Jesus In Jerusalem Excerpt

Jesus in Jerusalem

JESUS IN JERUSALEM THE LAST DAYS

Eckhard J. Schnabel

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Grand Rapids, Michigan

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 4035 Park East Court SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 www.eerdmans.com © 2018 Eckhard J. Schnabel All rights reserved Published 2018 Printed in the United States of America 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ISBN 978-0-8028-7580-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-­in-­Publication Data Names: Schnabel, Eckhard J., author.

Title: Jesus in Jerusalem : the last days / Eckhard J. Schnabel.

Description: Grand Rapids : Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018002537 | ISBN 9780802875808 (hardcover : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ—Biography—Passion Week. | Jesus Christ—Friends and associates. | Jesus Christ—Travel. | Israel—Description and travel. | Jesus Christ—Chronology.

Classification: LCC BT414 .S34 2018 | DDC 232.96—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018002537

For Richard Bauckham, Darrell Bock, and Craig Evans, who have contributed much to Gospel research and to our understanding of the life of Jesus Messiah

People 25. Women Disciples

Matthew comments that “many women” who “had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him” were at the cross when Jesus suffered and died (Matt 27:55).269 Mark mentions “women,” while Luke writes “the women who had followed him from Galilee” (Mark 15:40, Luke 23:49). Matthew and Mark each specifically names three of the women, and John also names three women.

Table 5: The Names of Jesus’ Women Disciples

cross

burial

empty tomb

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John

women

women

women

Mary from Magdala

Mary from Magdala

Mary mother of Jesus

Mary mother of James and Joseph

Mary mother of James and Joses

Mary wife of Clopas

Mother of sons of Zebedee

Salome

Mary from Magdala

Mary from Magdala

Mary from Magdala

Mary mother of James and Joseph (the other Mary)

Mary mother of Joses

Mary from Magdala

Mary from Magdala

Mary from Magdala

Mary mother of James and Joseph (the other Mary)

Mary mother of James (and Joseph)

Joanna

Salome

Mary mother of James (and Joseph)

women

Mary from Magdala

The women disciples who are mentioned as eyewitnesses of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection are, as Richard Bauckham has emphasized, “not a mere collective body, but nor are they reducible to the single, albeit prominent woman Mary Magdalene.”270 The Gospel writers combined mention seven 46

26. Martha from Bethany women for these three events: Mary from Magdala, Mary the mother of James and Joses, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary the wife of Clopas, the mother of sons of Zebedee, Joanna, and Salome. Six of the seven women were present at the cross (the one exception is Joanna). Two women were present at all three events: Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of James and Joses/Joseph.

Only two women were present at Jesus’ burial: Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of James and Joses. Four women were witnesses to the empty tomb: Mary from Magdala, Mary the mother of James and Joses, Salome, and Joanna.

Luke’s general reference to “women” leaves open the possibility that there were other women who might have been present at the cross and at Jesus’ burial, although this is probably not very likely given the care that the Gospel writers display when they describe these events and who witnessed them. We can evaluate the role of these women, with Bauckham, as follows: The women’s participation in the events, as well as their commission by the risen Christ himself to be his witnesses, qualified them as the authoritative witnesses who shaped the way their own stories were told in the oral tradition and were available for checking the authenticity of the stories being told. . . .

As prominent members of the early communities, probably traveling around the communities, they were doubtless active in telling the stories themselves.

They may not usually, like the male apostles, have done so in public contexts, because of the social restrictions on women in public space. But this is no reason to deny them the role of authoritative apostolic witness and shapers of Gospel traditions, since there need not have been such restrictions in Christian meetings and since they could witness even to outsiders in women-­only contexts such as the women’s quarters of houses.271

These women disciples who were present at Jesus’ crucifixion, at his burial, and at the empty tomb clearly had a much more important role in the earliest churches, as has often been recognized.

