Women in the Life of Jesus, the Christ: A Study of the Women Who Appear in the Gospels During the Life of Jesus

By James Pellicer

Although there are works dedicated to the women who had something to do with Jesus during His earthly life-such as his mother and Mary Magdalene (one of mine is included in this group)-there are some works whose authors have been extremely meticulous and counted each and all nineteen women who appear in the canonical gospels, no matter how briefly, and had something to do with Jesus. By adding the mention of some legends, Scottish mainly, in reference to a son of Jesus and Mary Magdalene-John Francis-a new angle has been opened in this study, the one of the sexual relations between Jesus and Mary. Was she the wife of Jesus, as several details seem to indicate? The theme has been complicated by the Roman Catholic Church's attitude toward sex, mainly after its decree obligating all church ministers to total celibacy in order to serve the altar (Second Lateran Council, 1139, confirmed by the Council Trent in 1563). After such a disastrous legislation, sex and sexual relations acquired the aspect of a sort of evil, instead of being what God has planned from the first day of creation: "The God Lord said, 'It is not good for the men to be alone: I will make a helper suitable for him'" (Gen. 2:18). Later, Jesus Himself confirmed the statement by saying, "A man...shall be joined by his wife and the two shall become one flesh" (Matt. 19:3-12).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781645155812

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Women in the Life of Jesus, the Christ

A Study of the Women Who Appear in the Gospels During the Life of Jesus

Dr. James O. Pellicer

Copyright © 2019 by Dr. James O. Pellicer

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

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Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Women in Matthew’s Genealogy

Jesus and the Women

Acknowledgments

I would like to recognize here the dedication of Ms. Dina Colbert, who efficiently read the manuscript and offered comments and suggestions for changes or clearer forms of expression.

At the same time, I would like to thank my wife, Patricia I. Morales-Pellicer, for the technical help in matters related to the computer for the composition of the manuscript.

To both of them, my most sincere thanks.

Introduction

Much has been written on the women mentioned in the four gospels. Here, we are interested only in those women who appear related to Jesus. Thus, the present work is divided into two sections. In the first one, the women quoted in the Gospel of Matthew, at the beginning of the New Testament (Mat. 1:1), will be studied, although they are not directly related to the life of Jesus. The second section is dedicated to the women directly related to Jesus’s life.

Section I

These are women mentioned at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, under the title, Genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.

In a few lines under Matthew 1:16, the text ends by stating and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary; from her was born Jesus who is called Christ. In other words, it presents the genealogy of Joseph under the title of Genealogy of Jesus Christ. Obviously, this affirmation implies that Joseph was the true father of Jesus; otherwise, why the genealogy of Joseph? Nevertheless, the text immediately affirms that His mother, Mary, was betrothed but before they came to live together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18). This is to say that Joseph had nothing to do with the conception of Jesus. A very serious biblical scholar Mons. Johan Straubinger, who in 1948 published his New Testament according the Greek original text, declared that the problem was caused by the usage of the Latin text, which creates the confusion by the arbitrary use of the filiation.

Anyway, let’s continue with the theme of women in the Gospel of Matthew. There, five women are mentioned; and with the exception of the last one, Mary—the mother—generally, they are not found in the various studies on the subject. They are women named in the Old Testament that Matthew included in his presentation. They are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba.

Although they do not belong to the theme of this book because they are not women who interacted with Jesus Christ (since they appear only as predecessors), we would like to start this work with a brief mention of them and their characteristics. At the same time, we would like to investigate the reason for their inclusion since two of them were prostitutes and the other two did not offer an irreproachable behavior either.

Section II

In the second section, divided into eighteen points, we shall present the main objective of this study—women who in some way interacted in the life of Jesus, as follows:

Elizabeth of Hebron (Luke 1:39–45);

Prophetess Anna (Luke 2:36–38);

Martha of Bethany (Luke 10:38–42; John 11:1–39, 12:1–8);

Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:38–42; John 11:1–39, 12:1–8);

the woman of Samaria (John 4:1–29);

the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11–17);

Mary the Magdalene (Matt. 28:1–10; Mark 16:1–11; Luke 24:1–11; John 20:1–18);

the woman who was a sinner (Luke 7:36–50);

the adulterous woman (John 8:3–11);

Peter’s mother-in-law (Matt. 8:14–15; Mark 1:29–31; Luke 4:38–39);

the woman with a haemorrhage (Matt. 9:20–22; Mark 5:25–34);

the official’s daughter (Matt. 9:23–25; Mark 5:21–43; Luke 8:40–50);

the crippled woman (Luke 13:10–17);

the daughter of the Canaanite woman (Matt. 15:2–28; Mark 7:24–30);

the mother of Zebedee’s sons (Matt. 20:20–23);

women watching the crucifixion (Matt. 27:55–56);

women at the tomb (Matt. 28:1–10; Luke 23:55–56, 24:1–11; John 20:1–2); and

Jesus’s apparition to the women (Matt. 28:1–10; Luke 23:54–56, 24:1–11; John 20:1–2).

Section I

Women in Matthew’s Genealogy

As we have said before, the Gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy in which five women are mentioned, contrary to the Gospel of Luke (3:23–38), which presents only males in a very long ascendant genealogy of Joseph, the husband of Mary, going all the way up to Adam and God. This genealogy does not completely coincide with Matthew’s text; and, in addition, it confirms the belief that Jesus was known as the son of Joseph (Luke 3:23).

Matthew opens his gospel with a descendent genealogy, starting in Abraham and finishing in Joseph: The husband of Mary; from her was born Jesus, who is called Christ (Matt. 1:16). This gospel divides the list of predecessors of Joseph in three sections of fourteen generations each. In the first section, four of the five women are mentioned (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba), although it does not give the name of the last one, identifying her by saying whose mother had been Uriah’s wife (Matt. 1:6). Finally, a fifth woman is mentioned—Mary, the mother.

Before going on, it is important to remember that, according to Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph is not Jesus’s father. The text is very clear, which reads, This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph but before they came to live together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18).

Why then is Joseph’s genealogy given? According to the same biblical text, both genealogies—Matthew’s and Luke’s—are of Joseph’s and, consequently, unnecessary because Joseph was not Jesus’s father. In addition to unnecessary, they contradict the very same text of the gospels as well as the Christian doctrine—Jesus was the son of Mary and the Holy Spirit. The previously quoted biblical scholar, Dr. Straubinger, says that the evangelist used Joseph’s genealogy to demonstrate that, according to the law, Joseph was the legal father of Jesus, and therefore, He was the legal heir of David’s throne and the messianic promises.

In addition, it is necessary to notice that the phrase Virgin Mary constantly repeated by