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We Who Thirst
Delve into the captivating tales of women from the Bible, exploring their lives within ancient cultures and historical contexts. These narratives reveal not only their stories but also the profound love and beauty of the God we worship.
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We Who Thirst
004 Women in Context: Joanna and Susanna (Luke 8:1-3)
What if the women in Jesus' ministry were more than just caretakers and cooks? Prepare to be amazed as we uncover the profound roles of Joanna and Susanna, two of Jesus' lesser-known yet crucial disciples. These remarkable women, mentioned in Luke 8:1-3, not only supported Jesus financially but also broke societal norms through their patronage. Discover how Joanna's high status, given her husband's role as an official in Herod Antipas's court, intertwined with the political landscape of Galilee, and marvel at her pivotal role as a witness to Jesus' resurrection in Luke 24:10.
Journey with us as we explore the intriguing lives of Joanna and Susanna, who, despite living in a male-dominated society, took on the extraordinary roles of deacons. We delve into their financial support for Jesus' ministry and the radical nature of their contributions. Examine the cultural implications of female discipleship and understand how these women challenged traditional views by acting as patrons in a relationship defined by mutual reciprocity rather than hierarchy. We highlight the inspiring nature of their involvement and how Jesus' equalizing social status empowered them.
We also challenge conventional perspectives on Roman women by shedding light on their diverse professions, from doctors to business owners. Uncover the financial means through which Joanna and Susanna supported Jesus, whether through inheritance, dowries, or personal earnings. By understanding the social and financial agency of women in both Roman and Jewish contexts, we paint a vivid picture of their invaluable contributions. Finally, grasp the honor and respect these women received as patrons, and appreciate their humble yet pivotal support that helped shape the course of Jesus' ministry.
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We are talking about Jesus' disciples, Joanna and Susanna. We find them in Luke 8, verses 2 and 3. Let me read verses 1-3 for us now. After this, jesus traveled about from one town and village to another proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out. Joanna, the wife of Huza, the manager of Herod's household, susanna and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. We also see Joanna appear briefly in Luke 24.10,. Also see Joanna appear briefly in Luke 24 10 when Jesus is resurrected and is speaking to the women who came to the tomb to anoint him, and he found them there. We only see Joanna in those two spots. She's mentioned in Luke 8, verse 3, and Luke 24 10. Susanna is only mentioned in Luke 8, verse 3, but we have a couple key pieces of information about each of them and I want to talk about them specifically.
Jessica Jenkins:First, let's talk about Joanna. We know more about her than Susanna, though we still don't know a great deal about her as an individual. Joanna was a woman who was in Herod Antipas's court. We are told that her husband, husa, was the steward. This is likely a high-ranking official and we'll get there in a moment. So we know a little bit about Joanna. We know for whom her husband works. Her husband is the household manager of Herod Antipas. A household manager could be like the steward of the estate, someone who just runs the household, or it could be an official governmental position. Either way, this is a high status position Herod Antipas ruled. If you're watching on YouTube this rather than just listening, if you're listening, you'll be able to find this map in your show notes (available on our Patreon). If you're watching, you can see it on the screen.
Jessica Jenkins:But Herod Antipas ruled over Galilee, which on the map is the purple area. He ruled over Galilee. The nation of Israel, when the Romans took it over, was originally ruled, you may remember, by Herod the Great. This is the Herod that was ruling over Judea and Galilee when Jesus was born, which is why Joseph and Mary had to flee to Egypt. And then Herod the Great died and his kingdom for lack of a better term because it wasn't really a kingdom because he's ruling under the Romans. The Romans have allowed Herod the Great to rule, so it's kind of a kingdom, but he's ruling by proxy because the Romans are allowing him to rule as a Roman citizen. So Herod the Great was ruling.
Jessica Jenkins:Mary and Joseph had to take baby Jesus to Egypt to hide from Herod the Great, and so when Herod the Great dies, the kingdom is split into four parts. So when you see the map, you'll see that there's a couple of yellow parts, there's an orange part, purple and a green part, and so it was split up among Herod's kids. It's split up against Archelaus, and that's why Mary and Joseph, when they came back from Egypt, they heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judah. So they went back to Galilee. Herod Antipas was ruling over Galilee and Perea. Herod Antipas was ruling over Galilee and Perea the two purple areas on the map, and then Salome was ruling the green sections, and then Syria is the far north and it had a couple different sections that were highly Gentile the Decapolis and Syria. And then Philip was ruling the orange section, which was east of the Sea of Galilee.
