Quick Reads #13: Woman of the New Testament

There are several women who spring to mind when we think of the New Testament; the mother of Jesus, her cousin Elizabeth, the sisters Mary and Martha and Mary Magdalene. Mary, the mother of Mark was the sister of Barnabas. And there were others not so fondly disposed; Herodias and her daughter named Salome by Josephus, who sought the head of John the Baptist in order to kill his testimony; and another possessed of a spirit, attempted to derail Paul. But hidden away mainly in his letters, we find a network of devoted women supporting the Apostles and a lot more besides.

In Romans, Paul begins his greetings with Phoebe: that you receive her in the LORD, as becomes saints that you may assist her in whatever business she has need of you: followed by Priscilla who ‘laid down her neck for my life,’ and the industrious Mary, who bestowed much labour on us. Paul held these women in high regard. It was Phoebe who oversaw the delivery of Paul’s letter to Rome. 

In his letter to Timothy, we find Paul greeting his half-brother Pudens and his wife Claudia, also his in-law Linus who became the first Bishop of Rome. Claudia and Pudens were active in founding the first Church prior to its later corruption by the Empire. But there are two women of particular interest opposites in every way possible. One was chosen by God to bring the light into the world and the other who was waiting for Him: Mary mother of Jesus, and the Woman at the Well.

In keeping with prophesy, Mary was of the tribe of Judah, the lineage of David. Her residence at Bethlehem, flight to Egypt and return to Nazareth, are well documented, though she appears only four times in Scripture after the start of Christ’s ministry; the first at Cana and the last, when she was with the disciples in the upper room awaiting the power of the Holy Spirit. She was connected by marriage with Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist.

Of the Woman at the Well, we know little of her ancestry other than being Samaritan. Her lineage was likely Mesopotamian from peoples placed in Samaria by the Assyrians c.700BC. Unlike Mary, she was worldly, having had five husbands and now living with another. She did not live according to Jewish religion, but did acknowledge Jacob as the paternal provider of the well, and would have known of the promised Messiah, the Samaritans having co-existed with the Jews for generations. But most remarkable, Jesus told her things about Himself before He revealed it to anyone else.

We learn from this conversation early in His ministry things are about to change: Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a spirit: and those that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:20-21; 4:23-24) Jesus shared with a woman, whose name we never learn, the old is soon to pass away; that faith must be uppermost in the hearts and minds of believers. Jesus opened the door to all regardless of ethnicity, gender, or earlier belief that God is a Spirit and how we must honour and worship Him.

The women of the New Testament, of whom there are many stories, were integral in spreading the Good News through their support of the Apostles and Jesus, and by examples of faith as we see in the touching of Christ’s garment, and in Mary and Martha. They spread the news when Peter was released from prison, and due to their devotion were the first to discover Jesus had risen.

As Paul said we are all one in Christ. And we see yet another example of this message in his writing to the Church at Philippi: And I entreat thee also; help those women who laboured with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and my fellow labourers whose names are in the book of life. (Php 4:3)

In love and peace,

James