The myrrhbearers were women close to Jesus, those who were with him during his Passion and at the foot of the Cross, those to whom he appeared immediately after his resurrection.

Most prominent among them were Saint Salome and Saint Mary Magdalen. There are two parallel traditions about Saint Salome. She was closely related to Jesus either through the Mother God or Saint Joseph. In the first case, she was a half-sister or cousin of the Mother of God. Or she may have been a child of Saint Joseph’s first marriage. In either case, she certainly was close to Jesus right through his earthly life. She certainly was the mother of the apostles James and John and a wealthy owner of fisheries in Capernaum. Salome is mentioned by name only in the Gospel according to Mark.

The apostles Peter and Andrew owned fisheries in Capernaum, and must have been colleagues and friends of James and John quite a while before they followed Jesus.

Because of Saint Salome, we know that there is a close link between Jesus’ family and the apostles closest to Christ.

Saint Mary Magdalen is equally important among the myrrhbearers. She was healed by Jesus of a severe illness caused by being possessed by seven devils. This case of possession was exclusively a form of severe illness and had nothing to do with sinfulness. Tragically, in the sixth century, a legend was created that she had led a promiscuous life but then had repented. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We need to understand clearly that Saint Mary Magdalen was not someone with a sinful past who eventually mended her ways. She was a wealthy unmarried woman from near Capernaum and was very close to Jesus’ relatives. There is no reliable information about her life after Pentecost, and the traditions that she went to France and Rome are spurious. She is mentioned by name in all four Gospels.

The other myrrhbearers were Saint Joanna, the wife of the steward of Herod Antipas, about whom we know little, and Saint Susanna, about whom we do not know anything beyond the fact that she was one of the myrrhbearers. Both are mentioned by name in the Gospel according to Luke.

When Jesus told James and John, Peter and Andrew, follow me, they responded immediately because they had known Jesus for some time, possibly most of their lives. Both the calling by Jesus and the instantaneous response by the apostles make immediate sense if everybody concerned knew each other well long before the public ministry of Jesus. If Jesus and the four apostles who became closest to him had been complete strangers, their immediate bonding would have required an astonishing miracle, but there is no evidence for that.

We can now see that unless we give the myrrhbearers their due importance, we are bound to have a poorer image of the Saviour’s human nature. We need to see his family and close friends as people who played a key role in the Lord’s earthly life, before and during his public ministry.

Thinking of Jesus as living always in the context of the myrrhbearers enables us to understand Christ’s earthly life clearly.

Amen.

Given by Fr. Yves