Jessica Jenkins:Now Herodias was Philip's wife, who Herod Antipas. She divorced Philip and married Herod Antipas, who John the Baptist was speaking about. So just try to give you some context. I'm going to go through it again. You have Archelaus, who Joseph and Mary were scared to be in his area. So they went to Galilee where Herod Antipas was ruling. And Herod Antipas was ruling from around the time of Jesus' birth Well, not his birth, but shortly thereafter Jesus' birth, when they could come back from Egypt through Jesus' ministry. So when you see Herod in the Gospels it's talking about Herod Antipas.
Jessica Jenkins:In Galilee you also have Philip, who's the next tetrarchy, over the next little section, over on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. Herod Antipas is on the west side of the Sea of Galilee, philip is on the east side. Philip was married to a woman named Herodias. Herodias divorced him and married Herod Antipas. John the Baptist said it's not right for Herod Antipas to have Philip, your brother's wife, and Herodias got really mad about that and wanted John the Baptist beheaded. So Herod Antipas is over Galilee. Some point I'm not sure on this part of the history and it's not as important for today's podcast Archelaus gets killed, ousted, not sure what happens, and Pontius Pilate takes over Archelaus' territory. So when Jesus is being pushed back and forth between Herod's court and Pontius Pilate's court right before he's crucified, they are two rulers.
Jessica Jenkins:Herod had a palace or somewhere in Jerusalem where he could come when he was in town because that's still kind of the capital of the entire region, but that's not where he was normally. He normally lived in Tiberias, which is on the Sea of Galilee. So there's another map in your packets that shows kind of a close-up of Galilee. You have Nazareth, where Jesus lived as a small child, where Mary was from. You have Tiberias, which is the main capital city of Galilee, and that is where Herod Antipas lived and had his palace and that's where Joanna would have been from. And when you look at the map you can see Magdala, where Mary Magdalene was likely from, and Capernaum, where Peter and James and John and all of them were from. They're all cities just dotted around the Sea of Galilee. So Joanna likely was living in Tiberias. We don't know where she's from originally, but we know that she's living in Tiberias because her husband, cusa, is the manager of Herod Antipas' court and so she is a woman of a lot of prominence.
Jessica Jenkins:I have an image in your show notes (available on Patreon) of the social stratification in the first century. So you have the very top class, which is like 1% to 3% of the people which are the rulers. So you have royalty, nobility, politically connected elites. Even the Sadducees are kind of rulers. Herod Antipas, obviously, is a ruler.
Jessica Jenkins:Then you have retainers. This makes two to five percent of the population. It's the second level down from the rulers and this is bailiffs, stewards, soldiers, tax collectors, pharisees, etc. And so Chuza would have been a very high, very high, higher than, like the Pharisees and the soldiers, and all of them retainer. He is a retainer class and Joanna, being his wife, would have that high status as well. So you have rulers and then retainers. He may have even had some ruling, depending on whether he was just a steward or whether he actually had political office as well. So Joanna and her husband are retainer, ruler class, extremely high class.
Jessica Jenkins:You also have merchants and priests, who are a fairly high class and you have working class people. Those are made up of artisans and then peasants, which are farmers and fishermen. Jesus would have been considered probably part of the artisan class Builders, potters, weavers, stonemasons, those sorts of people are artisans and they made an interesting bridge between some of the upper classes and then the lower classes, like laborers and even most of the peasants. Most of Jesus' disciples would have been considered peasants farmers, fishermen. Peter James, john their fishermen. He did pull in some retainers as male apostle disciples. We have Matthew the tax collector, levi, who was likely the same person as Matthew. He had some Pharisees as disciples. So Jesus is pulling people from all classes and we see that very much with Joanna.
Jessica Jenkins:She is a high-class woman who comes from the retainer class. We don't know exactly how she heard about Jesus. Now, jesus was traveling all around Galilee. He was from Nazareth. He was constantly in Capernaum. That kind of became his home base and he's traveling around the Sea of Galilee and where he goes, large crowds go. They don't have TV or television.
