Unrecognised Disciples: The Role of Women

as Disciples of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew

Melanie Perkins

ABSTRACT: This essay deals with the issue of women as disciples in the Gospel of Matthew by
attributing characteristics or qualities of discipleship to various stories of women in Matthew. In
arguing that any who come to believe in and follow Jesus can be called ‘disciples’, it offers the view
that some women who previously had not been recognised as disciples should be identified as such.

Like all good sermon preparation, my understanding and development of this topic has

grown as I have read. This however is no treatise determined to convince the ‘faithful’ of

the important role of women in Jesus’ life and as disciples – it is an academic essay striving

to journey through the ‘hotly’ debated and somewhat paradoxical-in-nature topic of the

role of women as disciples as portrayed in Matthew.

With the advent of feminist criticism, the scholarly world has been challenged by the

outcry that the Biblical texts are androcentric and patriarchal, with women being kept

silent and their stories largely ignored. Some strident feminist scholars have even

suggested ‘ditching’ the texts altogether, finding them insulting and worthless as guides in

woman’s quest for relationship with the Divine. This author agrees that much of the

Biblical texts contain gender exclusive language and male-oriented examples. However, I

also agree with more moderate feminist scholars in finding not only much in the text to

recommend to women but also significant stories of women shown to be exemplars of

faith for both women and men.

With this in mind, I have chosen to group my discussion and analysis around certain

characteristics thought to portray faithful discipleship. Each section contains examples of

women or about women demonstrating qualities looked for in the Kingdom of God. I have

chosen in this sense to call all the women ‘disciples’, understanding the term to mean all
those who come to believe in and follow Jesus1. The first characteristic therefore is also the

most important – relationship with God through the One who is called the Christ.

Relationship with God

Jesus’ ministry was characterised by a deep intimate relationship with his Father. This was

not an exclusive relationship but one that Jesus willingly extended to those he met and

those with whom he lived his earthly life. It was also one that was sacrificial and self-less

in nature. This relationship is seen too in the women such as Mary Magdalene and others

who went against tradition and left their lives and homes to follow Jesus and minister to

his needs2. It has a particular focus in the stories of the woman who anointed Jesus at the

home of Simon the leper (26:6-13) and the mother of the sons of Zebedee (20:20-28 and

27:55-56)3. Zebedee’s wife originally behaves as a typical [Jewish] mother, approaching

Jesus to try and advance the standing of her sons (20:21). The episode does not turn out as

she had hoped and nothing more is said of her until the crucifixion where she is placed as

a witness to the cross with some other women who risk arrest through their vigil (27:56).

But here this woman shifts from a traditional maternal role and into a role of true

discipleship at the foot of the cross where she becomes most fully herself4 – into a

relationship with God that is centred on belief, sacrifice and following Jesus.

The woman who anoints Jesus feet at the home of Simon the leper also moves out of the

social and religious constraints of her gender as she ministers to Jesus. As the story is told,

she is bold in her approach as she draws near to him face-to-face5. This and her following

actions bring on derision and a call for censure by others, including the disciples, but Jesus

affirms her and her love for him6. It is thought by some that it was normally forbidden for

1 I have chosen this broad and rather simple, yet fairly orthodox understanding of discipleship
because even the scholars struggle with who were female disciples of Jesus and what this meant
they were called to be and do.
2 Muriel Porter, Beyond the Twelve – Women disciples in the gospels (Thornbury, Victoria:
Desbooks/Wisdom Press, 1989), 15.
3 Unless otherwise stated all Biblical references are from The Gospel of Matthew, NRSV.
4 Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel, The Women Around Jesus – Reflections on Authentic Personhood
(London: SCM Press, 1982), 126 and Elaine Mary Wainwright, Towards a Feminist Critical Reading of
the Gospel According to Matthew (Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1991), 329.
5 Wainwright, Towards a Feminist Critical Reading of the Gospel According to Matthew, 126.
6Rosemary M. Dowsett, “Matthew” in Catherine Clark Kroeger and Mary J. Evans (eds.), The IVP
Women’s Bible Commentary (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 540.

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a convicted criminal to be anointed7, so she willingly and lovingly crossed many social

taboos not just by being in the presence of men in this way but by her extravagant action8.

