The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 202

EXPOSITION. CHAPTER VITI. ~i,i daily we.nte. The presenoe and loving interest of these and such like kindly gene- Ven. 1-S.-St. Ltike'B brief noti,ce of tM rous friends answers the question-How did toomen v,ho fanned part of the oompany of the Master and his disoiplea, poor men Jew.a. among poor men, live during the years of Ver. 1.-And it oame to pus aftenvar4. publio teaching? Mary oal!ed Magdalene. St. Luke here notices an alteration in the The name Mary (Miriam) was a very favour- Mester's way of life. From this time forward ite name among the He brow women; we meet Jesus C088ed to make Caperaaum "his with several in the gospel story. This one city," his usual residence; he now journeys was oo.!led " Mngdalene," or "of Magda.la," with his little band of followers from plaoe to distinguish her from others bearing the to place. From this time there was also a same uame. Magdala was a little town distinct change in the tone of his teaching. near Tiberias. There is nothing de.finite to The Greek word rendered '' afterward " is connect her with the "sinner" of eh. vii. the •me Bf! that translated " in order " in The early tradition which identified these ob. i. 3. Showing the glad tidings of the two women was probably derived from Tal- kingdom of God. The public work of Jesus mudic sources. There are many wild stories may be well &rranged under three heads : iu these writings connected with one called his work as Master, as &angelut, and as Mary of Mngdala, e. grievous sinner. The Prophet. The first bad especial relation to "seven devils" probably allude to some his own immediate followers, women as aggravated form of demoniacal possession. well as men. In the second. as the Preacher Two sets of ecclesiastical legends busy them- of the graoo, mercy, and the love of God. he selves with the after-life of Mary of Magdaln. peculiarly addressed himself to the general The one represents her as coming with population ;-this was the special side of the Lazarus and Martha to Marseilles ; the other, Lord's work wbich St. Luke loved to dwell as accompanying the Virgin e.nd John to on ; thil! is what he alludes to here. In the Ephesus. third, as Prophet, the Master spoke gene- Ver. 3.-.Joanne. the wife of Chuze. Herod's rally to an evil generation, and especially steward. She must have been a person of to the political and religious leaders of Ute wealth and high rank at the court of Herod Jewish society of his day. Antipas. There were evidently not a few Ver. 2.-And oertain women. n has believers in that wicked and dissolute centre. before been noticed that St. Luke, in several Some years later we read of Manaen, the places, especially notices the love and dtvo- foster-brother of Herod, os e. notable Chris- tion of women to the Master. The present tian (Acts xiii. I). Even Herod himself, we 1J()@ition of women is owing to the teaching know, at first heard John the Baptist gladly; of the Lord and his disciples. Fellow-heirs and. after the terrible judicial murder, we with men of the kingdom of heaven, it was find that unhappy prince fancying that his obvioUB that they could no longer occupy on victim had risen from the dead. It has earth their old inferior and subordinate posi- been suggested that this Chuza was the tion. The sex, as a sex, has made a noble nobleman of Capernaum whose dying son return to the Me,ster. Much of the untold was healed by Jesus (John iv. 46). If this miBery and suffering which tormented the old be the case, there would be e. special reason world has been at least alleviated in great for the loving devotion of this Joanna to the measure by the laboute of the women of Master. She reappears among the faithful Christianity. Several of these kindly grate- women in the history of the Resurrection ful souls here alluded to evidently belonged (eh. xxiv. 10). Susanne.. The name signi- to the wealthy class; some even occupied a fies "lily." The Jews were fond of giving high position in the socit1ty of that time. the names of fiowers and trees to their girls; It we.a by their gifts, no doubt, that Jesus thus Rhoda, a rose (Acts xii. 13), Tamar, a and his company were enabled to live during palm (2 Sam. xiii. 2), among many instances, the thirty or more montwi of the public Of this Susanna nothing further is known. ministry. He had given up, as had also his Vera. 4-15.-The parable of the BOUier, companions, his earthly occupation, and we and tlUJ Lord'• interpretation of it. know that he deliberately refrained from Ver. 4.-And when muoh peoFle were e.er using his mimculous power to supply gathered together, and were oome to him on. vm. 1-50.J THE G08PF.L ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 201