Jessica Jenkins:You want to find out about this celebrated teacher. So people would come out of any of these towns, even the rich people. They're curious just like everybody else and so they're coming. She likely did that. It was likely she was sick or ill or someone in her family was sick or ill and Jesus healed them. So she has this feeling of reciprocity towards Jesus. She has belief in his powers. So she's been cured of an evil spirit or disease, or someone in her family was Huza.
Jessica Jenkins:Her husband also may have been Nabataean or Syrian. When you look at the big map with all the different colors on it, the Nabataean kingdom is kind of in gray to the east of the Dead Sea and then Syria's up to the north. The name Huzah is found in both Nabataean and Syrian literature, so he may not have been Jewish or he could have been a Jewish man with that kind of heritage, but he's likely Nabataean or Syrian who then ended up in Herod Antipas' court. We don't know if they had Roman status, if they were Roman citizens. We don't have that kind of information. But we do have a fair. Just because Joanna was married to Huza, we have a fair idea of her status and that she becomes a financial supporter of Jesus who works alongside him, and likely from at least at the time she met Jesus Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee. So that's a brief overview of Joanna. Why she followed him? Likely because he healed her and she believed in his message, and so next let's talk briefly about Susanna.
Jessica Jenkins:Susanna we know a lot less about. We don't know anything about her family or social class. We do know she also, or someone in her family, was cured of an evil spirit and or disease. She was also a financial supporter of Jesus and she lived in Galilee. We do know that much, but we do not know where in Galilee. On the map pack there's a map by Susanna that shows Galilee, and Tiberias is in Galilee. Nazareth, sepphoris, is another large city. We don't know where in Galilee she came from, but Jesus was traveling all over and most of his female disciples, mary and Martha excluded because they're from Bethany, right outside Jerusalem, and most of his female disciples, mary and Martha, excluded because they're from Bethany, right outside Jerusalem, most of Jesus' female disciples are from the Galilee region.
Jessica Jenkins:Okay, so let's talk about what Joanna and Susanna did specifically to support Jesus. We don't know a whole lot about their work and what they did, how they supported specifically. We don't know exactly where their money came from, but we do have some educated guesses from what we know of the people and the cultures at the time period. So first let's consider it said in verse 3,. It said these women were helping to support them, jesus and the apostles, out of their own means. The text does not call them patrons specifically and we'll talk about that in a few minutes, but the word help is the same deaconess word used to talk about deacons later on, or Phoebe, the deaconess who brought Paul's letter in Romans 16. So these women are acting as deacons, they are acting as servants, they are acting as helpers and they are supporting financially, which indicates some level of patronage, which we'll talk about in a minute. Stein comments in his commentary these women were apparently well-to-do. The verb were helping is a Greek term, dekanon, from which we get the word deacon. The way the women are introduced in these verses may indicate they were known to the gospel's readers. So again, this is the gospel of Luke. Another commentator mentioned that Luke seems to know an awful lot about Herod Antipas' household and how it ran, and he may have gotten that information from Joanna, who was the steward's wife.
Jessica Jenkins:One thing that is fairly common I'm seeing in all of my research is that for Jesus to have female disciples, learners, followers, with him would have been scandalous. In that day no rabbis, no teachers had female disciples and nobody had co-ed classes. This was unheard of. It was fairly common for women if they had financial means, which having financial means was extremely uncommon. Having that kind of money not normal. But for those who did, it was not uncommon for women to serve as patrons or supporters of religious teachers or associations. This was a way women could use their money, use their financial means. It was not unheard of for this to happen.
Jessica Jenkins:Forbes says in his book that we should not take the expression they were helping to mean that the women merely performed traditional roles of cooking, washing, etc. For they are on the road with Jesus, not in a fixed location, with Jesus, not in a fixed location. Moreover, it was the male disciples who were later asked by Jesus to provide food, not the women, which is interesting because typically you expect food to be more of the female domain, but the women who are traveling with Jesus are not designated to go get the food. So again, this gives us more that these women. They're wealthy women who have some sort of special class, and they are supporting Jesus as patrons. So how did these women help fund the ministry? And what is a patron?