Jesus also breaks taboos and demonstrates the extraordinary love of God for this woman

by allowing her to touch him9; they were not close enough in kinship for this type of touch

to be socially acceptable10. And yet in the text she becomes a model of faith as this

woman’s faith is in stark contrast with those around Jesus11, who fail to fully comprehend

his ministry and the gathering threatening clouds12. She alone of those present anticipates

his death and offers him support by ministering in such a sacrificial way13. The loving

actions of these and other women bring me to the next characteristic of discipleship –

accepting a call into a ministry of presence.

A Ministry of Presence and Love

One of the most telling points of Jesus’ ministry was his demonstrated desire to be with

others. While he necessarily took time to rest and teach his disciples on their own, Jesus

spent much time being present with those to whom he was called. Many of those he

healed and particularly those who travelled with him would have felt the incredible and

compassionate love this man had for them. As Matthew tells the story, watching the

crucifixion from some distance away were a group of women who “had followed Jesus

from Galilee and had provided for him” (27:55). These women who ministered to Jesus

were faithfully present to see his death. Two saw where he was buried (27:61) and after the

Sabbath, early in the morning, went back to the tomb and found it empty (28:1-7). Within a

male-oriented text and patriarchal environment, mention of the women at this point in the

story is significant, particularly when it is remembered that there were no male disciples

present. What did these women learn about ministry and discipleship from Jesus, the one

who was the embodied love of God? Were they able to recognise that they too were part of

7 Dowsett, “Matthew”, 539.

8While Jesus had not yet been charged or convicted of any crime, he was already on the ‘hit-list’ of
some significant leaders.
9Francis J. Moloney, SDB, Woman First Among The Faithful – A New Testament Study (Blackburn,
Victoria: Dove Communications, 1984), 19.
10 Dowsett, “Matthew”, 528.
11 Moloney, Woman First Among The Faithful, 19.
12Jane Kopas, “Jesus and Women in Matthew”, Theology Today 47, 1 (April 1990), 19, ProQuest
Religion; accessed September 19, 2007.
13Evelyn & Frank Stagg, Woman in the World of Jesus (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1978), 121,
and Wainwright, Towards a Feminist Critical Reading of the Gospel According to Matthew, 132.

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the Kingdom of God and called to be disciples alongside men? Even though their

contribution might not be the same as that of their male counterparts, surely they learnt

something from Jesus about discipleship14 because their actions of love and faith

demonstrate the presence of the Kingdom of God, which like the small amount of yeast in

flour, becomes “the bread of life” in the world15 (parable of the yeast, 13:33). And it is

living out the Kingdom of God which allows women to be called “witnesses”.

Witness to the World

In Jesus’ actions and his teaching, he witnessed to his love for the Father and the Father’s

for Jesus and the world. Jesus called his disciples to do likewise but this is often thought to

relate particularly to men (28:16-20)16. In such an androcentric world as that in which the

Gospels were set, the witness or testimony of women was considered worthless. Yet in all

four Gospels women were the first to find the empty tomb and Matthew’s version of the

story reports that Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” after he

had risen, before he appeared to his male disciples (28:9). These women were told by an

angel at the tomb that Jesus was risen from the dead (28:7)17. When Jesus appeared to them

shortly after, he gave them instructions for the brothers. These women at the tomb have a

strong faith in God and “loyalty to Jesus”18 and are the first to come to faith in the risen

Christ19. Unlike some of the men who even on seeing the risen Jesus had doubts (28:17),

the two Mary’s appeared to have no doubts on seeing Jesus (28:9). In contrast to some of

the men, the women’s “devotion is sincere, their joy great, their obedience perfect, their

worship spontaneous”20. However while the growing church valued the teaching of those

who had witnessed Jesus’ life and resurrection, Paul does not attest to the witness of the

14 Kopas, “Jesus and Women in Matthew”, 20.

15Amy-Jill Levine, “Matthew”, in Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe (eds.), The Women’s Bible
Commentary (London: SPCK/Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992), 258, and Christine
Burke, IBVM, Through a woman’s eyes – encounters with Jesus (Melbourne: Collins Dove, 1989), 37.
16Ben Witherington III, Women and the Genesis of Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1990), 232.
17While many commentators doubt the historicity of the appearance of the angel, I have chosen not
to focus on that here. Rather I wish to examine how the text as it is portrays women as witnesses to
the resurrection.
18 Moloney, Woman First Among The Faithful, 21.
19 Moloney, Woman First Among The Faithful, 21.
20Witherington, Women and the Genesis of Christianity, 232. While the text does not explicitly say that
the women did go and tell the other disciples, it is implied.