26. Martha from Bethany

Martha from Bethany is the sister of Lazarus and Mary (see 1.14, 27), all three close friends of Jesus: he “loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5).272 Martha (Μάρθα, Martha, a transliteration of ‫ ָמ ְר ָתא‬, Martaʾ, or ‫ ָמ ְר ָתה‬, Martah) was the fourth most common name among Jewish women in Palestine.273 On Bethany as Jesus’ base of operations for ministry in Judea and Jerusalem, see 2.4. The family of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus seems to have been well regarded in town and perhaps in the surrounding region (which would include Jerusalem): when Lazarus died, “many of the Jews” came to console Martha and 47

People Mary about their brother (John 11:19). The value of the alabaster flask with the ointment that Mary used when she anointed Jesus, specified at three hundred denarii, the equivalent of a year’s wages (Mark 14:5), suggests that the family was wealthy, unless Mary acted in association with others (see below)—perhaps the wealthy women who regularly accompanied Jesus (Luke 8:3, Mark 15:41)—and was provided with the ointment by another of Jesus’ women disciples.

Luke reports a visit of Jesus in the home of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38– 42).274 John mentions Martha in connection with the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1–45). Since Martha is mentioned first in Luke 10:38, and Mary is then introduced as her sister (Luke 10:39), it can be plausibly assumed that Martha was the older sister.275 Martha had responsibility for domestic chores: she prepared meals for guests (Luke 10:40, John 12:2); when she heard that Jesus was approaching, visiting after her brother’s death, she takes the initiative and leaves the house and meets Jesus. When they go to the tomb in which Lazarus’s body has been placed, she explains to Jesus the stench that issues from the tomb (John 11:20, 39). Her devotion to Jesus is expressed through her domestic work.

When Jesus visits Martha and Mary, Martha continues to be busy with domestic work, presumably preparing a meal, while Mary listens to Jesus. Martha’s question, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?” and her request, “Tell her then to help me” (Luke 10:40), were not meant to criticize Mary’s behavior. She was concerned not so much about what Mary does as about herself—she felt abandoned by her sister, who listened to Jesus rather than helping her with household chores.276 Martha fulfilled her domestic responsibilities, which she, unlike Mary, does not interrupt for Jesus.

Jesus’ answer to Martha emphasizes the higher value of quality over quantity: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41–42). Martha should learn from her sister that it is good (that is to say, “better”) to interrupt one’s usual activities if and when one has the opportunity to listen to Jesus’ words.

On the occasion of Jesus’ anointing, performed by her sister Mary, “Martha served” (John 12:2). The comment that Lazarus was “one of those at the table with him” suggests that the dinner took place not in the house of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus but in another, presumably larger, house—according to Matthew 26:6 and Mark 14:3 the house of Simon the leper. When people living in Bethany gave a dinner for Jesus,277 it was Martha who was “serving”: she may have helped prepare the dinner, or she may have been in charge of preparing the meal. Her skills in domestic work were evidently recognized by the villagers.

According to John, Martha believed that Lazarus would not have died had Jesus been in Bethany, presumably when her brother became ill, and that Jesus can ask God for anything “even now” and it will happen (John 11:21–22). Jesus 48

27. Mary from Bethany responded to Martha’s assertion that she believes in a future resurrection with the statement: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26).278 Martha answered by acknowledging that she believes that he is “the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world” (John 11:27). She believes that Jesus can bring resurrection in the present. For John, Martha’s confession is “the climactic confession preceding Jesus’ passion.”279 27. Mary from Bethany

Mary from Bethany is the sister of Lazarus and Martha. Mary (Μαρία, Maria, for Hebrew ‫ ִמ ְריָם‬, Miryam) was the most common name of Palestinian Jewish women: nearly a quarter of documented Jewish women of the period were called Miriam/Maria/Mariame/Mary.280 Mary is Martha’s younger sister (see 1.26). Luke mentions Mary on the occasion of a visit of Jesus to their home in Bethany (Luke 10:38–42), and John mentions Mary in connection with the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1–45) and Mary anointing Jesus (John 12:1–8). Luke’s characterization of Mary as sitting like a disciple at Jesus’ feet, listening to his words (Luke 10:39), corresponds to John’s characterization: Mary knelt at Jesus’ feet when he arrived in Bethany after Lazarus’s death (John 11:32), and she anointed him with expensive perfume (John 12:3). Jesus defends Mary’s “unconventional expressions of devotion” in Luke 10:42 and John 12:7.281 On the occasion of Lazarus’s death, Mary acknowledged Jesus’ healing power as did her sister Martha (John 11:32).282 Matthew and Mark do not name the woman who anointed Jesus in the house of Simon the leper (Matt 26:7, Mark 14:3). The woman’s anonymity is startling, seen in the context of Jesus’ assertion, “Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her” (Mark 14:9; Matt 26:13: “Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her”). The identity of the woman who anointed Jesus was known in the early church, which is confirmed by John, who states that it was Mary from Bethany who anointed Jesus (John 12:1, 3). Richard Bauckham explains the silence of Matthew and Mark with the concept of “protective anonymity”: since Mary’s action, in the context of Jesus’ approach to Jerusalem, “would easily be seen as the anointing entailed by the term Messiah [the Anointed],” she “would be in danger were she identified as having been complicit in Jesus’ politically subversive claim to messianic kingship” in the early years of the Jerusalem church.283 When John writes at a later date, this danger no longer exists because Mary is presumably no longer alive and since by then it was widely known that Jesus’ 49

