Evangelion: The Women

Frances Biggs: "Women at the Tomb" (n/a)

We seldom ask ourselves what became of the people Jesus healed or otherwise touched, but it beggars the imagination that they would not have longed to follow him. No doubt some of those we read about did follow him., but connections between known named believers and anonymous people Jesus touched is difficult to establish because the gospels rarely name individuals before they come to place their faith in Jesus. Occasionally, however, the gospels vaguely suggest the past of named believers. This is notably the case with the women who followed Jesus:

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, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. (Lk 8:1–3)

We know virtually nothing about Mary Magdalene or Susanna, but the notice that Joanna was “the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household” brings to mind the royal official whose son Jesus healed upon returning to Galilee.

Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed. This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee. (Jn 4:46–54)

These women provided the logistical support that sustained the entourage of Jesus. That they should provide such support for Jesus and his followers rather than for their own families suggests at least three possibilities:

·       These women had no families.

·       These were elderly widows whose children had families of their own.

·       Family members of these women were also with Jesus.

Elsewhere we read that the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee (Lk 23:55) included Mary the mother of Jesus, her sister Salome (the mother of the apostles James and John), Mary the mother of James the younger (the other apostle James, father of the apostle Jude) and of Joseph, and Mary Magdalene. The latter were mostly older relatives of Jesus, who stayed with him as he died and took upon themselves the sad task of anointing his body for burial:

Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there. (Mk 15:41–42)

Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. (Mt 27:55–56)

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. (Jn 19:25)

The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. (Lk 23:55–56)

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. (Mk 1:16:1)

Mary Magdalene figures prominently in these narratives not because of who she was at that time but because of who she became on the day Jesus rose from the dead—Mary Magdalene was the first witness to the resurrection, and she bore testimony to the apostles themselves of this fact:

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. (Jn 20:11–18)

The complex role of Mary Magdalene and the other women is further borne out by the following notice, which lists the apostles and the women who followed Jesus as those who formed the nucleus of the early church:

Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. (At 1:13–14)