The Women that Followed Jesus

Even though this writing is about the women that followed Jesus during His ministry, in order to put all things in perspective, it must start with the story in the Bible about a certain man.

During a certain ministry journey that Jesus was on, He encountered a man on the road who happened to be a leper approaching Jesus to be healed. This event was recorded in Matthew 8:2 and Mark 1:40. This leprous man came to Jesus begging for Jesus to heal him of his leprosy. Apparently this man had heard of other people being healed by the Word of Jesus and he believed that he could receive his healing also. So Jesus, who was moved with compassion for this man’s condition, and observing the faith in Him that the man had, touched the man with His hand and commanded the man to be healed, and the man received his healing from his condition.

Though this leprous man was not named in the scriptures, I believe that his name was Simon, who was also a Pharisee and lived in the town of Bethany, which was close to Jerusalem. The reason for my belief is based upon similar stories told by those who wrote the four gospel accounts, each mentioning certain details about, what I believe, was the same event told from the individual perspective of several people who were present at the time. The writers of the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all spoke of Jesus being in a house in Bethany and what occurred during that same visit, but their stories varied by such a small amount, my conclusion is that they were all speaking about the same event.

In all of the narratives spoken of in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, what ties them together as being all on one occasion it tells about Jesus being anointed with ointment. In some of the narratives it just mentions a woman doing the anointing, but in other cases it tells us that the woman’s name was Mary, who was the sister of Martha and Lazarus. In addition, Simon the Pharisee tells Jesus that the woman being mentioned was a sinner. I believe that Mary was the daughter of Simon and her own father was telling Jesus about her being a sinner.

In Matthew chapter 26 and Mark chapter 14, it tells us that Jesus was in the house of Simon the leper in Bethany. Then in Luke chapter 7, it again mentions Simon being a Pharisee. This lets us know that Simon was a Pharisee who had contracted leprosy and was healed by Jesus. If this Simon had not been healed of leprosy, he would not have been living in a house, but in a leper colony.

I believe that the leprous man that Jesus healed on one of His journeys was so thankful for being healed and able to return to his own home without his affliction, that he invited Jesus to come to his house and dine with his family.

Careful study of the different narratives cause one to believe that Jesus could have been associated with the family of Simon, or visited their house on several occasions. Firstly, Jesus had known the family before the death and resurrection of Lazarus. Then the different narratives indicate that Jesus visited their house in Bethany just six days before the Passover that Jesus was to be crucified on. During each of the narratives when Jesus was anointed with the ointment by Mary, it may seem as though it occurred several times, but I don’t accept that theory. I believe that the anointment of Jesus by Mary with the ointment of spikenard occurred only one time, during that same week before Jesus was to be crucified.

One other point about this woman named Mary needs to be said. We read that she ministered to Jesus with many tears, washing and kissing His feet and wiping His feet with her hair. What do you think that Mary knew about Jesus that would cause her to humble herself to Him in that manner? Jesus acknowledged that she had been guilty of many sins and was forgiven of them. I believe that Mary’s sins had been forgiven and was healed by Jesus during one of His journeys through the towns. The scriptures don’t address this, but I believe that Jesus had healed Mary and freed her from seven devils when He met her in the town of Magdala. Thus she became know by the name of Mary from Magdala or Mary Magdalene. After being delivered from the devils that possessed her, Mary returned to join her family in Bethany, just as Simon did after being healed of leprosy. Mary Magdalene was so grateful for what Jesus had done for her that she expressed her gratitude and love for Him by ministering to Him before and after His crucifixion.

According to scripture, John was the only apostle present when Jesus was crucified. All the others had gone into hiding, afraid that the authorities would arrest them for being followers of Jesus. John stated that, among others, those present when Jesus was crucified were Mary, His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene. Each of the gospel writers noted that the names of the women witnessing the crucifixion were not all inclusive, which only says that each one of them recorded the names differently because they were not all present.

One common thread did exist in the names of the women who were present at the crucifixion, before and after the resurrection, were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus. The only exception to this list of names was noted by the apostle John; in that he said only Mary Magdalene came alone on the morning of the resurrection by herself. After Mary Magdalene saw the tomb empty she went and told John and Peter about it. Since John and Peter were the only one’s actually present hearing Mary’s news, it is probably more accurate believing John’s account of who was present rather than the account of the other gospel writers, who obviously were not present and just related what they had heard. 

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