Women in the Synoptic Gospels

Women in the Synoptic Gospels
by Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.

Gospel of MARK

Female Characters in Mark's Gospel and other references to women, both real and fictional:

CHARACTER / EPISODE	MARK	MATTHEW	LUKE	JOHN
Healing of Simon's Mother-in-Law	1:29-31	8:14-15	4:38-39	x
Concern of Jesus' Family: Mother & Brothers	3:19b-21, 31-35	12:46-50	8:19-21	x
The Daughter of Jairus	5:21-24, 35-43	9:18-19, 23-26	8:40-42, 49-56	x
A Woman with a Flow of Blood	5:25-34	9:20-22	8:43-48	x
Jesus is called "Son of Mary"; ref. to his sisters	6:3	13:55-56	x	[6:42]
John the Baptist's Death: Herodias & her daughter	6:17-29	14:3-12	[3:19-20]	x
The Syrophoenician Woman's Daughter	7:24-30	15:21-28	x	x
On Divorce	10:2-12	19:3-12	[16:18]	x
Jesus quotes the Decalogue: "Honor Your Father & Mother"	10:19	19:19	18:20	x
"No one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake..."	10:29-30	19:29	18:29	x
The Case of a Woman Who Had Seven Husbands	12:18-27	22:23-33	20:27-40	x
The Widow's Mite	12:41-44	x	21:1-4	x
Apocalyptic Discourse: Children Rise against their Parents	13:12	[10:21]	21:16	x
"Alas for Those with Child or Nursing"	13:17	24:19	21:23-24	x
Anointing at Bethany: Anonymous Woman	14:3-9	26:6-13	[7:36-50]	12:1-8
Peter's Denial: The Serving Girl	14:66-72	26:69-75	22:56-62	18:25-27
Women at the Cross: Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James & Joses, and Salome	15:40-41	27:55-56	23:49	19:25-27
Women See Jesus Buried	15:47	27:61	23:55-56	x
Women Go to Jesus' Tomb	16:1-8	28:1-8	24:1-11	20:1-2a, 11-13
[Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene / Women]	[16:9-11]	28:9-10	24:10-11	20:14-18

Gospel of MATTHEW

Additional References to Women in Matthew's Gospel:

References found ONLY in Matthew:

Passage (Source)	Brief Description
Matt 1:3, 5, 6	Genealogy of Jesus: "...and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar... and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth... and David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah."
Matt 1:16	Genealogy of Jesus: "...Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born."
Matt 1:18-25	Birth of Jesus: "When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit... 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.' "
Matt 2:11	Magi's Visit: "On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage."
Matt 5:27-28	Sermon on the Mount, on Adultery: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
Matt 5:31-32	Sermon on the Mount, on Divorce: "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (cf. Mark 10:2-12 and par.)
Matt 14:21	Feeding of the 5000: "Those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children."
Matt 15:38	Feeding of the 4000: "Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children."
Matt 18:25	Parable of the Unforgiving Servant: "...his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made."
Matt 21:5	Jesus' Entrance into Jerusalem: "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (cf. Isa 62:11; Zech 9:9; John 12:15)
Matt 25:1-13	Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids and Their Lamps (actually Torches)
Matt 27:19	Pilate's Wife: "While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, 'Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.'"

References found in BOTH Matthew and Luke (from the "Q" Source):

Reference	Brief Description	Cross Reference
Matt 10:35	Divisions within Households: "For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;"	cf. Luke 12:53
Matt 10:37	Conditions of Discipleship: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;"	cf. Luke 14:26
Matt 11:11	Jesus Speaks about John the Baptist: "Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."	cf. Luke 7:28
Matt 12:42	Seeking Signs: "The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here!"	cf. Luke 11:31
Matt 13:33	New Parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."	cf. Luke 13:20-21
Matt 23:37b	Lament over Jerusalem: "How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!"	cf. Luke 13:34
Matt 24:38	Apocalyptic Discourse: "For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark."	cf. Luke 17:26-27
Matt 24:41	Apocalyptic Discourse: "Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left."	cf. Luke 17:35

Gospel of LUKE

Women are mentioned frequently in all four of the New Testament Gospels, but they are especially prominent in Luke:

