Following the fourth Wiseman- the abandoned, forgotten, broken and in need

Luke 8:1-3 ESV

[1] Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, [2] and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, [3] and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.
We don’t really talk about the women who followed Jesus, and when we do people get hung up on what they had been before following Jesus more than who they were after they had met Him. There were actually several women who followed Jesus, but people like to focus on Mary. Why? Because they like to use Mary to make Jesus seem like He was less holy than the True God He is. Mary had been a woman of ill repute. She had been someone that one who was Holy should not have spent time with, but that’s not the person she remained. People act as if the Mary who followed Jesus was the same Mary who was known for her lifestyle. But this was a different Mary. Just like Joanna was a different Joanna, and Susanna was a different Susanna and the ladies whose names are not listed here but some who are listed elsewhere, are not the same women they had been before they met Jesus. The men who followed Jesus had changed after meeting Him and so had the women. Jesus cast the demons out of these women, He had not let them stay in and just let them follow Him the way they were. The gospels are books of transformation. Not books of stagnancy.
When exploring abandoned buildings, what is the most dangerous thing you will find? Standing water. Why? Because it has sat there, unmoving, rotting under the surface and breeding disease and parasites that become poison and toxins. People are like that. If they stay in their sin and brokenness long enough, separated from the stirring and renewing love of God, they become defiled, their souls rot and they become toxic. But Jesus is like a pound of pure chlorine to such souls. If these people let Him into their lives, He will cleanse them and save them until they are clean springs of fresh water again. That is what He did for the women who followed Him.
Jesus reached out the women who no one else would love. Not in some radical defiance of God’s law, but in fulfillment of God’s law. He loved the widow and the orphan and was the husband to the husbandless and He cast the demons out of those who were trapped by them. These women then changed and became followers of Jesus. They should not be remembered for what they were when they were lost in their sin, they should be remembered for how Jesus changed them.
This then ends our calling of the disciples. There were many who chose to follow Jesus, but here we cover those who were His first and most devoted followers.
As we close this section we see our Traveler again, walking along the shore, still searching for his Messiah. Only now he knows His name, and the names of some of His people. Now he is more excited than ever to walk in the footsteps that his King has left behind.