Joanna the Myrrhbearer vs. Junia

Hold onto your halos as we move into another full week of saintly thrills and spills! With only three matchups left in the Round of 32, we'll soon find ourselves in the Saintly Sixteen. Time flies when you're spending time with the saints. (Oh, and for those of you who didn't get Friday's results, Harriet Tubman drubbed Julie Billiart 83% to 17%).

Please know that if you haven't yet joined in the fun, it's never too late to leap into the Madness. Whether you've voted in the previous 13 battles or are just jumping in now, we welcome you. Especially as more people move into online forms of spiritual devotion in the current climate, we're glad to have you here. We just won't shake your hand.

Speaking of which, on Saturday evening Tim and Scott shared some online prayer resources and a dose of hope in a post titled Lent Madness Carries on, which you can read here. If there was ever a time for online community, that time is now.

Today it's Joanna the Myrrbearer vs. Junia in a matchup of Biblical women. Time to vote!

Joanna the Myrrhbearer
When Joanna—along with Mary Magdalene; Mary, the mother of James; and several other women—told the other disciples they had found Jesus’ tomb empty, the Gospel of Luke tells us her words “seemed to them like nonsense.”

But Jesus always believed the women he encountered, and he believed in Joanna. Jesus believed in Joanna enough to trust her to take the news of his resurrection to his disciples.

Jesus believed in Joanna enough to invite her to follow him as a disciple and learn from him. The two angels who met her and the women with her at the tomb said to them, “He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again’” (Luke 24:6-7). Then they remembered Jesus’ words—meaning they had been with him when he spoke them the first time.

Jesus believed in Joanna enough to trust his earthly ministry to her. Luke also tells us that she, along with several other women, was traveling from one town and village to another with Jesus and the disciples, “helping to support them out of their own means.”

It’s clear Joanna was wealthy. Her husband, Chuza, was Herod’s steward, according to Luke. (This is the same Herod who imprisoned and beheaded Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, and Orthodox tradition says Joanna retrieved John’s head and gave it an honorable burial.)

She didn’t just stop at giving money to support what Jesus was doing, though. She followed him to the margins. She allowed him to inconvenience her, to lead her beyond her comfortable life. She followed him to the end, when the other disciples fled and deserted him—and even after. She followed to see where his body was laid. She prepared myrrh and other spices and perfumes to care for his body after death. She carried them to the tomb early that first Easter morning, where she was surprised to meet angels instead.

And today Joanna is believed and remembered in Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox traditions.

Collect for Joanna
Almighty God, who revealed the resurrection of your Son to Joanna as she faithfully came bearing myrrh to his tomb: Grant that we too may perceive the presence of the risen Lord in the midst of pain and fear, and go forth proclaiming his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Emily McFarlan Miller

Junia
Junia is known to us from a short verse at the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul had not personally been to Rome, and he wrote the letter as an introduction (though it did take him sixteen chapters. Seriously, Paul, get to the point!). In chapter 16 Paul greets a series of people: twenty-seven believers in Jesus, ten of whom were women (hello, matriarchs of the faith!). These people, who were known and respected by believers in Rome, would ostensibly vouch for Paul.

In Romans 16:7, Paul writes, “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.” In this short greeting we learn a lot about Junia. First, she is a fellow Jew, likely married to Andronicus. She, like Paul, has suffered imprisonment. She is prominent among the apostles, i.e., the people who have encountered the risen Christ and been commissioned to proclaim the good news. Paul would not use this term lightly. He has specific ideas about apostleship and is frequently at pains to defend this category. Further, we learn that not only is Junia an apostle, but also she is prominent among the apostles. That is to say, she’s an exceptional apostle. Finally, Junia has been in Christ longer than Paul. Paul was an early believer in Jesus. This statement puts her squarely in the first generation of followers of Jesus.

In spite of Junia’s universal recognition as a woman leader in the church for the first thousand years of Christianity, in the twelfth century, doubts about her sex began to emerge. Her name was thought to be a shortened form of the man’s name, Junianus. Martin Luther’s German translation of the Bible helped popularize this (quite improbable) understanding. By the nineteenth century, Junia was almost universally thought to be a man in the Western Church (the Orthodox folk knew better).