Passage (Source)	Brief Description
Luke 1:5-7 (L)	Zechariah's wife Elizabeth is named; both are righteous and old
Luke 1:13, 18 (L)	Gabriel and Zechariah each mention Elizabeth briefly
Luke 1:24-25 (L)	Elizabeth conceives & praises God for taking away her "disgrace" (of being barren)
Luke 1:26-38 (L)	Annunciation: Gabriel visits Mary to proclaim Jesus' birth; Mary agrees to cooperate
Luke 1:39-56 (L)	Mary visits Elizabeth; Elizabeth praises Mary; Mary praises God in the "Magnificat"
Luke 1:57-61 (L)	Elizabeth gives birth to John & she names him
Luke 2:5-7 (L)	Mary goes with Joseph to Bethlehem; there she gives birth to her firstborn child
Luke 2:15-20 (L)	Shepherds visit Mary & Joseph; Mary treasures all things in her heart (v. 19)
Luke 2:22 & 27 (L)	"They" go to Jerusalem for "their" purification; Simeon speaks to both "parents"
Luke 2:33-35 (L)	Simeon speaks directly to Mary: a sword shall pass through her heart
Luke 2:36-38 (L)	Prophet-widow Anna praises God and speaks to the people about Jesus
Luke 2:41-51 (L)	Both "parents" take Jesus to Jerusalem; his Mother speaks (v. 48) and "treasures" all (v. 51)
Luke 3:19 (Mk)	Wicked Herodias mentioned only very briefly (contrast Mark 6:17-29)
Luke 4:25-26 (L)	Jesus uses as examples the OT stories of the widows of Israel & the widow of Zarephath
Luke 4:38-39 (Mk)	Jesus heals Simon's mother-in-law; she then immediately serves them all
Luke 7:11-17 (L)	Jesus has compassion for a widow in Nain, and so restores her only son to life
Luke 7:28 (Q)	"Among those born of women, no one is greater than John (the Baptist)
Luke 7:35 (L)	"Wisdom is vindicated by all her children"
Luke 7:36-50 (Mk)	A sinful woman anoints Jesus and is forgiven; she is contrasted to Simon the Pharisee
Luke 8:1-3 (L)	Several women are named who accompany Jesus and provided for the disciples
Luke 8:19-21 (Mk)	Jesus' mother & brothers come; those who hear & do God's word are his mother/brothers
Luke 8:40-42, 49-56 (Mk)	Jesus restores Jairus' daughter to life; child's parents both mentioned (vv. 51, 56)
Luke 8:43-48 (Mk)	Jesus heals a hemorrhaging woman; she takes the initiative and is praised for her faith
Luke 10:38-42 (L)	Martha serves & complains while Mary sits at Jesus' feet (like a disciple!) and is praised
Luke 11:27-28 (L)	A woman says, "Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!"
Luke 11:31 (Q)	The Queen of the South used as a positive example; she came to hear Solomon's wisdom
Luke 12:45 (L)	In a parable, both men & women slaves are beaten by a wicked manager
Luke 12:53 (Q)	Families will be divided: father/son, mother/daughter, mother-in-law/daughter-in-law
Luke 13:10-17 (L)	On a sabbath, Jesus cures a woman crippled for 18 years
Luke 13:20-21 (Q)	Parable of the Kingdom of God being like a woman mixing yeast & flour
Luke 13:34 (Q)	Jesus wants to gather Jerusalem's children like a mother hen protects her brood
Luke 14:26 (Q)	Disciples must "hate" father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters
Luke 15:8-10 (L)	Parable of a woman who lost and found a coin, then rejoices with her friends
Luke 16:18 (Mk)	Brief saying against men divorcing their wives or marrying divorced women
Luke 17:26-27 (Q)	In the days of Noah, people were marrying and giving in marriage
Luke 17:32 (L)	"Remember Lot's wife."
Luke 17:35 (Q)	Two women will be grinding grain: one will be taken, one left
Luke 18:1-8 (L)	Parable of a widow fighting for her rights against an unjust judge
Luke 18:20 (Mk)	"Honor your father and mother" (cited from Exod 20:12)
Luke 18:28-30 (Mk)	Disciples who have left wives, brothers, parents, children, etc. will be rewarded
Luke 20:27-36 (Mk)	Sadducees question the resurrection with story of a woman who had seven husbands
Luke 21:1-4 (Mk)	Poor widow's small offering is worth more than the offerings of rich people
Luke 21:23-24 (Mk)	Alas for pregnant and nursing women in the days of Jerusalem's destruction
Luke 22:56-57 (Mk)	Peter's first denial comes after a servant girl challenges him
Luke 23:26-31 (L)	Jesus speaks to wailing women in the crowd on the way to his crucifixion
Luke 23:49 (Mk)	The women from Galilee watch Jesus' crucifixion from a distance
Luke 23:55-56 (Mk)	The women see where Jesus is buried and prepare spices & ointments
Luke 24:1-11 (Mk & L)	The women find Jesus' tomb empty; two messengers speak with them; they remember Jesus' words and go tell the other disciples, who don't believe them
Luke 24:22-24 (L)	Two disciples on the road to Emmaus (two men? a married couple? "Cleopas" named in 24:18) tell Jesus how some women of their group went to the tomb that morning & saw vision of angels

Sources: L = only in Luke; Q = also in Matthew, but not Mark; Mk = also in Mark (and usually also Matthew)
Note: When Luke mentions “disciples” or “they,” do not assume the reference is only to men; it may also include women!

