Women's Bible Study Notes: Joanna

You may have heard of Joanna and been taught about her role in the New Testament before. If you have, consider yourself ahead of the game! This week I learned about Joanna, a woman who is only mentioned twice by name in the New Testament and yet she had a massive impact on the early church. Below are my notes for Women's Bible study this week. I hope from them you may glean something regarding this woman of faith and the tremendous Lord whom she served! 

Last week we looked at a group of women who had experienced healing in their encounters with Jesus (Peter’s Mother-in-law, a woman with a bleeding problem of 12 years, an official’s daughter brought back to life, and a gentile woman from far away Tyre whose daughter was demon possessed). 

This week we are going to look at an individual who had a huge role to play in the New Testament. At the start of our time together today, you may not know much about her. By the end of today I hope you will have discovered a wonderful example of someone whose life was changed by Jesus, and who then committed herself fully to the service of Christ. May we also be able to say something similar! 

We are first introduced to this woman in Luke 8:1-3. 

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.

With only a few words, we are told MUCH about Joanna. Let’s make some observations:

1. How does Joanna relate to Jesus (how do they know each other, what have they done for each other)?
2. What do we know of Joanna’s relationships based on this passage (who does she know, what sort of life circumstances is she involved in)?
3. What do we know about Joanna’s means based on this passage? 

The next time Joanna is mentioned by name is in Luke 24:10. Let's read Luke 24:1-10 to get the whole scene in mind before our next questions. 

1. What is Joanna a witness of? 
2. How would you describe Joanna’s devotion based on her presence in 24:10? 

Let's take a brief look at Joanna’s potential involvement in the last few days of Jesus’ life. Let's work our way backwards from Luke 24:10, we know Joanna was at the tomb resurrection day, she was one of the group who prepared spices (24:1). It’s pretty safe to also say she was among the women of 23:55-56, and she was there during the last moments of Jesus as recorded in 23:49, and she may have been present during the walk to Golgotha with Simon and Jesus (23:26-28). She may have been one of those “daughters of Jerusalem” in the crowd as they walked and Jesus warned. She may have been among the court of Herod the Tetrarch during Jesus’ questioning there (23:6-12). How else do we have this inside information about Herod’s thoughts/court relationships, etc? Where is Luke getting his source from? It’s very plausible that Joanna, due to her husband's position and her own dignified social status, helped share her testimony within Herod’s administration and became a source for Luke. If this is true, it may explain some of how eventually one named Manaen, who grew up alongside Herod, became a believer, and teacher in the early church (see Acts 13:1). This Manaen was involved in the church in Antioch and was one of the believers who commissioned Paul on his missionary Journey. Paul then goes on to have in his missions team Luke (who is the most likely compiler/writer of the Gospel of Luke). In this way we see how impactful Joanna was! A woman who was healed from her encounter with Jesus, who then lived a life of devotion and witnessing, who had an impact in the court of a king, in a church many hundreds of miles away from Jerusalem, and an impact in the very Gospel which we read from so frequently! 

So let’s try to do some summarization. 

Joanna, only mentioned briefly by name twice, was:

• a woman of some wealth, 
• of lofty social status, 
• a victim either of awful demonic possession or awful disease, 
• someone who encountered Jesus, 
• healed, 
• sought to contribute to Christ's ministry through her own means, relationships, and position. 
• someone who loved the Lord during his life and helped care for his material needs, 
• someone who loved Jesus even in death, not abandoning him, but caring for his body 
• a first witness of the resurrected Lord! 
• instrumental in helping teach others about Jesus, including potentially Manaen (named in Acts 13:1 as being of close relationship with Herod the Tetrarch) which meant she may have had a lasting impact on the church in Jerusalem, Antioch, and then many churches started throughout the Mediterranean via missions of Paul and Luke.

What a woman, and what a tremendous God she served! What a person who was used by God for the purpose of his kingdom! Our God delights to take people from all sorts of backgrounds, positions, means, and relationships, and bring them to himself, change them for their eternal good, and then put them to work in his service which brings good to many, many more.