In recent decades biblical scholars have revisited the question and found unequivocally that Junia was, in fact, a woman leader. She is a reminder of the struggle that women have had to find their voice in the church. As such, here and now, in this opening round of the 2020 edition of Lent Madness we formally acknowledge Junia to be the patron saint of gaslit women.

Collect for Junia
Almighty God, whose Son, the risen Christ, sent forth your apostles Andronicus and Junia to proclaim the gospel and extend your reign: send us forth in your Holy Spirit, that women and men may minister as one in faithful witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit in perfect unity, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

David Creech

 

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Joanna the Myrrhbearer: school of tsar’s izographs, c. 1700. [Public domain]
Junia: [Public domain}

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162 comments on “Joanna the Myrrhbearer vs. Junia”

  1. Joanna had me after "She prepared myrrh and other spices and perfumes to care for his body after death."

  2. Such a hard choice today! I was moved by the description of how Joanna not only used her privileged resources to support Jesus' ministry, but followed him to the margin -- a challenge I continually find myself facing in my own place of privilege. But Junia as the patron of gaslit women is brilliant and true. It may be time prayerfully to flip a coin or cast a lot.

  3. It's funny that this term has entered the modern lexicon without its origin, the 1938 play "Gas Light." I was lucky enough to see it in London in the late 1970s, and, yes, it was a 1944 film with Boyer and Bergman. I've always remembered it as creepy though a terrific story. Maybe it's time for another film! Wikipedia gives a good summary.
    Go, Joanna, there at the very beginning, trusting and faithful!

    1. Our local playhouse did the play recently. I went with my daughter and we were both impressed and yes, creeped out. So glad we had the opportunity to see it.

  4. I 've read all the comments and still wishy-washy over voting. They both speak to me.
    Choosing Joanna for her collect and the line: "that we too may perceive the presence of the risen Lord in the midst of pain and fear". Very timely.

  5. This was a tough one - I kept going back and forth. Was with Junia for a long time but finally voted for Joanna. She believed in Jesus against all odds and at personal risk of reputation and resources. And she was the one chosen to testify that it wasn’t over, that Jesus was risen from the dead. That was the deciding factor for me. And btw, “Gaslight” is a great movie with an incandescent performance from Ingrid Bergman and a subtly terrifying one from Charles Boyer.

  6. I found this vote to be amusing. There is speculation that these scriptures pertain to the same woman. It was common for wealthy or notable Jews to have both a Hebrew & Greek name (e.g.: Saul-Paul, Cephas-Peter). Compare what the Bible says of each woman:
    Junia was Jewish, well known to the apostles, and a believer before Paul;
    Joanna was ditto, ditto, ditto.

    1. Oh, that's an interesting thought about Joanna being able to afford the myrrh! I hadn't thought of that!

    2. Everyone's a winner in this round! I'm going to look into this more for the next round.

  7. Women have always carried the faith! Their work has been ignored, erased or claimed by others in this patriarchal world. Both of these women are saints but I must vote for Junia whose sainthood was taken from her for so many years just because she was female.!!

  8. You almost had me with the patron saint of Gaslit Women but as someone who prepared many bodies as a hospice nurse, I had to vote for Joanna. It is truly an honor to perform that task.

  9. Did you have to include Andronicus in the collect dedicated to St. Junia? After 800 years of denigration, can't she at least get her own prayer? You might also mention that the first apostels were to the church what we would consider bishop.

  10. It might be that either way you're voting for the same person. Richard Bauckham and Ben Witherington believe that Joanna was either forced into a divorce from Chuza for her following Jesus, or that he died. And as she moved in wider circles as an apostle and married Andronicus, she become known by the Roman version of her name, "Junia."

    1. Hmmm, that forces all us Christians through the Wicket Gate into Irony Lane. On the bright, side, none of us can get lost.

  11. Both these women are certainly worthy candidates. "On the other hand" (surely the unofficial motto of the entire Anglican Communion) Joanna was part of a group of several people who claimed the body of Jesus and brought spices and ointments to His tomb. She was part of a group of women who discovered the empty tomb and brought word of it to the Apostles. Another woman in this latter group has (in 2012 if I recall correctly) already received the Golden Halo. That would be Mary Magdalene. Therefore, I am voting for Junia as an early believer in The Way and one who helped pave the way for the church to flourish and grow over the next two-thousand-years-and-counting.

