Person in the New Testament
Joanna
Joanna: named among the women who provided support and reported the empty tomb
Portrait: an AI-generated artistic interpretation, not evidence of how Joanna looked.
Who Joanna is
Joanna is named twice. In the first passage she travels with Jesus and the twelve through every city and village, among certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities; she is identified as the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, listed with Mary called Magdalene and Susanna, and the narrator says these women ministered unto him of their substance. In the second she is named among the women who come to the sepulchre on the first day of the week with the spices they had prepared, find the stone rolled away, do not find the body, are asked by two men in shining garments why they seek the living among the dead, remember his words, and return to tell the eleven and all the rest. The narrator identifies that group as Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, and says the apostles took their words as idle tales and did not believe them.
Cited passages: Luke 8:1, Luke 8:2, Luke 8:3, Luke 24:1, Luke 24:2, Luke 24:3, Luke 24:5, Luke 24:8, Luke 24:9, Luke 24:10, Luke 24:11
Historical setting
Two verses name her. Her husband Chuza is called Herod's steward and is given no other description, and nothing is said of her children, her home or her later life. The women in the first passage are introduced together as healed of evil spirits and infirmities, so the text does not say which of them had which affliction, or state one for Joanna at all; the detail about seven devils is attached to Mary Magdalene alone. Her second appearance comes only when the narrator names the group at the tenth verse; before that the report speaks of them without names. The text does not say she spoke, only that the women told these things unto the apostles.
Cited passages: Luke 8:2, Luke 8:3, Luke 24:1, Luke 24:9, Luke 24:10
How the story is told
Her two appearances stand at either end of the public ministry, one as the travels begin and one at the sepulchre, and both concern what the women bring: substance in the first, a report in the second. The first passage sets a woman attached to Herod's household among those supporting the work, right after a chapter in which Herod's court has already been mentioned. The second withholds the names until after the scene is told, so the reader learns who the witnesses were at the moment their testimony is rejected as idle tales.
Cited passages: Luke 8:3, Luke 24:1, Luke 24:9, Luke 24:10, Luke 24:11
Story moments
- Named among the women (Luke 8:3). She is named as the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, among the women who ministered of their substance.
- Early at the sepulchre (Luke 24:1). The women come to the sepulchre with the spices they had prepared.
- Why seek ye the living (Luke 24:5). Two men in shining garments put the question to them.
- The report to the eleven (Luke 24:9). They return from the sepulchre and tell the eleven and the rest.
- The witnesses named (Luke 24:10). The narrator names Joanna among those who told the apostles.
- Taken as idle tales (Luke 24:11). The apostles do not believe the women's words.
Key passages
Luke 8:3
And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.
Luke 24:10
It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
King James Version. 2 indexed passages in total.
For reflection
Joanna is named only twice, once as a supporter and once as a witness whose report is dismissed. What weight does the text give a person it mentions so briefly?
Books Joanna appears in
Related people
Names and references are adapted from STEPBible TIPNR. A person listed with a verse is named or indexed there; it does not mean they wrote or spoke it.