Mark alone mentions a woman called Salome, being one of the three that went early to the tomb to anoint the body of the Lord. The apostle John, mentions that by the cross stood His mother and His mother’s sister; His Mother’s sister is identify as Salome, the wife of Zebedee, so, it is strongly possible that James and John, were cousins of the Lord Jesus! I believe that the apostle John mentions only Mary Magdalene, because she did not return with the other women, as I mentioned above, and in her despair, she lingered trying to find somebody, that knew something, as to what really happened to the Lord. Following what I wrote above, when Jesus spoke to her, bent down and crying, for some reason she did not recognise His voice at first but: Thinking that it was the gardener, she said: Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him. Insisting as she did was rewarded beyond any human expectation, for Jesus alive, risen from the dead! chose to reveal Himself firstly to her! Mary Magdalene from whom he cast out seven demons; a miracle woman, who became very attached, to Her Lord and loved Him deeply, as her Saviour and Master! 

I have mentioned all these women because I believe that the Holy Spirit wanted Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, to show the important service they rendered to Christ, as they ministered to Him, and His apostles during his campaigns and outside of them. History, especially because of the poison sewn by the Roman Church over centuries, and other religions, have not treated woman as did Jesus, and the primitive Church, this respect and function of women, did not stop as the Church grew miraculously from Asia to Europe, during at least the first three centuries. 

As much of the Church became political since the fall of the Roman empire, and lost its purity of doctrine, an unholy attitude has given women a very hard time, it followed, that women in general, thought, and still do, that the Lord only appreciates what is done by men, and that men only are called to this special ministry of spreading the good news. Eve did yield first to Satan, it’s a fact, but it is only when Adam fell that both were struck by the evil of disobedience, and that their eyes were opened, and found that they were naked. If Adam had not yielded to the temptation, nothing would have happened, because Adam was Eve’s covering! Having said that, I have known only few women, that in my life time, pastored a Church, but most helped their husbands in their ministry, as did my wife, and were greatly blessed.

Hence the work of God started with the Lord Jesus leaving Nazareth, and after His baptism, and forty days of fasting, followed by a short time in Judea, He returned to Galilee, where, by the sea of Galilee, He called five disciples, Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, sons of Zebedee, then Philip, whom he called the day, or so, after. These five disciples left their trade, and followed Jesus through His first year of ministry, and with Him they went to Jerusalem for the Passover! I am mentioning this because the women that are mentioned, ministered to the physical and material needs from the second year of his ministry, after he chose twelve disciples as mentioned in the Gospel of Luke: ‘One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, He called his disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He designated apostles: Simon (whom He called Peter) his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, (these had toured with Him completing Jesus’ first year, which started with Him leaving Nazareth to go and be baptised in water by John the Baptist), Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. (Luke 6: 12-15) It gives us an idea of who were in the evangelistic party, and were looked after, together with the Lord Jesus, by the ladies mentioned previously!