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women (1 Cor 15:1-7)21. It has been suggested that the emphasis of women as witnesses in

all four Gospel accounts serves as a correction to Paul, and it would indeed be a strange

corrective particularly within a male-oriented church, if the story of the women’s witness

was not true22. These faithful women as well as the men were called to witness to the risen

Christ23, but have they been given the same level of respect for this as has been given to the

male disciples and Paul throughout the centuries of the church?

Respect for all People

It is arguable that Jesus tried to teach those around him respect for all people:

Jesus did not conduct his dealings with others on the basis of blood ties, of the

needs these implied, the functions or roles they covered, but established a

direct relationship with others, whom he saw as creatures of God, recipients of

his proclamation.24

This included women and it appears that not only were women accepted by Jesus as part

of his intimate group (27:55) – “a gathering of free individuals, and not as a patriarchal

household”25 – but that women were likely to be present when Jesus taught large crowds

(14:51; 15:38)26.

Jesus’ teaching on divorce and adultery (5:27-32; 19:3-12) challenged the accepted social

norm where a woman was considered to be an object to be owned, first by her father, then

by her husband27. Women had few rights within society and were denigrated in much

21 Mary Ellen Ashcroft, Spirited Women – Encountering the first women believers (Minneapolis:
Augsburg, 2000), 14. Rev Dr Greg Jenks is among those who do not think this is strange – “in a
world where stories about women encountering dead heroes while loitering in cemeteries would
have little credibility, and even less if any of the women had a history of demon possession or
mental illness” such reports would hardly be believed. Paul in many ways merely follows the
tradition of his time.
22 Stagg and Stagg, Woman in the World of Jesus, 145.
23Pheme Perkins, “I Have Seen the Lord” (John 20:18) – Women Witnesses to the Resurrection”,
Interpretation Vol 46 Issue 1 (Jan 92), 41, and Kopas, “Jesus and Women in Matthew”, 20-21.
24 Carla Ricci, Mary Magdalene and Many Others: Women who followed Jesus. Translated from the
Italian by Paul Burns (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994), 178.
25 Wainwright, Towards a Feminist Critical Reading of the Gospel According to Matthew, 330.
26 Dowsett, “Matthew”, 520, and Elaine Wainwright, “The Gospel of Matthew” in Elisabeth
Schüssler Fiorenza (ed.) with the assistance of Ann Brock and Shelly Matthews, Searching the
Scriptures Volume Two: A Feminist Commentary (New York: Crossroad, 1994), 645.
27 Moloney, Woman First Among The Faithful, 23, and Dowsett, “Matthew”, 535.

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Greek and Jewish literature or were considered to be a man’s ‘beck-and-call’ in everything

including pleasure28. Women had inferior standing to men in marriage and could be

divorced for a number of reasons, some of them trivial. In Jesus’ teaching, men and the

religious teaching were confronted with their unequal and dishonouring practices and

were called upon to treat women with honour and dignity, giving women greater security

in marriage for life29. No longer were just actions to be judged – Jesus understood that it

was within the human heart that both action and thinking were created, so he asserted that

even thinking about a woman sexually who was not the man’s wife, was also the sin of

adultery30. Because women were the ones in positions of disadvantage, Jesus spoke in

male-oriented language to men on these subjects, but it is not a great stretch of the

imagination to believe that such an understanding of the sin of adultery would have

applied to women also31. However, Jesus’ inclusion of all people in the Kingdom of God

went beyond Jewish women to other ‘untouchables’ also.

