Joanna and Chuza

  Meditation.    

Sometimes I just get stuck on something...it may not have been the point that the author was trying to make, but it is just where my mind goes.  And on waking up this morning I remembered yesterday's passage.  


Lets go over that again, 


It's that part about Joanna.  


I was contemplating that Joanna is such a pretty name, and what a good namesake she would be for a child.


And then I saw it, 
That next passage.


    "the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household.....These women were helping to support them out of their own means."  


 Admirable women, yes, but what about.....


Yes, this would have been THAT Herod.
The one who married another man's wife.  
The one who John the Baptist called out on it.  
The one who had John the Baptist's head cut off and presented to his bride as a gift on a silver platter at the banquet.  
That one.


Just how did she tell him?  And, what was his reaction?


So, just how did Joanna tell her husband Chuza that she was supporting Jesus ministry.  I am imagining that it could have gone something like this:  


Joanna:  "Chuza, you know that money I had set aside from my profits?  The money I was planning to use toward that addition on the house?"


 Chuza:  "What do you mean you gave Jesus 6 months wages to support him and his followers?  Are you trying to get me fired?  Don't you know that Jesus is the leader of the group that John the Baptist followed.  You know John, the one that stood in moral judgement over Herod and got his head lopped off!  You were there.  And you are giving him money?!!  You will probably have a headless husband by this time tomorrow!"  


But wait, there is more to explain these risk takers. It was stated earlier in the passage that the women who followed had been cured of evil spirits and diseases.  


These women not only heard the good news Jesus was proclaiming, but they met Jehovah-Rapha, God, our healer face to face.  There is speculation among Biblical scholars that Chuza was the officer with the dying son who was a member of Herod's household.  


Jesus healed that son. 


It is quite possible that Chuza was also a follower of Jesus and was in complete agreement with the giftings.


At any rate, it was a commitment that could have cost them a great deal.  It was not a commitment without a risk.  


And later it was Joann who was at the tomb with Mary.  She was still there, rewarded in the good times and faithful in the hard times.


Joanna, yes, a very worthy name indeed.


LUKE 8:1-15

[1] After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, [2] and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; [3] Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.