    1. "'On the other hand' (surely the unofficial motto of the entire Anglican Communion)"

      Omigosh, yes! I'm saving that thought forever.

  12. Joanna today because she was faithful to the grave and beyond. She and the other ladies went and did what should have been done by the men who entombed the body and was rewarded by the angels' good news. Who knows when the men would have ever gone to the tomb themselves, they were in hiding. Perhaps Joanna was the one who could afford to buy the myrrrh for the body. We see Easter because of women's devotion, belief and remembrance.

  13. I know of Joanna, but missed Junia. She probably was part of one of Paul's run on sentences. Interesting if they are one and the same. I appreciate hearing about the women who were followers of Jesus over the past 20 centuries especially by preaching the Gospel in actions.

  14. After reading the comments, I would have changed my vote to Junia is. However, our church is having a contest where we predict the ballots. I predicted Joanna, so in the name of friendly competition, I will continue to vote for her. But just know that Junia is in my heart.

  15. Patriarchal society did not want to recognize Junia as a female, that would shoot down the reason for not obtaining women- no female apostles. If Junia is recognized as female, they would then be calling Paul a liar .

  16. What a difficult pairing! After reading the comments, I am going with Junia. And if it is true that Joanna and Junia are the same person, then I'd go with the most compelling story. For me as a priest, I would celebrate my sister Junia's apostolic leadership.

  17. Once again a challenging matchup. I voted for Junia, as an affirmation of her apostleship versus all the male chauvinists (including M. Luther) who have thought that a woman couldn't be an apostle and were even willing to alter Scripture to prove it! Joanna the Myrrhbearer is a worthy bearer of the news of the Jesus' resurrection, and thus also an apostle, and I love her name! I wish I could vote for them both.

  18. I will never forget the thrill and wonder I experienced the first time I truly noticed Lk 8:1-3, and the description of the women who funded Jesus' ministry. (It's interesting how we are conditioned to gloss over so many women's stories in scripture, isn't it? A big reason this particular one is glossed over--and it all comes down misogyny--is that those three verses describing the women are lumped into the larger section of the "Parable of the Sower." But because they are not technically part of that parable, they are often ignored.)

    It was not the first time I had read the passage--I was in seminary by this time--but it was the first time I actually had digested it. I couldn't believe it! These women underwrote the whole she-bang! It was there in scripture for everyone to see, but no one had ever preached of it, or taught it in my hearing.

    Several decades later, while writing a Bible study for a group at church, I delved more deeply into the story of Joanna and pondered this whole idea of the wife of Herod's steward--certainly a high profile position--leaving her husband (or was he dead? divorced?) and spending his money on someone like Jesus. Certainly that could have cost Chuza his job, or at the least caused marital discord! I found out that "Chuza" is believed to be a Nabatean name (Petra is the famous capital of Nabatea), and that, because Chuza worked for Herod, he and Joanna would have lived in Tiberias--yet there is no record that Jesus ever went to Tiberias. How did she become part of the movement? Had Chuza converted to Judaism? Had theirs been a mixed marriage? The possibilities are fascinating!

    So although I love the fleeting mention of Junia, and all that is implies for the role of women in the early church, my heart is with Joanna and her daring mortuary teammates.

    1. I also led a Bible study session about Joanna at my church! I have SO MANY QUESTIONS.

      1. I think the fact that she is named and that there are details about her husband too give her story a lot of credence. Don't you wish we knew more about Susanna and the Marys as well!

  19. This was a hard decision for me. Two tough women show us the important role women played in the Church, from the beginning and throughout history. I chose Joanna, because she was shown the mystery of the resurrection before it was shown to the men.

  20. ”She is a reminder of the struggle that women have had to find their voice in the church.“
    I would say, instead, that these women are a reminder that women have lost their voice in the Church. One of the key differences of Christianity, from the start, is that it recognized all souls as equal in the sight of God. As such, women were a vital element in the inception and propagation of the early Church. It was only when it became a going concern that men decided that women should be shunted aside, and that leadership should be solely the province of men. The first thousand years of Christianity is full of women, many of whom have been highlighted during Lent Madness, who led not only their husbands and sons to worship, but who opened the message of the New Testament to countless new converts.

  21. Two awesome women, but I chose Joanna because she was a first-hand witness and because it’s my name.