HE WORE a simple black turtleneck and pants, his only prop a single stool on an otherwise empty stage. Yet this actor's one-man show became a theatrical tour de force packed with imagery, power, tragedy, and triumph. Dramatizing the King James Version of the Gospel of Mark, the performer transported his audience into one of the world's most familiar stories, while also making at least this viewer feel as though she had never truly "gotten it" before. Thus began my lifelong love of what is both the briefest of the four Gospels and, by most scholarly assessments, the first to be written.
One day it occurred to me to investigate the women mentioned in Mark's Gospel. Surely the author—and the subject of his story, Jesus—encountered many women in that remarkable first century. So why highlight just a few? Was there something about each one that could shed light on what it means to be a Christian, whether in the first century or today?
As I began to study, I discovered that the women of Mark's Gospel represent a spectrum of qualities both to emulate and to avoid—from the poor widow who gave so generously to the temple treasury, See Mark 12:41—44 . to Herodias, who tried to scheme and lie her way to power. See Mark 6:17—28 . It also struck me that, although these women were secondary citizens in their male-dominated society, their inclusion in Jesus' ministry speaks to the ongoing universality of his message for all spiritual seekers, regardless of gender or class.
