Women Feature of the Resurrection
Joanna
Jesus’ style of life would have been a simple one. Jesus was strong on his message of solidarity with the poor, so it is unlikely he and his followers would have been living the high life. We read time and again of Jesus accepting hospitality at people’s houses for him and his followers. While these occasions were often moments of wonderful teaching and revelation they were also practically a way for he and his friends to eat that day. Some scholars suggest that begging would have been another way for the band of travellers to find the means to exist. However, there is another part of the story that has largely gone unmentioned for many of us. It concerns a very important woman in the life of Jesus. She is mentioned as a person to whom Jesus brought healing. She is mentioned as being a person who provided for Jesus and his companions. She is mentioned as being one of the people who first came upon the empty tomb on what became known as Easter Day (and was one of the women who told the hiding male disciples of what they had seen there – and were disbelieved!). 14
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Jim Deeds, co-author of Finding God in the Mess and Deeper into the Mess (Messenger Publications), reminds us of a forgotten figure in the story of Jesus.
Scholars would say that she is likely to have been in the upper room with the apostles after the resurrection, with them when they chose Matthias to replace Judas, and with them on the day of Pentecost. So who was this mystery woman? Her name was Joanna. She is first mentioned in the Gospel of Luke: ‘Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, 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,