The First Female Followers of Jesus Quiz

Answer: They were financing him from their own means

"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 Chuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means." (Luke 8 v. 1-3)

For Jesus to have had women in his traveling entourage would have been scandalous by the standards of first-century Jewish society but Luke's wording points to even more intriguing possibilities. The only male followers he records are the twelve but he goes on to add that they were accompanied by three named women AND many others. Could this be taken to suggest that Jesus' traveling companions contained as many women as men, if not more?

Answer: He was King Herod's steward

The Gospels have two references to Joanna, both by Luke. This has been taken by some scholars to indicate that she may have been one of his sources. She is stated to be "the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod's household" (Luke 8 v. 3) and she appears later as a witness to the resurrection. The culture - both Jewish and Gentile - in which the New Testament was written, did not regard women as credible witnesses. The fact, therefore, that all four of the Gospels have women as the chief witnesses to the empty tomb suggests that the story has a historical basis. Their presence would be unlikely in a made-up story. Paul reflects the prevailing culture when, in seeking to show that many eye witnesses had seen the risen Jesus, he airbrushes out the women:
"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve" (1 Corinthians 15 v. 3-5).

I'm not sure that John the Baptist was the marrying type.

Answer: Mary

"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said." (Luke 10 v. 38-39)

The terminology that Luke uses - "sat at the Lord's feet listening" - is that which would have been used to describe the disciples of a rabbi and clearly Luke wishes us to see her in that light.

Mary is also the subject of some remarkable comments in John's gospel:
"Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair)" (John 14 v. 1-2)

Remember that this is the beginning of a story in which Lazarus dies and is raised from the dead. Two things are remarkable about these words. Firstly, John has not yet told the story of Mary wiping Jesus' feet, leading commentators to speculate that Mary (and her foot-wiping exploits) was well known in the community for which John was writing. Even more extraordinary, though, is the fact that John identifies Lazarus by reference to Mary. One might have expected him to have introduced Mary by saying something like "Mary, the sister of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead". Resurrection, after all, ought to stick in the mind more than most things! But, he does it the other way round and introduces Lazarus by referring to Mary. The logical conclusion, therefore, is that Mary was far better known in the early Christian community than was Lazarus.

Answer: She had been demon-possessed

"... and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out;" (Luke 8 v. 2)

Pope Gregory the Great has a lot to answer for. There are three Gospel accounts of a woman anointing Jesus. Matthew does not name the woman (Matthew 26). Luke doesn't name her either but does record that she was a sinner (Luke 7). John names her as Mary of Bethany, sister to Lazarus and Martha (John 12). Gregory brought all three accounts together, further proclaiming that Mary of Bethany was, in fact, Mary Magdalene. Poor Mary has had a shattered reputation ever since and, in some traditions, has acquired the trade of hairdresser too.

Clearly, though, Mary Magdalene should be seen as a central figure in the gospel story and is the only person mentioned by all four gospel writers in their accounts of the crucifixion and resurrection.

Answer: Martha

Martha often gets a bad press for insisting that her sister Mary work rather than listen to Jesus (Luke 10 v. 38-42). This story, though, more than redresses the balance. Lazarus, brother to the two sisters, has died. Mary's response to Jesus is:
"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." (John 14 v. 32).

Martha has already said the same thing but had the faith to add that she knows "even now God will give you whatever you ask." (John 14 v. 22) because "I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world" (John 14 v. 27).

Much is made of Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi, that Jesus was the Messiah, but this confession largely passes under the radar, as does that of the Samaritan woman who speaks to others about Jesus with the words:
"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" (John 4 v. 29).

Answer: James and John

The hypothesis comes from harmonising the three gospels that name those women present and, at the same time, remembering that James and John are several times recorded as the sons of Zebedee.

"Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's sons. (Matthew 27 v. 55-56)

"Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." (John 19 v. 25)

"Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome." (Mark 15 v. 40)

If one assumes that the Virgin Mary did not have a sister called Mary then a logical conclusion would be that her sister is Salome, who is also the mother of James and John.

Answer: Clopas

"Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, 'What are you discussing together as you walk along?' They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, 'Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?'" (Luke 24 v. 13-18)

The similarity of the two names has led some commentators to speculate that they are one and the same person. This would throw up the intriguing possibility that the second, unnamed person on the road to Emmaus was Mary, his wife. Against this is the fact that, although there is only a letter's difference between the two names, one is Aramaic whilst the other is Greek.

Answer: John Mark

We learn this fact after Peter has been miraculously released from prison:
"Peter finally came to his senses. 'It's really true!' he said. 'The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me!' When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer" (Acts 12 v. 11-12).

It is speculated that this may also have been the house where the disciples were gathered for the Last Supper and for the day of Pentecost.

Answer: Philip

"We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day. Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied." (Acts 21 v. 7-9)

This Philip was one of the seven deacons or helpers appointed to assist the apostles (Acts 6) although many early Christian writers managed to get the two Philips confused. He is principally known for his conversion of a high-ranking Ethiopian official (Acts 8).

It might also be noted that Paul's instructions for church life in Corinth relate to us that women were prophesying there too (1 Corinthians 11 v. 5).

Answer: Judas Iscariot's great aunt

Matthew, Mark and Luke all record an incident where Simon Peter's mother-in-law was feverish and Jesus healed her. I always feel sorry for the woman because her first act on being healed wasn't recuperation but waiting on the men.

Pilate's wife wasn't, strictly, a follower of Jesus but did warn him not to have anything to do with "that innocent man" (Matthew 27 v. 19).

Paul's sister is mentioned in Acts:
"The next morning some Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. More than forty men were involved in this plot. They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, 'We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here.' But when the son of Paul's sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul" (Acts 23 v. 12-16).