Matthew 27e

 The male disciples have fled. Jesus has died alone on the cross. Well, not quite alone. 

27: 55-56. Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

 The female disciples remain, looking on from a distance. Let’s take this account to take a closer look at the presence and roles of Jesus’ female disciples. After all, they are the only disciples on the scene.

Footnote: The exception here, mentioned only in the Gospel according to John, is “the disciple whom he loved” who is standing with the women at the cross (John 19: 25-27). Most biblical scholars think that this is one of the twelve, that is, John himself, because John never mentions himself by name in that gospel. Instead, John often refers to himself as ‘the other disciple.” Other scholars think it might be someone other than one of the twelve, that is, Lazarus. Twice before the crucifixion John’s gospel references Lazarus as the one that Jesus loved. See John 11: 3 and 11:5. At any rate, whoever this disciple is, one of the twelve or not, he is standing at the cross in John’s gospel.

  Back to the women at the cross. This is not their first appearance in the story. Luke recognizes the female disciples early on (Chapter 8). 

  “Soon afterward he went on through one town and village after another, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to them out of their own resources” (Luke 8: 1-3).

Mark confirms this description of ‘many women’ who followed Jesus during his teaching and healing ministry in Galilee. Mark also confirms that these women ‘ministered’ to Jesus and the other disciples, both at the cross and in Galilee.  

“There were also women looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome, who followed him when he was in Galilee and ministered to him, and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem” Mark 15: 40-41.

What did the women do? I have underlined the word ‘minister’ in these passages. The Greek word for ‘to  minister’ in all the quotes above is diakoneo. From this word we get the English word ‘deacon’. What do we learn? First, the gospels make it clear that this was not a last-minute decision to go to the cross and to share his grief while he suffered and died. These women were long time followers, disciples of Jesus in Galilee, in Jerusalem, and now at the cross. 

 Second, the gospels say that these women functioned as deacons to this fledgling church, although the formal installation of deacons is yet to come. In Acts 6, deacons were established to manage the charities of the church, including the distribution of food (and perhaps clothing and shelter) to dependent widows and others in need. 

 Third, these women were neither weak nor dependent themselves. Look back at the Luke 8 passage. “... and many others, who ministered to them out of their own resources.” 

What resources? If Mary, Martha’s sister, was the one who anointed Jesus (Matthew 26: 6-13; see also John 12: 1-8), then she had had in her possession a costly perfume that was worth arguing over. This same Mary sat at Jesus’ feet to be taught by him instead of waiting tables as Martha did (Matthew 10: 38-42) and Jesus confirmed her decision to listen and learn. Joanna, mentioned above by Luke, was a high-class woman who was the wife of Herod’s main official, Chuza, his household manager. Susanna is otherwise unknown, but we will take Luke’s statement that she had her own resources.

 Finally, this was not a small group of women. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all use the Greek word pollai from which we get the word ‘poly’ meaning ‘many’.     

 Who were these women?

 Maria of Magdala.  Matthew, Mark, and John all identify Mary Magdalene whom we already know. Jesus exorcised her demons, and she became a devoted follower. 

 Maria the mother of James and Joseph. Mary was “the mother of James and Joseph,” as Matthew says, aka “the mother of James the less and Joses,” as Mark says. Joseph/Joses has not been named as one of the twelve, however, his brother James is one of the twelve. In Greek, he is called Iakobou tou mikrou. Both the names Jacob and James come from the same root word (the noun form is Iakobos), and in the New Testament it is usually translated as James. The epithet is the word from which we get ‘micro’. It is usually translated as ‘the less’ or ‘the younger’. Whether he was small or young, the intent rather is to distinguish him from the more well-known disciple, James the brother of John.

 Salome the mother of the sons of Zebedee: James and John. That brings us to the other woman that Matthew mentions, the mother of the sons of Zebedee who are James the greater and John the gospel-writer. At this point in the text, Mark names a woman, Salome, whom many scholars say was the same as ‘the wife of Zebedee’, and that they were the parents of James and John.   

 Many women, most not named, are followers of Jesus. They remained with Jesus until he died. They were there to watch the burial (Matthew 27: 61, Mark 15: 47, and Luke 23: 55). They were even there visiting the tomb when Jesus was resurrected (Matthew 28: 1, Mark 16: 1, Luke 24: 10, and John 20: 1). 

 Since they were the only persistent witnesses, that means that the accounts of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection depend mainly on these ‘many women’. The only males mentioned in the gospels are ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’ and Joseph of Arimathea (who will appear at the burial).    

Ben Witherington III says, “The importance of these women can hardly be overestimated as they turned out to be the prime witnesses of … what was to become the heart of the Christian creed—the death, burial, empty tomb, and resurrection of Jesus” (Matthew. 2006, page 523). 

 I would make one more point. It is unusual, for this time period, for a writer to stake his case on the testimony of women. This is an apologetic, that is, an argument, after all. Matthew said at the beginning that this is the story of “Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. … Emmanuel, which means, ‘God is with us’” (1: 1, 23). Yet, here at the end, the argument hangs on the testimony of women. Such a risky strategy will only work if at the time that Matthew was writing (late 70s to early 80s), the Christian community was in a frame of mind to accept the witness of women. 

 We know from Acts and the letters that the transition from strictly Jewish to a mixture of Jew and Gentile was accomplished by the 60s (when the Book of Acts ends). It is also clear that women are being accepted as leaders in the church (Phoebe in Romans 16, Priscilla in Romans 16 and Acts 18). These are all indications that the Christian church by the end of the First Century was moving away from patriarchalism (rule by men) and ethnocentrism (divisions by ethnic origin). Unfortunately, such sins worked their way back into church culture, and by the time of the Imperial captivity of the church (which Constantine accomplished in the early 300s) patriarchalism and ethnocentrism were working their way back into the church. It has been difficult to dislodge these biases ever since.