◄ Luke 8:3 ►
Joanna the wife of Herod's household manager Chuza, Susanna, and many others. These women were ministering to them out of their own means.
Study Bible
Joanna the wife of Herod’s household manager Chuza,

Joanna’s marriage to Chuza connected her to Herod Antipas’s court in Galilee, where her husband held a trusted administrative position. Her discipleship shows that Jesus’ ministry reached people within influential social and political circles, even those connected to a ruler who would later mock Him (Luke 23:6–11). Joanna had evidently received mercy from Jesus and responded with faithful service. She was also among the women who witnessed the empty tomb and carried the resurrection message to the apostles (Luke 24:10).

Luk 24:10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James…
Mrk 15:40-41 And there were also women watching from a distance.…

Susanna,

Susanna’s brief mention preserves the memory of a woman whose faithful support mattered to the work of Christ. Scripture does not measure significance by the amount of personal detail recorded. Her inclusion confirms that named women were active and valued participants among Jesus’ followers.

2Ki 4:8-10 One day Elisha went to Shunem, and a prominent woman…
Rom 16:1-2 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church…

and many others.

A considerable number of women accompanied and served Jesus during His Galilean ministry. Their presence reveals the breadth of His call and the transforming power of His kingdom, which gathered people of varied social standing around Him. Jesus received their devotion and entrusted women with important testimony, especially in connection with His resurrection.

Mat 27:55-56 And many women were there, watching from a distance…
Mrk 16:1-2 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene,…

These women were ministering to them out of their own means.

These women supplied practical and financial support for Jesus and the Twelve from resources under their care. Their generosity sustained the traveling ministry that proclaimed the kingdom of God from town to town. Their service joined faith with sacrifice and demonstrated that discipleship includes using earthly possessions for the advance of Christ’s work.

Php 4:15-18 And as you Philippians know, in the early days…
2Co 8:1-4 Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Joanna
The wife of Chuza, who was the manager of Herod's household. Joanna was a woman of influence and means, using her resources to support Jesus' ministry.

2. Chuza
The manager of Herod's household. His position indicates a connection to the political and social elite of the time.

3. Herod
Refers to Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee and Perea during Jesus' ministry. His household was significant in the political landscape of the region.

4. Susanna
Another woman who supported Jesus' ministry. Little is known about her, but her inclusion highlights the role of women in Jesus' ministry.

5. Many Others
This phrase indicates that there were numerous other women who also supported Jesus and His disciples, emphasizing the collective effort in the ministry.
Teaching Points
The Role of Women in Ministry
Women played a crucial role in Jesus' ministry, providing support and resources. This challenges cultural norms and highlights the value of women in God's work.

Stewardship of Resources
Joanna, Susanna, and others used their means to support Jesus. This teaches us about the importance of using our resources for God's kingdom.

Faith in Action
The women’s actions demonstrate faith in action. They not only believed in Jesus but also actively supported His mission.

Breaking Social Barriers
The involvement of women from different social standings shows the inclusivity of Jesus' ministry, breaking down societal barriers.

Commitment to the Gospel
Their commitment serves as an example of dedication to the gospel, encouraging us to consider how we can support ministry today.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the involvement of women like Joanna and Susanna in Jesus' ministry challenge the cultural norms of their time, and what can we learn from this today?

2. In what ways can we use our own resources to support the work of the church and the spread of the gospel?

3. How does the example of these women encourage us to put our faith into action in practical ways?

4. What social barriers exist today that the church can work to break down, following the example of Jesus' inclusive ministry?

5. How can we ensure that our commitment to the gospel is reflected in our daily lives and interactions with others?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Mark 15:40-41
This passage also mentions women who followed Jesus and ministered to Him, highlighting their presence and support throughout His ministry.

Acts 16:14-15
The account of Lydia, a woman who supported Paul’s ministry, shows a continuation of women playing significant roles in the early church.