Jessica Jenkins:A patronage is a relationship marked by reciprocity, kind of a I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine. It's the giving and the receiving of favors, you scratch mine. It's the giving and the receiving of favors For people of equal status. This reciprocity was typically considered friendship or partnership. There wasn't a above-below status. It's something neighbors would do with one another, whether they are poor or rich. You think about how, when Jesus is crucified and Herod and Pilate are sending him back and forth. The text says they were enemies but now they became friends. The sending Jesus back and forth and how they both handled that, honoring each other in that, created a relationship of reciprocity between Herod Antipas and Pontius Pilate. That enabled a friendship between those two men. Now, those people in a relationship who do more favors whether you're in a poor village and you have household A, they just end up doing more favors than household B. All the time they end up being the ones considered the patrons they provide informal. This provides an informal leadership structure in the ancient world. This provides an informal leadership structure in the ancient world.
Jessica Jenkins:Now there are some people who say that the women, joanna and Susanna these women shouldn't necessarily be considered patrons because of how Jesus was really tearing apart. I think it was Forbes who said that, quoting someone else. Jesus is really tearing apart a lot of the social status and it's very equalizing. You also have to consider, when it comes to reciprocity, that Jesus had healed them. So their financial support is kind of the reciprocity for Jesus as their patron. So you kind of have this mutual reciprocity going back and forth between Jesus and these women. Yes, they are financial supporters, which some would consider patronage, that they would have some pull and sway because patrons often were considered they were the ones supposed to influence others for the sake of their clients. But we don't want to think of Jesus as a client of these women because that's like a lower status and these women are financially supporting him reciprocally because of the healing he did and because of their belief in him. So where culturally and structurally there is this patronage structure that everyone would understand that these women are high-status women. They are not patrons in the sense that they have leadership over Jesus or even the other disciples, because this is a reciprocal relationship of giving and receiving, started by Jesus' lavish grace on them, healing and removing demons, typically patrons.
Jessica Jenkins:We often think of patrons most when we consider public benefactors. I'm going back to just describing what patronage is in the ancient world, public benefactors I'm going back to just describing what patronage is in the ancient world, public benefactors. And women did this alongside men. Men did it much more simply because they had more financial means and more public facing, but women were often patrons. Women could be patrons because it was considered private space.
Jessica Jenkins:So remember, in the ancient world their idea of what is public and private is different from ours. In the Greco-Roman world they thought women should be modest and stay in the private space. But whereas we consider private to be social influence, friendships and at home, physically, at home in our house, the ancient world's definition of private was a lot broader and our idea we consider public to be politics, judicial commerce and production. We consider all of that to be public. Religion is kind of mixed, but in the ancient world, by and large, the only things that were really considered public were politics and the judiciary. Things that were considered private, that women could still be pure, chaste, modest women and they could engage in this fully, were things like commerce, production, social influence, home and religion. The home, even in the Greco-Roman world, is still the economic center and the physical place where most commerce, production, social influence, et cetera were practiced and the home supported, where most commerce, production, social influence etc. Were practiced and the home supported the public sphere, which was politics and the judiciary. So for a woman to be a patron in creating public works, building those social relationships of reciprocity, either between friendships or as a higher status person with lower status people owning her own business.
Jessica Jenkins:We have records of Roman women who owned brick making factories and restaurants. Here's an entire list. There's an entire list in your picture pack of all of the Roman women's professions. I'll just read some off. And this is Roman. It may have been different in Galilee and Judea, but we have the most data on what Roman women did.
Jessica Jenkins:So Roman women were stenographers, nannies, wet nurses, household managers. They were inspectors for produce. They provided storage, household organization that cared for the sick, supervised slaves, made sure houses and barns were clean, instructed those under them and how to do the tasks they did woolworking, teaching, buying, selling, farming, brickmaking and owning brickmaking factories, landlords, restaurants, clothing production, lending, farming, brickmaking and owning brickmaking factories, landlords, restaurants, clothing production, lending, borrowing, patronage, clerks, personal servant. They could also be personal servants like hairdressers, wardrobe keepers, an errand girl. They were entertainers, singers, actors, musicians, gladiators, athletes. They knew medicine. They were doctors and midwives. So Roman women had a variety of professions available to them.
Jessica Jenkins:They were not just the idea of staying at home, being a stay-at-home mom, they were socially bound for lack of a better term to stay in the private realm. But again, as we said, the private realm included production and religious benefaction, and so when we have Joanna and Susanna supporting Jesus' ministry, they are doing something that is honorable and accepted for women to do. Now the trouble comes in that they were also disciples, which would have been seen scandalous. And Joanna is doing this when Herod is not a fan of Jesus. So you have this political tension in her family and we do not know if she was a widow or if she was divorced or became divorced after this. We do not know the impact this had on Joanna's marriage, but it could have been intense.
