Evaluate the importance of women disciples in Mark Essay

Evaluate the importance of women disciples in Mark - Essay Example In the Gospel of Mark, women are presented as the ones who faithfully remained with Jesus Christ during His passion till His death3. In the Gospel of Mark we read the following â€Å"There were also women working on a far off; among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less, and of Joses, and Salome; Who also, when he was I Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him; and many other women who came up with him unto Jerusalem’’4 . In the Gospel of Mark therefore, women disciples are contrasted with the male disciples who ran away during the passion of Jesus Christ. Even Simon peter, who had early promised Jesus Christ that he would never abandon him, eventually abandoned Jesus Christ. Women therefore are presented in the Gospel of Mark as faithful disciples, who are ready to endure all manner of sufferings for the sake of their faith. Again, as we have seen in the above quotation, the women who remained faithfully with Jesus Christ during his passion had been with Jesus Christ, throughout his ministry, ministering to him. This fact shows that women disciples were quite important in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Besides enduring sufferings and remaining faithfully with Jesus Christ during his passion, women disciples also discovered, as it were, Jesus’ suffering messiahship before the male disciple. On this view, the feminist Bible scholar Elisabeth Fiorenza in her book, A Feminine Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, states that it was a woman who recognized Jesus’ suffering messiahship, and in a prophetic sign-action, the woman anointed Jesus for his burial, while some of the male disciples of Jesus Christ reprimanded her5. The women disciples in the book of Mark, therefore, are presented as having a clear knowledge of the mission of Jesus Christ as a suffering Messiah. In the Gospel of Mark, in the healing miracles of Jesus Christ, women are portrayed as a model of Jesus Christ’s