People followers believed that he was the promised Messiah. As plausible as this argument is, it cannot explain the convictions of the Twelve immediately following Jesus’ resurrection as reported by Luke as well as their willingness to proclaim their faith in Jesus’ messianic dignity publicly before the Jewish authorities (for example, Acts 4:8–20, 5:29–32). Whatever the reason for Mary’s anonymity in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, she acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, God’s Anointed from the house of David. The sequence of events in the Gospel of Mark—plot of the chief priests and scribes to arrest by stealth and kill Jesus (Mark 14:1–2), Jesus’ anointing in Bethany (Mark 14:3–9), Judas Iscariot’s contact with the chief priests in order to deliver Jesus over to them which pleased them greatly (Mark 14:10–11)—strongly suggests that the anointing had messianic significance, perceived by Judas and the Jewish authorities. Bauckham surmises that when Mary anointed Jesus, she may have acted on her own initiative, or she may have planned the anointing “in association with others who wished to take Jesus by surprise and so encourage him to undertake the messianic role about which he seemed ambivalent.”284 Jesus interprets the anointing in terms of his suffering, death, and burial (Matt 26:12, Mark 14:8), in agreement with his understanding of his messianic vocation (Mark 8:29–31, 10:45).

28. Mary the Mother of Jesus

Mary the mother of Jesus is mentioned by name in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and, without being named, in the Gospel of John.285 She is mentioned by Luke in the book of Acts; Paul and John, in the book of Revelation, implicitly refer to Mary, without mentioning her name.286 For the name Mary see 1.27. Some have suggested that Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum because it was a larger town, more strategically located, and economically more viable when Herod Antipas founded Tiberias as his new capital on the Sea of Galilee (ad 19–21), allowing Jesus to take better care of his mother and brothers once Joseph had died. Jesus, as the oldest son, would have been responsible for the family (cf. John 2:12). According to Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55, Jesus’ sisters lived in Nazareth, perhaps having married, whereas his mother and his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas seem to have lived somewhere else, possibly in Capernaum. While passages that describe earlier phases of Jesus’ ministry indicate a lack of acceptance, if not opposition, to Jesus’ activities on the part of Mary and other family members,287 John’s passion account implies that Mary had accompanied Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem: she was present at her son’s crucifixion, together with Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary from Magdala, and she saw Jesus die (John 19:25–27).

The presence of Mary the mother of Jesus at the cross in John has been called into question on account of the fact that neither Mark, Matthew, nor Luke 50

29. Mary the Wife of Clopas mentions her in their accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.

This skepticism is unwarranted. First, the breach between Jesus and his mother and brothers did not last. Luke, who had mentioned Mary for the last time in connection with Jesus’ presentation in the temple (Luke 2:34), mentions Mary and Jesus’ brothers as being in Jerusalem when the risen Jesus appeared to and instructed the Eleven and a larger group of disciples (Acts 1:3–8). Paul relates that the risen Jesus had appeared to James (1 Cor 15:7), which must be Jesus’ brother who had become the leader of the Jerusalem church after Peter’s departure (Acts 12:17; cf. 15:13, 21:18). James evidently had become a follower of Jesus between Easter and Jesus’ ascension, which may suggest that he and perhaps all the brothers were in Jerusalem for Passover in ad 30. Second, the tradition that Mark records evidently attached importance to the identity of the women who were witnesses of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial and of the empty tomb.

