Joanna

Biblical Record

Joanna appears only twice, both times in the Gospel of Luke. Her name does not appear in the other Gospels.

• Luke 8:1-3: As Jesus traveled through cities and villages proclaiming the kingdom of God, Luke introduces the women who, along with the Twelve, accompanied him. The text calls them "certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities," and names Mary Magdalene, "Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward," and Susanna. These women "ministered unto him of their substance." The Herod mentioned here is understood to be Herod Antipas, the tetrarch who ruled Galilee (see Herod). A "steward" was an official who managed royal property or household affairs.
• Luke 24:1-11: At dawn on the first day of the week, the women who went to the tomb with spices found it empty and heard from angels the news of the resurrection. Luke 24:10 identifies these women as Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women who were with them. They reported these things to the apostles, who at first did not believe them (Luke 24:11).

Nothing else about her life is recorded in Scripture.

Significance in Scripture

Joanna is portrayed as a woman of relatively high social standing and means, connected to the tetrarch's court. Through her, Luke's Gospel shows that the followers of Jesus included women from various social classes and that these women supported his ministry financially. In Luke's narrative, the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee remained present through the crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrection (Luke 23:49, 23:55), and within this narrative Joanna's name is preserved as one of the first witnesses of the resurrection.

Interpretations and Debates

• Relationship to Junia: Some scholars, such as Richard Bauckham, have suggested that Junia, mentioned in Romans 16:1-7, may be the same person as Joanna. Among other reasons, they point to the similarity in sound between the two names, but this is a hypothesis not directly confirmed by the text, and many scholars do not accept it.
• Luke's sources: Some have suggested that Luke's detailed knowledge of affairs at Herod's court came from figures such as Joanna or Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod (Acts 13:1), but this too is conjecture.
• Church tradition: The Eastern Orthodox Church honors Joanna as one of the "Myrrh-bearing Women" who went to the tomb on the morning of the resurrection and commemorates these women on a Sunday during the Easter season. Protestant churches have no separate commemoration for her.

In the Korean Church

Joanna is usually mentioned alongside Mary Magdalene in Easter sermons and in sermons and Bible studies on the women who served Jesus. Both the Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version render her name as "Yoanna."