Compassion for the World’s Untouchables: All are Included in the Kingdom of God

Throughout his ministry, Jesus usually showed generous compassion for those he met

who were considered to be the outcast or untouchables of society – women, Gentiles32, the

poor, prostitutes, the ill and the dead. By his example, he showed his followers how they

too were to act. The three females to be discussed in this section would not normally be

classified as disciples of Jesus, and it is futile to speculate on the course of their lives

following their encounter with Jesus. But it would be very surprising if they did not at

least talk to others about their experience with Jesus, making them at the very least,

proclaimers of his message of inclusion, within their own life circumstances. For all three

females – the woman bleeding for twelve years (9:20-22), the Canaanite woman/mother

28 Stagg and Stagg, Woman in the World of Jesus, 129.

29Dowsett, “Matthew”, 535. Some feminist scholars believe that Jesus’ teachings here reflected his
basic belief that all, including women were worthy of being treated with honour and dignity
because all, including women, were children of God, and thus equal in the eyes of God. But did
Jesus really treat all, including women, with honour and dignity and equality? This is a debatable
point amongst scholars generally, and not only feminist ones. Within the Biblical texts as we now
have them, at times Jesus appears to challenge the social, political and gender norms of the day,
while at other times he seems to be acting within the these constraints.
30 Stagg and Stagg, Woman in the World of Jesus, 129, and Kopas, “Jesus and Women in Matthew”, 15.
31 Stagg and Stagg, Woman in the World of Jesus, 130.
Though some would argue that Jesus was not initially so compassionate with the Canaanite
32

woman!

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(15:21-28), and the synagogue leader’s daughter (9:18-19, 23-26) – their encounter with

Jesus was literally life-giving.

As Jesus was teaching, a leader of the synagogue came up to him and asked him to come

and lay hands on his daughter who had just died. While they were on the way to the

leader’s house, a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years called up just enough

courage to come up behind Jesus and touch his cloak, believing if she could do so33, she

would be healed (9:20-21). Jesus turns and instead of reprimanding her for crossing a

social taboo and touching him as she might have expected34, he commends her faith and

she is made well (9:22), thereby restoring her to her community. But Jesus also calls her

daughter, granting her dignity and a place in his family by claiming kinship with her35 and

removing the social stigma she had been carrying, both as a woman and one who was

continuously bleeding36. Upon reaching the leader’s house, Jesus puts the unbelieving

mourners outside and takes the child by her hand, risking becoming ritually unclean

himself37 but restoring her life, and a daughter to her parents. Everything that Jesus did in

his encounters with these two females – compassion, inclusion, not being afraid to offer

healing touch thereby granting them dignity, responding to the faith of the woman and

the father, offering them hope – surely showed them and those who were witnesses, a

view of his Father’s heart of love for all people. It is this that makes this author wonder if it

also transformed them into disciples.

The story of the Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus with a request that he heals her

daughter is somewhat different, as Jesus does not initially respond with compassion

towards her. Here a woman loudly confronts Jesus (15:22) and when he does not respond,

comes and kneels in front of him. Jesus originally appears reluctant to grant her request,

clearly saying to her that as a Gentile she was not entitled to what he had to offer (15:24-

26). But this woman had a mother’s courage and concern for her possessed daughter made

her bold, as she countered Jesus’ arguments. It is clear that she does not accept the socially

33 Wainwright, Towards a Feminist Critical Reading of the Gospel According to Matthew, 89.
34 Dowsett, “Matthew”, 529.
35 Wainwright, Towards a Feminist Critical Reading of the Gospel According to Matthew, 91.
36Stagg and Stagg, Woman in the World of Jesus, 110, and Moloney, Woman First Among The Faithful,
10.
37Amy-Jill Levine, “Matthew” in Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe (eds.), The Women’s Bible
Commentary (London: SPCK/Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992), 257.

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exclusive ethnic and gender boundaries that Jesus seems to be operating within38, nor does

she allow her pagan background to stop her recognising who Jesus really is39. Was Jesus

testing her faith through this dialogue or trying to teach the disciples an important lesson

or was Jesus himself struggling with a growing understanding of the extent of his

ministry40? Whatever the reason, this woman shows her faith to be strong and tenacious.

Jesus recognising this praises her faith and grants her request. This is an interesting

contrast to the disciples41 who try to send her away and are admonished earlier by Jesus

for having “little faith” (8:26)! As the Canaanite woman clearly recognises who Jesus is, it

is likely that this encounter with Jesus that grants new life to her daughter is also life-

changing for her.