Mark names three women who were present at the crucifixion (Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the little and Joses, and Salome; Mark 15:40), two women who were present at Jesus’ burial (Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the little and Joses, with a reference only to Joses; Mark 15:47), and three women who saw the empty tomb (Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the little and Joses, with only James mentioned, and Salome; Mark 16:1). If Mark focused on the women as witnesses to Jesus’ burial and to the empty tomb, and if Mary the mother of Jesus did not witness Jesus’ burial and the empty tomb, Mark may have decided not to mention her as having been present at the cross.288 For John, Mary the mother of Jesus is an eyewitness of the crucifixion. And Luke, who reports that Mary stayed in Jerusalem with the Eleven (Acts 1:14), implies that Mary was also an eyewitness to the reality of the risen Jesus.

29. Mary the Wife of Clopas

According to John 19:25, one of the women at the cross was “Mary of Clopas” (Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Κλωπᾶ, Maria hē tou Klōpa). On the name Mary see 1.27. As I have argued earlier (see 1.16), the genitive expression (“of Clopas”) is most naturally taken to refer to Mary’s husband Clopas, who is the same person as the Cleopas of Luke 24:18 (one of Jesus’ followers walking to Emmaus on the day of Jesus’ resurrection). If Cleopas/Clopas was indeed Jesus’ uncle, the brother of Jesus’ putative father Joseph, his wife Mary was Jesus’ aunt—the sister-­in-­law of Jesus’ mother Mary who was also at the cross.289 It appears that this is the meaning of the phrase “his [Jesus’] mother’s sister” (John 19:25), an expression that seems to be used here instead of “Jesus’ mother’s husband’s brother’s wife,” which would be cumbersome; the Greek word for “sister-­in-­law” (γάλοως, galoōs) was rarely used, and since ἀδελφός (adelphos, “brother”) is attested in the 51

People sense of “brother-­in-­law,”290 the term ἀδελφή (adelphē, “sister”) might mean here “sister-­in-­law.” If we took “his mother’s sister” to refer to another relative of Jesus, the list would refer to three relatives of Jesus: his mother (Mary), his mother’s sister (unnamed), and his uncle’s wife (Mary the wife of Clopas). This is not very likely because John then would mention three relatives of Jesus— Jesus’ mother (not named, but Mary’s name would of course be well known), his mother’s sister (unnamed), and Jesus’ aunt (Mary the wife of Clopas)—and a further woman (Mary Magdalene) who is named but whose relationship to Jesus is not given.291 For the family tree of Jesus, see 1.16. It has often been suggested that Mary the wife of Clopas is identical with Mary the mother of James and Joseph/Joses who is mentioned as being present at the cross, Jesus’ burial, and the tomb.292 Since Mary was one of the two most common names among Palestinian women, there is no reason why the Mary the wife of Clopas mentioned in John 19:25 should be identical with “the other Mary” mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels; the possibility that this is the same woman is called into question if indeed, which is very probable, Mary the wife of Clopas was the mother of Symeon the son of Clopas.293 Since Mary’s husband Cleopas/Clopas is named by both Luke and John, it can be confidently assumed that he and Mary were known figures in the early church. As we have noted in connection with Cleopas, one of the sons of Mary and Cleopas—Symeon—succeeded James, the brother of Jesus, in the leadership of the Jerusalem church, which very probably had happened by the time John wrote his Gospel. The strong possibility that Mary and Cleopas/Clopas were missionaries who traveled is suggested by two factors. First, the fact that Mary is identified not by reference to her famous son (Symeon), as are other Marys in the early church (Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary the mother of James the little and Joses, and Mary the mother of John Mark),294 but by her husband suggests that she and her husband were associated in the minds of early Christians. Second, the association between a husband and his wife occurs also in the case of Prisca/Priscilla and her husband Aquila, who were Paul’s coworkers, and in the case of the apostles, including Cephas/Peter and Jesus’ brothers who traveled as missionaries with their wives.295 30. Mary from Magdala