Proverbs 31:10-31
The description of a virtuous woman who uses her resources wisely can be seen as a parallel to the women supporting Jesus.
Sermons
Incidents in Evangelistic WorkR.M. Edga Luke 8:1-21
Christianity and WomanW. Clarkson Luke 8:2, 3
Mary of MagdalaT. S. Dickson, M. A.Luke 8:2-3
Self-Devotion of WomenLuke 8:2-3
The Ministry of WomenA. Maclaren, D. D.Luke 8:2-3
People
Chuza, Herod, Jair, Jairus, James, Jesus, Joanna, John, Mary, Peter, Susanna
Places
Galilee, Gerasa
Topics
Apostles, Chief, Chuza, Chuzas, Contributed, Contributing, Cuza, Helping, Herod, Herod's, Household, House-servant, Joanna, Joan'na, Manager, Ministered, Ministering, Needs, Possessions, Private, Provided, Served, Steward, Substance, Support, Susanna, Wealth, Wife, Women
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Luke 8:3

     5414   money, stewardship

Luke 8:1-3

     5745   women
     7912   collections
     8811   riches, attitudes to

Library
June 28 Evening
The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits.--I TIM. 4:1. Take heed therefore how ye hear.--Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.--Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 24 Morning
My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.--LUKE 8:21. Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren: saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.--In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.--Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.--Blessed are they …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

Seed among Thorns
'And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares, and riches, and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.'--Luke viii. 14. No sensible sower would cast his seed among growing thorn-bushes, and we must necessarily understand that the description in this verse is not meant to give us the picture of a field in which these were actually growing, but rather of one in which they had been grubbed up, and so preparation been made …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Christ to Jairus
'When Jesus heard it, He answered, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.' --LUKE viii. 60. The calm leisureliness of conscious power shines out very brilliantly from this story of the raising of Jairus's daughter. The father had come to Jesus, in an agony of impatience, and besought Him to heal his child, who lay 'at the point of death.' Not a moment was to be lost. Our Lord sets out with him, but on the road pauses to attend to another sufferer, the woman who laid her wasted …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Ministry of Women
'And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, 3. And Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto Him of their substance.' --LUKE viii. 2,3. The Evangelist Luke has preserved for us several incidents in our Lord's life in which women play a prominent part. It would not, I think, be difficult to bring that fact into connection with the main characteristics of his Gospel, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

One Seed and Diverse Soils
'And when much people were gathered together, and were come to Him out of every city, He spake by a parable: 5. A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. 6. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. 7. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. 8. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

A Miracle Within a Miracle
'And a woman, having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 44. Came behind Him, and touched the border of His garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. 45. And Jesus said, Who touched Me? When all denied, Peter, and they that were with Him, said, Master, the multitude throng Thee and press Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me? 46. And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched Me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Sower and the Seed.
"A sower went out to sow his seed."--ST. LUKE viii. 5. It is significant that the first of the Saviour's parables is the parable of the sower, that the first thing to which He likens His own work is that of the sower of seed, the first lesson He has to impress upon us by any kind of comparison is that the word of God is a seed sown in our hearts, a something which contains in it the germ of a new life. It is no less significant that He returns so often to this same kind of comparison for the purpose …
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

Our Relations to the Departed
"She is not dead, but sleepeth." Luke viii.52 A Great peculiarity of the Christian religion is its transforming or transmuting power. I speak not now of the regeneration which accomplishes in the individual soul, but of the change it works upon things without. It applies the touchstone to every fact of existence, and exposes its real value. Looking through the lens of spiritual observation, it throws the realities of life into a reverse perspective from that which is seen by the sensual eye. Objects …
E. H. Chapin—The Crown of Thorns

Further Journeying About Galilee.
^C Luke VIII. 1-3. ^c 1 And it came to pass soon afterwards [ i. e.,. soon after his visit to the Pharisee], that he went about through cities and villages [thus making a thorough circuit of the region of Galilee], preaching and bringing the good tidings of the kingdom of God [John had preached repentance as a preparation for the kingdom; but Jesus now appears to have preached the kingdom itself, which was indeed to bring good tidings--Rom. xiv. 17 ], and with him the twelve [We here get a glimpse …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Ministry of Love, the Blasphemy of Hatred, and the Mistakes of Earthly Affection - the Return to Capernaum - Healing of the Demonised Dumb -
HOWEVER interesting and important to follow the steps of our Lord on His journey through Galilee, and to group in their order the notices of it in the Gospels, the task seems almost hopeless. In truth, since none of the Evangelists attempted - should we not say, ventured - to write a Life' of the Christ, any strictly historical arrangement lay outside their purpose. Their point of view was that of the internal, rather than the external development of this history. And so events, kindred in purpose, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

There are Some Things of this Sort Even of Our Saviour in the Gospel...
27. There are some things of this sort even of our Saviour in the Gospel, because the Lord of the Prophets deigned to be Himself also a Prophet. Such are those where, concerning the woman which had an issue of blood, He said, "Who touched Me?" [2431] and of Lazarus. "Where have ye laid him?" [2432] He asked, namely, as if not knowing that which in any wise He knew. And He did on this account feign that He knew not, that He might signify somewhat else by that His seeming ignorance: and since this …
St. Augustine—Against Lying

The Right to what I Consider a Normal Standard of Living
"Have we no right to eat and to drink?"--I Corinthians 9:4 The white-haired mission secretary looked at me quizzically. "Well," he said, "it's all in your point of view. We find that these days in the tropics people may look upon the missionary's American refrigerator as a normal and necessary thing; but the cheap print curtains hanging at his windows may be to them unjustifiable extravagance!" * * * * * My mind goes back to a simple missionary home in China, with a cheap …
Mabel Williamson—Have We No Rights?