The Unlikely ‘Disciples’: Evidence of God’s Working beyond Exclusion

Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah – all ancestors of Jesus through

Joseph – and Mary, Jesus’ mother, are all curious inclusions in Matthew’s genealogy of

Jesus (chapter 1). While some believe that Mary also became a disciple of Jesus, all the

other women were long dead by the time Jesus was born, so why include them in a

discussion of women as disciples of Jesus in Matthew, when they don’t even fit this

author’s earlier definition of a ‘disciple’? Their inclusion by Matthew’s author shows them

to be concerned with presenting Jesus from the beginning as being connected to both men

and women, Jews and Gentiles42 and thus that the Kingdom of God encompassed more

than just male Jews. But the Old Testament stories of these four women43 show something

more than this – God is already present and active in people’s lives beyond those who are

considered to be “God’s people”. Disciples are called to recognise the presence of God

Elaine M Wainwright, Shall We Look for Another? – A Feminist Rereading of the Matthean Jesus (New
38

York: Orbis, 1998), 87, and Wainwright, “The Gospel of Matthew”, 651.
39 Dowsett, “Matthew”, 534, and Kopas, “Jesus and Women in Matthew”, 18.
40Stagg and Stagg, Woman in the World of Jesus, 114-115, and Wainwright, “The Gospel of Matthew”,
637, 652-653. A traditional understanding of this event has Jesus teaching the disciples a lesson. It is
though somewhat disturbing to believe that a compassionate Jesus may have been adding to a
mother’s distress at a time she was afraid for her daughter’s life, just to teach his disciples a lesson!
However for many it is equally disturbing to believe that Jesus himself may have been challenged
by the encounter with this woman, causing him to broaden his understanding of his mission.
41The “disciples” referred to in 15:23 and 8:26 are probably the male disciples, though it is possible
the women may have been present also.
42 Wainwright, Towards a Feminist Critical Reading of the Gospel According to Matthew, 327.
43Tamar – Genesis 38:6-30. Rahab – Joshua 2:1-21; 6:17, 22-25. Ruth – Ruth. Bathsheba – 2 Samuel 11:2-
12:25.

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active outside what is traditionally seen as ‘the church’ and to thus work beyond exclusion

due to race, gender and class, towards inclusion of all in the Kingdom of God. So while

almost all these women did not even know Jesus, all their stories tell of important qualities

of discipleship.

Ruth, Rahab and Bathsheba, at least, were not Jewish, and all four Old Testament women

had a “past”44. But their lives tell the story that God’s grace brings about new life, even

from that which appears lost, with not-a-little help, courage and initiative from the women

themselves45, as God does not directly rescue them from their situation46. Scholars have

also noticed that all five women were “involved in “irregular” sexual unions and yet were

vehicles of God’s Messianic plan”47 – even Mary had trouble convincing her betrothed

Joseph that she had not had sexual relations with a man (1:18-19). Warner adds that

despite this, all women acted with righteousness more in accord with what Matthew

suggests in the Sermon on the Mount than most of the men around them48. These women

are included here as the “unlikely” ‘disciples’ because all allowed God to work in and

through them to bring about God’s purpose, despite the fact that for all the circumstances

were unusual and often quite painful. All five women show incredible courage, ingenuity

and strength and faith in God to bring them to new life and thus paradoxically are

witnesses to the Gospel and models of faith to all disciples of Christ.

Conclusion

Matthew presents the Kingdom of God as a “a new world … where men and women –

children of the same God, his Father – were allowed to be men and women – brothers and

sisters equally”49. No longer were ties of nationhood or blood, gender or cult to determine

the family of God – to become part of Jesus’ family all that was required was “personhood

and faith/obedience to God”50. Although at times, Matthew does not appear to accord

44 Dowsett, “Matthew”, 519.

45 Dowsett, “Matthew”, 522, and Moloney, Woman First Among The Faithful, 36.
46 Wainwright, “The Gospel of Matthew”, 642.
47 Witherington, Women and the Genesis of Christianity, 229.
48Megan Warner, ”Uncertain women: Sexual Irregularity and the Greater Righteousness in
Matthew 1”, Pacifica 18 (February 2005), 18-32, ProQuest Religion; accessed September 19, 2007.
49 Moloney, Woman First Among The Faithful, 24.
50 Stagg and Stagg, Woman in the World of Jesus, 139.

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women equal status to men as disciples and his created world is male-centred51, the signs

are there of a radically new understanding of ministry that called women and men equally

to be open to the call of Jesus into faith and committed discipleship.

51 Wainwright, “The Gospel of Matthew”, 637.

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