Jessica Jenkins:But women often could use their financial means to get honor for themselves and their families through patronage. Now I don't think trying to gain social status and honor was the heart of Joanna and Susanna's patronage of Jesus. Nor were they patrons or typically higher status, and above those they were helping their clients. These women are not patrons in that way with Jesus they're more friends. Jesus says His disciples are His friends. He's giving them grace, he's giving them teaching, he's healing and they are supporting Him in kind. So I call them His patrons because they had significant financial contribution, but it was more the reciprocal friendship than their above supporting him like a typical patron would, because when a patron supports a lower class client, the patron expects that client to do what they want and these women did not have that kind of pull over Jesus. Jesus had that pull over Jesus. Jesus had that pull over them. But now we have to ask ourselves how did the women get this money to spend on supporting Jesus?
Jessica Jenkins:One commentator, liefeld, says it's noteworthy that these women were industrious and their time truly liberated and helped in the support not only of Jesus but also of the Twelve. I slightly disagree with him. He makes it sound like they're doing something unusual by calling them liberated. They're not doing anything unusual. That's part of why I went through everything I've gone through. They're not doing anything unusual. They are doing something that is culturally accepted at the time, as in patronage of a religious organization. Now, who they were supporting might have been controversial, but what they were doing was not if that distinction makes sense, what they were doing socially acceptable, made a lot of sense. Who they were supporting, that could have been a problem, but that they were supporting a religious teacher was something women often did if they had financial support, which was rare.
Jessica Jenkins:Other people debate whether Joanna was using Husa's material wealth to support Jesus or whether it was her own. Again, we do not. And they say, and one person, witherington. He says that women could not inherit money or have their own. He does not provide a footnote for that and you may see that other places. He is categorically wrong. According to other sources, I've seen Both Forbes and Hyland talk about how women could inherit money in the Roman world, and even Jewish women could inherit money. So we don't know whether Joanna's using her husband's financial means or her own.
Jessica Jenkins:Women had various ways of getting money, and you could see Forbes and Highland in the bibliography. They go into this in depth. But women could receive inheritances from their father or family. Roman women again, and it would be different for Jewish women. But Roman women often received inheritances almost equally to their brothers. Jewish women less so, but they still could receive an inheritance. If they didn't have brothers, women would also receive an inheritance from their husband if they don't have brothers. Women would also receive an inheritance from their husband if they don't have children, or sometimes he would even give an inheritance to her first and then it would be passed on to the children. So women could get money through inheritance. If they were divorced or widowed, they would get money from their dowry that was given to them when they were married. A dowry is a financial investment in a new marriage, but that money belongs to the woman and if she is divorced or widowed she gets that money back. It's kind of like her security blanket, it's her financial savings account. So a woman could get inheritance. If she's divorced or widowed she gets her dowry. Women also could work.
Jessica Jenkins:We went through the list of professions. There was lots of different ways she could be earning money on her own outside of her husband and this was seen as honorable, that women doing this. It was not like today in complementarian circles it's all like the man needs to provide and the woman needs to be a stay at home mom, because we consider the home private. There's still this desire to keep women in the private sphere, which is a completely different conversation. So we're not going to go there now. But both hard complementarians now and the ancient world wanted women to stay in the private sphere. But what is very different between the ancient world and now is what the private sphere encompassed. Today we consider commerce and production to be part of the public sphere. In the ancient world that was still considered the private sphere. So women they didn't work outside of their husband's businesses as often.
Jessica Jenkins:Women were always working helping their husbands. Peter's wife was likely helping him mend fishing nets and dry fish and do all of the fishing-related things for the fishing business. She's not just kneading bread and sweeping their house at Capernaum, she is helping with the family business. She is a crucial part of the family business. She might not be going out on the boat with all men, which would not be socially acceptable, but as soon as they drag that catch to shore, she's right there mending nets, helping with this, that and the other thing. It's what women did. They helped with the family business. They helped in production and commerce, and so women typically did that, especially when you're poor, hand to mouth peasant families. But wealthier women could own, like as I said, brick making businesses, or Magdala is known for its dried fish. They could have owned bakeries or dried fish businesses. So women had lots of ways, if they had financial means, of investing and growing their money independently from their husbands.