In Troubles --
The king had before this time noticed a spot of immense military importance on the Seine between Rouen and Paris, the rock of Andelys. Indeed he had once tossed three Frenchmen from the rock. It was, or might be, the key to Normandy on the French side, and he feared lest Philip should seize upon it and use it against him. Consequently he pounced upon it, and began to fortify it at lavish expense. Archbishop Walter of Rouen, and late of Lincoln, in whose ecclesiastical patrimony it lay, was furious, …
Charles L. Marson—Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln

Faith a New and Comprehensive Sense.
…
John Newton—Olney Hymns

Sundry Sharp Reproofs
This doctrine draws up a charge against several sorts: 1 Those that think themselves good Christians, yet have not learned this art of holy mourning. Luther calls mourning a rare herb'. Men have tears to shed for other things, but have none to spare for their sins. There are many murmurers, but few mourners. Most are like the stony ground which lacked moisture' (Luke 8:6). We have many cry out of hard times, but they are not sensible of hard hearts. Hot and dry is the worst temper of the body. Sure …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Thankfulness for Mercies Received, a Necessary Duty
Numberless marks does man bear in his soul, that he is fallen and estranged from God; but nothing gives a greater proof thereof, than that backwardness, which every one finds within himself, to the duty of praise and thanksgiving. When God placed the first man in paradise, his soul no doubt was so filled with a sense of the riches of the divine love, that he was continually employing that breath of life, which the Almighty had not long before breathed into him, in blessing and magnifying that all-bountiful, …
George Whitefield—Selected Sermons of George Whitefield

The General Observations are These.
There are in these relations proper circumstances of time and place, and the names and characters of persons. Of the miracle on Jairus's daughter, the time and place are sufficiently specified by St. Mark and St. Luke. It was soon after his crossing the sea of Galilee, after Jesus had cured the men possessed with devils in the country of the Gergesenes, Mark v. 21. And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him, and he was nigh unto the sea. And behold …
Nathaniel Lardner—A Vindication of Three of Our Blessed Saviour's Miracles

R. W. Begins his Fifth Discourse, P. 1, 2. With Saying, that He is Now
to take into examination the three miracles of Jesus's raising the dead, viz. of Jairus's daughter, Matth. ix. Mark. v. Luke viii. of the widow of Naim's son, Luke vii. and of Lazarus, John xi: the literal stories of which, he says, he shall shew to consist of absurdities, improbabilities, and incredibilities, in order to the mystical interpretation of them. I have read over his examination of these miracles, and am still of opinion, that the histories of them are credible. I. I will therefore first …
Nathaniel Lardner—A Vindication of Three of Our Blessed Saviour's Miracles

The Second Miracle at Cana.
^D John IV. 46-54. ^d 46 He came therefore again [that is, in consequence of the welcome which awaited him] Unto Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine [see page 114]. And there was a certain nobleman [literally, "king's man:" a word which Josephus uses to designate a soldier, courtier, or officer of the king. He was doubtless an officer of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. That it was Chuzas (Luke viii. 3) or Manaen (Acts xiii. 1) is mere conjecture], whose son was sick at Capernaum. [The …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Ancient Versions of the Old Testament.
In the present chapter only those versions of the Old Testament are noticed which were made independently of the New. Versions of the whole Bible, made in the interest of Christianity, are considered in the following part. I. THE GREEK VERSION CALLED THE SEPTUAGINT. 1. This is worthy of special notice as the oldest existing version of the holy Scriptures, or any part of them, in any language; and also as the version which exerted a very large influence on the language and style of the New Testament; …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

General Remarks on the History of Missions in this Age.
THE operations of Christianity are always radically the same, because they flow from its essential character, and its relations to human nature; yet it makes some difference whether it is received amongst nations to whom it was previously quite unknown, either plunged in barbarism or endowed with a certain degree of civilization, proceeding from some other form of religion, or whether it attaches itself to an already existing Christian tradition. In the latter case, it will indeed have to combat …
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places

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