The Women Disciples of Jesus

 In a 1999 television miniseries named Jesus, the character of Mary Magdalene, in a conversation with Jesus, tells him, “if I was a man, I would be your most loyal disciple.”

Among the disciples of Jesus, dear friends, there were also many women disciples like Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, accompanying Jesus and participating in his ministry (Luke 8:1-3). At the foot of the cross there were ‘many women’ witnessing his last moments (Matthew 27: 55-56). They name only a few - Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, Salome the mother of the sons of Zebedee, Jesus’ mother Mary and her sister, and Mary the wife of Clophas. Jesus, also learned from them that his ministry was not limited to particular groups and persons, but belongs to all who come to the master’s table (Mark 7:24-30; Matthew 15:21-28). Every event, intervention or conversation of Jesus with women expresses a very significant dimension of God’s attitude to the whole of humanity.

These women were accepted to the folk of Jesus’ disciples in a time when the customary morning blessings of the Jews thanked God for not making him a gentile, a woman, or a slave. Women were expected to be good wives and mothers and stay at home. In the synagogues and in the temple, they had a secluded section just for the women, separate from men. They had to walk seven feet behind their husbands when they were in public. A Rabbi would not talk to a woman, and some strict ones even avoided their sight.

   We are all the children of God, there is no longer male and female; for all of us are one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28).  Women in the company of Jesus ‘provided’ for their needs. It was not simply to perform some domestic tasks. Some of them funded his mission, and some were leaders and guardians of communities at the very beginning of the church. However, their identity was not defined by their wealth or status, but it was the fact that they had been “with him” that described them.

Some of the ancient writings show the life and vision nurtured by the women in the early church. It resembles the heart with which they loved and knew Jesus. Jesus was not a ruler and judge, but the teacher and mediator of wisdom. This relationship to Jesus generated an ethics of freedom and spiritual development than an ethics of order and control. Those who were more spiritually advanced shared what they had freely without claim to any fixed, hierarchical ordering of power, position or honour.

There was an emphasis on a loving relationship with the risen Christ through the Holy Spirit. This gentle touch of the Holy Spirit is experienced in the unity, power, and growth in the Spirit here and now, not in some future time. They were eager and committed to the realisation of the kingdom of God amidst them. So, overcoming social injustice and human suffering were seen to be integral to spiritual life. It was well reflected in works of charity, prophetic voices, and songs and music.

The women disciples of Jesus loved him, followed him, and shared in his ministry and stood by him even when he died. Jesus was not a relic in the tomb, he was alive, and a woman disciple witnessed it first because of her deep love.

Among us there are loyal women disciples of Jesus, who wait to anoint him even before dawn, who followed him closely, ministered to him, and proclaimed his Word. May the body of Christ, we the church, find new life under their care.

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