Joanna, wife of Chuza

Joanna
Myrrhbearer
Venerated in Eastern Christianity
Roman Catholicism
Anglicanism
Lutheranism
Canonized Pre-congregation
Feast 3rd Sunday of Pascha (Orthodox and Eastern Catholic)
May 24 (Roman Catholic)
August 3 (Lutheran)

Joanna (Greek: Ἰωάννα γυνὴ Χουζᾶ) is a woman mentioned in the gospels who was healed by Jesus and later supported him and his disciples in their travels, one of the women recorded in the Gospel of Luke as accompanying Jesus and the twelve. She was the wife of Chuza, who managed the household of Herod Antipas, the king of Galilee. Her name means "Yahweh has been gracious", [1] a variation of the name "Anna" which means "grace" or "favor".

She is recognized as a saint in the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic traditions.

Joanna as one of Luke's witnesses

Joanna is shown as the wife of Chuza, steward to Herod Antipas while being listed as one of the women who "had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities" who accompanied Jesus and the Apostles, and "provided for Him from their substance" in Luke 8:2–3. Theologian Adrian Hastings suggested that she could have been one of Luke's sources for information regarding the Herodian court.[2] As the wife of an important court official, she would have had sufficient means needed to travel and contribute to the support of Jesus and the disciples.

She appears in Luke 24:10 with "Mary Magdalene and the mother of James and other female followers of Jesus". They are the first to report to the eleven disciples that they had seen no body of Jesus in the sepulcher where He had been buried, but rather "two beings in shiny garments".

In Luke 24:10, Joanna is identified among the group of women, along with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James who took spices to the tomb and found the stone rolled away. Although the apostles discounted the women's testimony, Peter and another disciple decided to look for themselves. Joanna is considered among the witnesses to the Resurrection.

Myrrhbearer

In Orthodox tradition, she is honored as Saint Joanna the Myrrhbearer (Greek Αγία Ιωάννα η Μυροφόρος) and is commemorated among the eight women who carried myrrh on the "Sunday of the Myrrhbearers", two Sundays after Pascha (Orthodox Easter). From this commemoration, in the revised Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod she is commemorated as one of Myrrhbearers on August 3 together with Mary, the Mother of James the less and Jude and Salome.[3]

Although not mentioned by name, Joanna is most likely counted as one of the women who joined the disciples and Mary, the mother of the Lord, in the upper room in prayer. She was among the group of 120 who chose Matthias to fill the vacancy that was left by Judas, as well as being present on the Day of Pentecost.[4]

Identification with Junia

Both Richard J. Bauckham and Ben Witherington III conclude that the disciple Joanna is the same woman as the Christian Junia mentioned by Paul in his Epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:7). Most early Greek manuscripts list the name Junia as feminine, with the consensus of New Testament scholarship agreeing that Junia was a woman. [5]

Joanna granddaughter of Theophilus

An ossuary has been discovered bearing the inscription, "Johanna, granddaughter of Theophilus, the High Priest."[6]

In popular culture

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Douglas, J. D. and Tenney, Merrill C., Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary (2011), p. 742. ISBN 0310229839
  2. ↑ Hastings, Adrian. Prophet and witness in Jerusalem: a study of the teaching of St. Luke, (London; New York: Longmans, Green, 1958), p.38
  3. ↑ Philip H. Pfatteicher New Book of Festivals and Commemorations. Page 376. 2008.
  4. ↑ "Joanna", Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States
  5. ↑ Al Wolters, "IOUNIAN (Romans 16:7) and the Hebrew name Yĕḥunnī," JBL 127 (2008), 397.
  6. ↑ D. Barag and D. Flusser, The Ossuary of Yehohanah Granddaughter of the High Priest Theophilus, Israel Exploration Journal, 36 (1986), 39–44.
  7. 1 2 Peter Chattaway. "Joanna gets a speaking role in Killing Jesus and A.D.", Patheos, March 19, 2015

Further reading

References

External links

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