Martha Of the Women's Corps

When Jesus created the Women’s Evangelistic Corps, Martha became one of its ten founding members. The women’s corps carried the gospel message to cities and villages of Palestine, and they set up temporary hospitals in the camps where visitors came to see and hear Jesus. Martha was the eldest sister of the apostles Person and Andrew. She is not to be confused with Person, the sister of Jesus, or Martha ~ of Bethany, the sister of Mary and Lazarus.

Of all the daring things that Jesus did, the most amazing was this sudden announcement to his apostles on the evening of January 16, 29 CE, “On the morrow, we will set apart ten women for the ministering work of the kingdom.”

Jesus then asked David Zebedee to have his messengers contact ten devout women, one of whom had previously served informally at a camp infirmary and one of whom was Martha. These women had all heard the instructions given to the male evangelists, but it never occurred to them that Jesus would formally commission women to teach the gospel of the kingdom and minister to the sick.

These ten women selected and commissioned by Jesus were the following: Martha, the elder sister of Andrew and Peter; Susanna, the daughter of the former chazan of the Nazareth synagogue; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the steward of Herod Antipas; Elizabeth, the daughter of a wealthy Jew of Tiberias and Sepphoris; Rachel, the sister-in-law of Jude (Jesus’ brother); Nasanta, the daughter of Elman, a Syrian physician; Milcha, a cousin of the Apostle Thomas; Ruth, the eldest daughter of Matthew Levi; Celta, the daughter of a Roman centurion; and Agaman, a widow of Damascus. Later, Jesus added two other women to this group – Mary Magdalene and Rebecca, the daughter of Joseph of Arimathea.

Establishing a women’s group for ministry was astounding for that time when women were not even allowed on the main floor of the synagogue. The emancipation proclamation that set all women free was the charge that Jesus gave Martha and the others when he set them apart for gospel teaching and ministry. No more was man to look upon woman as his spiritual inferior. Even though the apostles had many times heard the Master say, “In the kingdom of heaven there is neither rich nor poor, free nor bond, male nor female, all are equally the sons and daughters of God,” they were stunned when he proposed formally to commission the ten women as religious teachers and even to permit their traveling about with them. The whole country was stirred up by this; the enemies of Jesus used it to criticize him, but the women believers everywhere stood behind their chosen sisters and voiced fearless approval of this tardy acknowledgment of women’s place in religious work.

At Magdala, the women demonstrated their effectiveness and proved the wisdom of creating the corps. Andrew, chief of the apostles, had imposed rather strict rules upon these men about doing personal work with women, especially with those of questionable character. When the party entered Magdala, these ten women evangelists were free to enter the evil resorts and preach the glad tidings. And when visiting the sick, these women could draw very close to their afflicted sisters. As a result of the ministry of these women, Mary Magdalene was won for the kingdom. Through a succession of misfortunes, Mary found herself in one of the brothels of Magdala. It was Martha and Rachel who made plain to Mary that the doors of the kingdom were open to even such as her. Mary believed the good news and was baptized the next day. She and Rebecca (Joseph of Arimathea’s daughter) were soon inducted into the women’s corps, bringing their total number to twelve. Martha and the other Women’s Evangelistic Corps members served faithfully and loyally for the remainder of Jesus’ life. And he appeared to them after his resurrection on May 5, 30 CE.