The First Evangelists

This meditation is based on a passage for April 9, 2010 in the Daily Lectionary Year 2 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).

Text: Luke 24:1-12

Reflection and Question: This account of three women being the first evangelists, when they ran to tell the other disciples that Jesus was risen from the dead, is a cornerstone for the acceptance of women in church leadership. It is sobering to remember that most Christians for two thousand years — and even now many in the Catholic, Evangelical and Orthodox branches of our faith — put “Women should be silent (1 Cor. 14:34)” in the foreground and this passage, confirmed in the three other gospels, in the background. What weight does this passage have for you in your view of women?

Prayer: Blessed God, we read of the love Mary, Joanna and Mary had for Jesus as they set out early to care for His body. We want to be like them: so stirred that we must run and tell someone of what we have been seen and heard. Hear our prayer. Amen.