Description

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Name, marriage, means

• Joanna = "God is gracious"
• Wife of Chuza
  • Chuza was steward (financial controller) of Herod Antipas, son of the Herod (the Great) who'd tried to dispatch Jesus c.6-4 BC.
  • Herod Antipas reigned 4 BC - 39 AD. He had John the Baptist decapitated, and also was part of the process that condemned Jesus.
• She may be the Junia of Rom 16:7, if New Testament scholars Ben Witherington and Richard Bauckham are on the right track.
• Wealthier -- upper class. Many such women were attracted to Christianity, as we read about in Luke-Acts.

Scriptures

• Luke 8:3
• Luke 24:10
• Romans 16:7
• Titus 3:3-5, 2:11-14

Impact of Jesus on her life
 

• She was set free, either healed of a medical situation or freed from an evil spirit. Either way, her life was transformed by the Lord.
• She traveled with the apostolic band.
  • Older?
  • "Empty nest"?
• Became a supporter of the ministry, providing
  • homes?
  • food?
  • funding?
  • The women of Luke 8:3 were probably flexible because they didn't have to stay home with their children.
  • Joanna chose to put her allowance to good use.
• She formed friendships with fellow believers. (Recall the comments from the podcast on Mary, the mother of Jesus, who continued to build friendships even later in life.)

Thought questions

• Joanna was loyal emotionally and even financially, because Jesus had touched her life, and she was grateful. Do I ever forget that I too have been touched by the Lord? That I have been redeemed from a life of uncertainty, darkness, secrecy, sin, anxiety, and alienation? See Titus 2-3.
• If I am a person of means, how am I using my fortune to advance God's work?
• The fact that such a person as Joanna was drawn into the ministry tells us something about the Christian faith -- what it is and what it is not. How does the story of Joanna address charges of Christianity being "chauvinistic"?
• If I am a parent, do I look forward to time when I will be freer to travel for the sake of the ministry?
• Do I tend to rush past the "minor" characters of the Bible?