Cultural customs of Jesus’ day would have looked very negatively on the image which is painted in today’s Gospel text. Men and women were not supposed to be seen together in public. For instance, when these people traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover or any of the Jewish feasts, they would have traveled in caravans in which the women and the men would be separated. Young children would travel with their mothers while the men and the older boys would walk ahead of them leading the way.
While the Gospel does not specify how Jesus and his disciples traveled in a group, the fact is that women also traveled with him and supported him out of their resources. To us it seems totally reasonable and does not cause us to even think twice about it. However, for first century Israel, this would have been almost unthinkable. It's a surprising image. However we also know that Jesus chose to be with people who were sick or who were sinners. This would make him unfit for worship. Jesus just shatters the possibility of thinking that God could support those kinds of prejudices. Perhaps that is why the women were so very faithful to him. When almost all the apostles fled, it was these women who were there with him to Calvary. It was Mary, "from whom he drove seven demons," who is, according to the fourth gospel, the one Jesus first called to proclaim the good news of the resurrection to his apostles.
It is that resurrection that St. Paul reminds us is so important for our faith. If Jesus had not been raised from the dead, our faith would be in vain.
As we approach the altar for the food of life today, we rejoice in the fact that Jesus has made access to God’s love so much an integral part of our life of faith.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator