus has always been more attractive to women than men.”2 She points out that women were drawn to Christianity because the compassionate Christ elevated them to an equal standing in his Kingdom. He provided ceaseless sympathy and service to those considered to be on the fringe and unworthy, where “weeping women with their faces to the ground saw Jesus, while certain men stood face-to-face with him and had no idea who they were looking at.”3
Jesus Through the Eyes of Women is divided into six chapters, each featuring the different roles these women played and their interactions with the Son of God during his ministry on earth.
Chapter 1, “Prophecy,” shows us how God chose a humble, peasant girl to be the mother of God, who “carried in her womb the one through whom all wombs were made. She nursed the one who generated life on earth. She reared the one who formed the stars.”4 Mary’s prophetic song of praise (Luke 1: 46-55) bears strong resemblance to the Old Testament’s prophetic song that was sung by Hannah, which was full of messianic hope. Elizabeth and Anna were two other women who were anointed with the gift of prophecy. Elizabeth, who was chosen to bear the forerunner of the Messiah, was filled with the Spirit and spoke a benediction over the expectant Mary (Luke 1:42-45). And Anna, an elderly widow lent her voice to sing of the Redemption of Jerusalem. After 400 years with no divine revelation, these women’s voices were the first to break the prophetic silence.
In chapter 2, “Discipleship,” McLaughlin recounts that the many itinerant disciples who followed Jesus were women, and among them were Mary Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Chuza, and Susanna (Luke 8:1-3). Many of these disciples financially supported Jesus’ ministry. Mary Magdalene, the most notable of Jesus’ female followers (out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons) was given the privilege of being the first to arrive at Jesus’ grave and to testify of his resurrection. McLaughlin also calls attention to the sisters, Mary and Martha, whom Jesus loved and with whom he spent a considerable amount of time in their home. Mary was given permission by Jesus to sit at his feet, a “posture of discipleship [which was] startling in a culture where women did not receive formal training from a rabbi.”5 And it was to Martha that Jesus first revealed that he is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), and “in an astounding act of grace, Jesus speaks some of his most world-transforming words to her alone.”6
In each of the following chapters, McLaughlin further unfolds the beautiful stories of New Testament women who were rich, poor, sick, grieving, old, young, Jewish, Gentile, prostitutes, and prophetesses, all of whom Jesus loved, healed, forgave, defended, and elevated.7 Reading Jesus Through the Eyes of Women will offer you further insight into the heart of God: a God who continues to seek out those who are diminished and disparaged, bestowing honor and dignity to each of them as he seeks to restore and renew all things for his glory and our good.
You may find this book in our church library.
Footnotes:
1 ibid. 21
2 ibid. 12
3 ibid. 23
4 ibid. 31
5 ibid. 60-61
6 ibid. 67
7 ibid. 175-76