Mary from Magdala, or Mary Magdalene, is mentioned first in the lists of women disciples of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.296 John mentions Mary Magdalene in third place among the women at the cross (after Jesus’ mother and Mary the wife of Clopas) and as the only woman at the empty tomb (John 20:1); she is the woman who reports the fact of the empty tomb to the disciples (John 20:2) and who then returns to the tomb where she sees the risen Jesus 52

30. Mary from Magdala (John 20:11–17), again returning to the disciples to report her encounter with the risen Jesus (John 20:18). Mary from Magdala “must have been of special importance in the early Christian communities.”297 Mary was “called Magdalene” (Luke 8:2)298 since, as Miriam/Mary was the most common female name among Palestinian Jewish women (see 1.27), she needed to be distinguished from the other Marys mentioned in the Gospels and known in the earliest churches. She was from Magdala (or Magadan/Dalmanutha),299 to be identified with Migdal Nunnya (Tower of the Fish; mod. el-­Mejdel) on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee about 3 miles (5 km) north of Tiberias.300 The term “tower” refers to the promontory of Arbel which towers over the site, or to some monumental tower that gave the name Migdal to two distinct areas of the same settlement called Taricheae (“factories for salting fish”) in Greek and Latin sources.301 The Greek name of the town indicates that Magdala/Taricheae was an important center for fishing and for the export of salted fish.

Mary from Magdala is described by Luke as belonging to the group of women disciples who accompanied Jesus and the Twelve: she was the woman “from whom seven demons had gone out” (Luke 8:2), surely healed by Jesus.

The statement that there were women who provided financially for Jesus and the Twelve and women disciples who traveled with them (Luke 8:3) probably relates at least to Joanna (see 1.34) and other women, but not necessarily to Mary Magdalene. One can argue that Mary Magdalene had to be named by Luke in 8:2 because she was the most prominent of Jesus’ women disciples “and so may not have been notable among those who made financial contributions.”302 The fact that Luke mentions the husband of Joanna (Chuza) but no husbands of Mary Magdalene and Susanna does not prove that they were single or widowed. If Mary Magdalene had a husband who did not accept Jesus’ ministry, she could have left to follow Jesus on her own (and Luke would have no need to distinguish this Mary from the other Marys by mentioning her husband).

On the other hand, since Mary from Magdala had been possessed by seven demons, which Luke specifically, and perhaps suggestively, mentions, she may never have been married, or, if the demon possession occurred while she was married, her husband could have divorced her. But this is all speculation. To connect Mary from Magdala with the sinful woman of Luke 8:35–50, with Mary in Bethany (Mark 14:3–9, Luke 10:38–42, John 12:1–8), or with the adulteress of John 7:53–8:11 has no basis in any text.303 Mary from Magdala was a witness of Jesus’ crucifixion,304 burial,305 and the empty tomb,306 and she was the first person to see the risen Jesus according to John 20:11–17. As a named witness of these pivotal events, Mary from Magdala belonged to the circle of women who “remained accessible and authoritative sources of these traditions as long as they lived.”307 Her importance suggests to some that “Magdalene” is not merely a reference to the city which was her 53

People hometown but simultaneously a nickname (“the Tower”) that expresses her prominent status in the early church.308 31. Mary the Mother of James and Joseph

Mary the mother of James and Joseph is mentioned as a witness of Jesus’ crucifixion (Matt 27:56, Mark 15:40), Jesus’ burial (Matt 27:61, Mark 15:47), and the empty tomb (Matt 28:1, Mark 16:1, Luke 24:10). Matthew and Mark list this Mary in all six passages (cross, burial, empty tomb) in second place after Mary from Magdala, and Luke mentions her in third place (after Mary from Magdala and Joanna). Mary is identified by reference to her sons, due to the fact that the name Mary was the most popular name among Palestinian Jewish women (see 1.27). Matthew calls Mary “the other Mary” (Matt 27:61, 28:1), whom his readers would readily identify from Matthew 27:56 where he lists Mary from Magdala, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. Some have identified this Mary with the mother of Jesus, whose sons were James and Joses (and Judas and Simon; Matt 13:55, Mark 6:3) and who is mentioned as witnessing Jesus’ crucifixion (John 19:25–27).309 This is not plausible since it is not likely that Mark would identify Jesus’ mother with reference to these younger sons rather than as the mother of Jesus as in Mark 6:3.310 Many have identified this Mary with Mary the wife of Clopas, which is not plausible either (see above).