Related Page: Women in John's Gospel

Women in the New Testament – A Bibliography

Commentaries and Dictionaries:

The Women's Bible Commentary. Expanded edition, with Apocrypha. Edited by Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe. Westminster John Knox, 1998.
Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament. Edited by Carol Meyers, Toni Craven, and Ross Shepard Kraemer. Eerdmans, 2001.
A Feminist Companion to the Bible. NT series edited by Amy-Jill Levine. Sheffield Academic Press, 2001-2008. — includes separate volumes on Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, etc.

Studies (in reverse chronological order):

Richard S. Ascough. Lydia: Paul's Cosmopolitan Hostess. Paul's Social Network: Brothers and Sisters in Faith. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2009.
Joan Cecelia Campbell. Phoebe: Patron and Emissary. Paul's Social Network: Brothers and Sisters in Faith. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2009.
J. Ellsworth Kalas. Strong Was Her Faith: Women of the New Testament. Abingdon, 2007.
Barbara E. Reid. Taking Up the Cross: New Testament Interpretations through Latina and Feminist Eyes. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007.
Eldon Jay Epp. Junia: The First Woman Apostle. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005.
Frances Taylor Gench. Back to the Well: Women's Encounters With Jesus in the Gospels. Westminster John Knox, 2004.
Susan Miller. Women in Mark's Gospel. London; New York: T&T Clark International, 2004.
F. Scott Spencer. Dancing Girls, Loose Ladies, and Women of the Cloth: The Women in Jesus' Life. New York: Continuum, 2004.
Richard Bauckham. Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels. Eerdmans, 2002.
Satoko Yamaguchi. Mary & Martha: Women in the World of Jesus. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2002.
Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza. Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation. Orbis, 2001.
Mary Ann Getty-Sullivan. Women in the New Testament. Liturgical Press, 2001.
Larry J. Kreitzer and Deborah W. Rooke, eds. Ciphers in the Sand: Interpretations of the Woman Taken in Adultery (John 7.53-8.11). Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000.
Colleen M. Conway. Men and Women in the Fourth Gospel: Gender and Johannine Characterization. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1999.
Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D'Angelo. Women and Christian Origins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Harold C. Washington, Susan Lochrie Graham, and Pamela Thimmes. Escaping Eden: New Feminist Perspectives on the Bible. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999.
Adeline Fehribach. The Women in the Life of the Bridegroom: A Feminist Historical-Literary Analysis of the Female Characters in the Fourth Gospel. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998.
Anne Thurston. Knowing Her Place: Gender and the Gospels. New York: Paulist, 1998.
Bonnie B. Thurston. Women in the New Testament: Questions and Commentary. Companions to the New Testament. New York: Crossroad, 1998.
Elizabeth G. Watson. Wisdom's Daughters: Stories of Women around Jesus. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1997.
Loretta Dornisch. A Woman Reads the Gospel of Luke. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1996.
Barbara E. Reid. Choosing the Better Part?: Women in the Gospel of Luke. Message of the Fathers of the Church. Michael Glazier, 1996.
Ivoni Richter Reimer. Women in the Acts of the Apostles: A Feminist Liberation Perspective. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1995.
Kathleen E. Corley. Private Women, Public Meals: Social Conflict in the Synoptic Tradition. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1993.
Luise Schottroff. Let the Oppressed Go Free: Feminist Perspectives on the New Testament. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1993.
Florence Morgan Gillman. Women Who Knew Paul. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992.
Craig S. Keener. Paul, Women & Wives: Marriage and Women's Ministry in the Letters of Paul. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1992.
Helen Bruch Pearson. Do What You Have the Power to Do: Studies of Six New Testament Women. Nashville: Upper Room, 1992.
Antoinette Clark Wire. The Corinthian Women Prophets: A Reconstruction through Paul's Rhetoric. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990.
Ben Witherington. Women in the Earliest Churches. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Joseph A. Grassi. Mary Magdalene and the Women in Jesus' Life. Kansas City, MO: Sheed & Ward, 1986.
Francis J. Moloney, SDB. Woman First among the Faithful. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1986.
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York: Crossroad, 1984.
Ben Witherington. Women in the Ministry of Jesus: A Study of Jesus' Attitudes to Women and Their Roles as Reflected in His Earthly Life. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Edith Deen. All of the Women of the Bible. HarperOne, 1983.
Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel. The Women around Jesus. New York: Crossroad, 1982.
Evelyn and Frank Stagg. Woman in the World of Jesus. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978.
Rachel Conrad Wahlberg. Jesus according to a Woman. Revised ed. New York: Paulist, 1975.
Rosemary Radford Ruether. Religion and Sexism: Images of Woman in the Jewish and Christian Traditions. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974.
Edward Lynn Bode. The First Easter Morning: The Gospel Accounts of the Women's Visit to the Tomb of Jesus. Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1970.
Krister Stendahl. The Bible and the Role of Women: A Case Study in Hermeneutics. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1966.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The Woman's Bible. New York: Arno Press, 1972; orig. 1895-98.

Note: Many more books not listed above focus on women in the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible.

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