by Helen Bond

The Easter story is full of women. It’s women who remain faithful to Jesus as he dies an otherwise lonely death on the cross, women who warily follow the council member as he inters the body, and women who discover the empty grave on the Sunday morning. Embedded within the tale are a number of strikingly female-centred vignettes: Jesus’ mother clasping the Beloved disciple at the cross; the women fleeing the tomb in abject terror at the angelic figure and his announcement; and Mary Magdalene’s joyful recognition that the man she took to be the gardener is actually the risen Lord.

Yet the strong focus on women at the end of the story seems strangely out of step with the earlier part of Jesus’ ministry which – at least at first blush – seems decidedly male-centred. Jesus apparently maintains little contact with his family in Nazareth and talks instead of his heavenly Father. He chooses twelve male disciples and travels around Galilee in their company, engaging male opponents in public debate. Only an inner group of men appear to witness the raising of Jairus’ daughter, Jesus’ heavenly transfiguration, or the final agony in Gethsemane. And if women were present at the last supper, none are mentioned.