Mark identifies Mary’s (presumably) oldest son by giving his nickname “the little” (ὁ μικρός, ho mikros), evidently because he was conspicuously short.311 For the second son, Mark uses the name Joses (᾽Ιωσῆς, Iōsēs), which is a Greek form of the Hebrew name Joseph which was sometimes abbreviated as Yose and written in Greek as Iose or Ioses.312 Mark identifies Mary first as “Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses” (Mark 15:40) and then more concisely as Mary of Joses (Mark 15:47) and Mary of James (Mark 16:1). The fact that Mary is identified by reference to her sons rather by reference to her husband suggests that “her sons were her male relatives best known in the early Christian community.”313 Mary, who was present at Jesus’ crucifixion, at his burial, and at the empty tomb also belonged to the circle of women who were authoritative witnesses of these events.

32. Mother of James and John

The “mother of the sons of Zebedee,” that is, the mother of James and John (see 1.7, 8), the wife of Zebedee,314 belonged to the women who “had followed 54

33. Salome Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him” (Matt 27:55; cf. Luke 8:3). It has been suggested that she is identical with the Salome mentioned in Mark 15:40 or with the sister of Mary, Jesus’ mother, mentioned in John 19:25,315 but this is unlikely.316 The wife of Zebedee accompanied Jesus during his last journey to Jerusalem and petitioned him to give her sons the positions of greatest honor in his kingdom (Matt 20:20). In Mark 10:35 it is James and John who take the initiative, without the mother being mentioned. Matthew seems to convey that the mother took the initiative, although it is possible that the brothers asked their mother to approach Jesus in their attempt to challenge Peter’s leadership. Jesus’ refusal to grant her request does not deter her from staying close to Jesus: together with Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of James the little and Joses (and Salome, according to Mark 15:40), she accompanied Jesus to Golgotha and witnessed his crucifixion (Matt 27:56). She is not mentioned as having been present at Jesus’ burial nor as having seen the empty tomb. Even though she is not named, she was an authoritative source of the tradition of Jesus’ crucifixion.

33. Salome

Salome is mentioned by Mark as one of the three women disciples who witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion and who saw the empty tomb, mentioned in both cases after Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of James and Joses (Mark 15:40, 6:1). The name Salome (Σαλώμη, Salōmē, transliterated from Hebrew ‫ ָשׁלוֹם‬, Shalom) was the second most popular name among Palestinian Jewish women, after Mary.317 Some combine the reference to Salome in Mark 15:40 (where Salome is present at the cross, together with Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of James and Joses) with its parallel, Matthew 27:56, where Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and “the mother of the sons of Zebedee” are mentioned, and conclude that Salome was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John.318 This is not likely. Matthew does not put the mother of the sons of Zebedee in the group who see the empty tomb. Assuming that he is dependent on Mark’s account, he would have mentioned Salome at the empty tomb (in Matt 28:1 only Mary from Magdala and the other Mary, that is, Mary the mother of James and Joses, are mentioned).319 Zebedee’s wife is not the same person as Mark’s Salome. That Salome is mentioned only by Mark may indicate that she was less well known in the early church than the other women who were at the cross and at Jesus’ burial and who saw the empty tomb,320 but this is not certain.

Salome belonged to the women disciples who had followed Jesus in Galilee 55

People and provided financially for him and the Twelve, and who had come with Jesus and the Twelve to Jerusalem (Mark 15:41). Whether she was herself wealthy and thus able to contribute to the financial needs of Jesus and his disciples, we cannot know.

