The
most important people are those in the background, supporting the efforts of a
few. Not everyone can be in the spotlight. And there are only a few who should
be in the spotlight! Too many who end up grabbing the spotlight have no right
to be there. They are there for all the wrong reasons.
The
city in which I live has a church that produces a Christmas event for the
community at large every year. Over 30,000 people attended this free event.
There were hundreds of volunteers helping to run this event, manning all the
displays, providing all the legwork, making and baking, packaging and
providing, praying and rejoicing.
These
people in the background are what make things happen. If you look at any
successful non-profit, you will see the volunteers holding it together. Without
these unsung heroes, these organizations would fall apart. Churches would fall
apart if it weren’t for the volunteers who answer the personal call to minister
in Jesus name in the nursery, children’s church, Sunday School, life groups,
music ministry, visual arts, visitation, school outreach, counseling, and a
thousand other areas.
Our
text talks about some who were in the background when Jesus was being
crucified. They had been in the
background throughout Jesus’ ministry. They were often unnamed support staff.
They had done the things that needed to be done so that Jesus and His disciples
could continue doing what they were doing. Without these people, things would
have fallen apart.
And
these people happened to be women. As is usually the case, the women do most of
the important work, the support work. There hundreds of hours in the background
enabled Jesus to preach the Sermon on the Mount and so many other things. Every
public ministry needs support staff, and without the support staff, the public
ministry would be very different.
Notice
that two women get mentioned by name. In their culture, women were often, if
not always, unnamed. The Gospel raises the level of women like no other on the
planet. In the Gospel we are co-heirs with Christ. The role of women in the
Early Church attests to this. The greetings in the Epistles testify to this
fact. Women were at every level of leadership and ministry.
This
of course flew in the face of their culture. Some of the women of that day were
used in extra ordinary ways, just like some of the men. Jesus is an equal
opportunity filler and user. He will use anyone who is willing, anyone who is
surrendered. In Christ there is no male or female. We are all one in Him.
These
two women were also witnesses to where Jesus was buried that day. They were
also there at the tomb early that Sunday morning. They witnessed the empty tomb
and the angel witnesses. They were the first humans to proclaim the Resurrection.
Not bad for anyone.