Jessica Jenkins:And again, this is kind of that patricentric heterarchy idea versus patriarchy. Patriarchy is the man controls everything and women are just chattel to be passed around. That's how it's typically talked about. But when you look at those authors who've actually studied the cultures Susan Hyland is fantastic for that when you're looking at the New Testament, the book Raised from Obscurity by Forbes and Harroware is also very good. You see that women had access. Some women had access to money, not all women. Women, of course, did not have the same access to money as men, but they did have some access to money. So hopefully that answers some of those questions regarding Joanna, susanna. Where did they get their money? Why did they follow Jesus? Hopefully that fleshes out them more. I do want to talk about one more thing very briefly. Fleshes out them more. I do want to talk about one more thing very briefly.
Jessica Jenkins:There is some conjecture in various circles that Joanna is the same woman as Junia in Romans 16. And when we talk about Junia, I'll go through all the reasons on why and why not people think they might be related. It's all conjecture. We do not know. We cannot prove it. Both women have different husbands named. Joanna is the husband of Huza, and I forget Junia's husband's name. But it could be that Huza divorced Joanna or died and then she got a new name, slightly different spelling, and married a different man. That's entirely possible. Married a different man. That's entirely possible.
Jessica Jenkins:Junia is, I guess, a Jewish woman. She may be like a Roman Jewish woman, but we just don't know. It doesn't tell us directly if they're the same women. I find it interesting that a lot of scholars try to take people of different names and make them all the same person, which on one hand, makes sense, but on the other, because you're trying to have clarity and make sure you know who people are. But on the other side, I'm like why would we prefer to take two strong disciples of Jesus who are doing amazing things for the kingdom, and rather than having Junia and Joanna as separate strong disciple women, why would we put them together and make it to be one woman? I would rather there be a Junia, who's an amazing, strong woman, and a Joanna, who's amazing, strong women, so we have more women. That's my personal preference, which is purely personal preference. But whether they're the same person is all conjecture. We just don't know. We will find out in heaven when it's like oh, you are, oh, look, there's two of you, and that will be exciting and that's when we'll find out.
Jessica Jenkins:But as we look at these women, we see that they were faithful women supporting Jesus with their finances. Women are the only named financial supporters, the only named patrons of Jesus in the entire Bible. That is significant. These women had a significant role. They were serving, they were deaconing Jesus. It's a much larger study than what we have time for today whether these women following and being disciples included teaching and what that looked like, and whether they had a similar role to the apostles or not. That's going beyond today's topic. I'm just trying to give you background information on these women and who they are specifically. But they had significant roles in Jesus' ministry. They weren't just washing, cleaning, cooking. They were financial supporters.
Jessica Jenkins:It would have been shameful for the rest of the huge disciple group to look at the patron women who are financially supporting the entire endeavor and be like, oh yeah, could you do my socks, we need some washing over here. No, that's not how they would be treated. That's not how they would treat these women in that culture as patrons of the entire religious organization. There was some honor there, even though these women were laying down their honor continually. They were showing how you invest your financial resources humbly. They weren't looking for honor, but there still would have been an honor given and status, social status in that culture and I'm speaking culturally, not biblically here social status in that culture was more of a determiner of honor than gender. A peasant man would not look at a retainer class woman and be like, hey, I need you to cook, you know? Hey, woman, go make me a sandwich. That would never happen. She's higher social status. It does not matter that she's a woman. She is higher status than him, and so that's an interesting interplay here. When we consider these women in the disciple group, along with the 12, along with all of the other people, there's a lot of social interplay going on. It's not simply man versus woman. Woman serves in this way, man serves in this way. There's a lot more going on.
Jessica Jenkins:These women were friends of Jesus. They walked with Jesus. They saw him do miracles. He healed them. They believed his message. They were there the entire time. They heard his messages in Galilee they were even there. It doesn't say Susanna was there, but she could have been there. But Joanna was there, probably at the crucifixion, definitely at the resurrection. They followed Jesus faithfully, doing everything they could to make sure he was able to do what God wanted him to do, and they supported him out of their own means, with much risk to themselves, their families and their marriages. These are amazing women of God and I'm so thankful that Luke captured just a tiny fragment of their story in his gospel for us. If you don't know all of this about the culture, you miss some of what's going on in the text, because there's a lot of interplay there. But I'm so happy that we could talk about it and we can bring these women to life even more.