34. Joanna

Luke mentions Joanna as one of the women disciples who saw the empty tomb (Luke 24:10). The name Joanna (Ἰωάννα, Iōanna, transliterated from Hebrew ­ ָ‫­וֹחנ‬ ‫ה‬ ָ ‫י‬, Yokhana) was popular among Palestinian Jewish women.321 Luke introduced Joanna earlier as “the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza” who, together with Mary Magdalene, Susanna, “and many others,” followed Jesus and “provided,” that is, financially supported Jesus and the Twelve (Luke 8:3). Richard Bauckham has given us the most in-­depth discussion of Joanna, which I summarize here.322 The fact that Luke mentions Joanna’s husband, but not the husband of Mary from Magdala or Susanna (if these women were married), may be suggestive. Chuza, Joanna’s husband, is described as the “steward” (ἐπίτροπος, epitropos) or administrator in the employ of Herod Antipas, who ruled as tetrarch in Galilee and Perea (see 1.62). Chuza is a Nabatean name, which is surely significant.323 The grandmother of King Herod I was a Nabatean, and Herod Antipas’s first wife was the daughter of the Nabatean king Aretas IV. Chuza was probably appointed as administrator at Antipas’s court during the period of peaceful relations with Nabatea, while Herod Antipas was married to Aretas’s daughter before relationships worsened, leading to war in ad 36, probably as a result of Antipas divorcing his Nabatean wife in order to marry his sister-­in-­law and niece Herodias.324 In the Herodian family daughters were often married with gentile men, for political reasons, with the proviso that they be circumcised and convert to the Jewish faith.325 Assuming that this practice was followed at Herod Antipas’s court, it is likely that Chuza was circumcised by the time he married the Jewish woman Joanna. Belonging to the Tiberias aristocracy, Joanna would have had the means to support Jesus financially as one of his women benefactors, as suggested by Luke 8:3. If Chuza is indeed the “royal official” of John 4:46326 whose “whole household” believed in Jesus after the healing of his son (John 4:53), Joanna’s support of Jesus would have a specific explanation.

If Bauckham is correct in identifying the Joanna of Luke 8:3 and 24:10 with the Junia of Rom 16:7—whom Paul calls an apostle together with her husband Andronicus, who were in prison with Paul and who were believers in Jesus before Paul was—we have further information about Joanna’s biography.327 The female name Junia is a common Latin name.328 Many aristocrats at An56

35. Acquaintances of Jesus tipas’s court in Tiberias had Latin names.329 If Joanna had a Latin name in addition to her Hebrew name, it would most likely be a name that sounded similar, which is indeed the case with the name Junia.330 Other early Christians had a Jewish and a Latin name: Joseph with the nickname Barsabbas was also called Justus, and John was also called Mark (Lat. Marcus; see Acts 1:23; 12:12, 25). The fact that Luke’s Joanna was a female disciple of Jesus who was in Jerusalem and saw the empty tomb and later the risen Jesus, and the fact that Paul’s Junia was an early apostle, before ad 32/33 (when Paul was converted to faith in Jesus), makes the identification plausible. Chuza might have taken the Latin name Andronicus;331 or he divorced Junia when she became Jesus’ disciple;332 or he died and the Andronicus of Rom 16:7 was Junia’s second husband.

If Joanna is indeed Junia, we would know more about her than about any of the other apostles, with the exception of Peter and Paul. She belonged to the Jewish aristocracy in Galilee, in the company of her husband Chuza, who was one of the officials of Herod Antipas. She came to believe in Jesus and supported him financially, possibly as the result of her son being healed by Jesus. She was in Jerusalem when Jesus was arrested and crucified, and she was among the group of women who first saw the empty tomb. Luke seems to base his resurrection account not on Mark but on Joanna’s testimony.333 Jesus evidently called Junia, together with Andronicus, as an apostle. Together with her husband, she was active in Jerusalem in ad 30–32/33 and then collaborated in Paul’s missionary work, perhaps in Arabia/Nabatea or in Antioch. They were imprisoned together with Paul on an unknown occasion. Eventually the couple moved to Rome, where they evidently continued to preach the gospel and where they received Paul’s greetings in his letter to the Christians in the city of Rome.

35. Acquaintances of Jesus

Luke states that people known to Jesus334 witnessed the crucifixion (Luke 23:49), not merely women disciples. Some scholars suggest that members of the Twelve might be included in the formulation,335 a suggestion that does not seem likely since Luke can name the group of the Twelve/Eleven as distinct from other believers.336 Since Luke specifies that the women who were present at the cross “had followed him from Galilee,” one might surmise that these acquaintances were followers of Jesus from Galilee who had accompanied him to Jerusalem. Since the mother of James and John was present at the cross, it is possible that Zebedee, her husband, was also there, and since Mary the wife of Clopas was also at the cross, perhaps Clopas was present at Golgotha as well.337 57