Luke 8:3 - Exposition

Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward . She must have been a person of wealth and high rank at the court of Herod Antipas. There were evidently not a few believers in that wicked and dissolute centre. Some years later we read of Manaen, the foster-brother of Herod, as a notable Christian ( Acts 13:1 ). Even Herod himself, we know, at first heard John the Baptist gladly. and, after the terrible judicial murder, we find that unhappy prince fancying that his victim had risen from the dead. It has been suggested that this Chuza was the nobleman of Capernaum whose dying son was healed by Jesus ( John 4:46 ). If this be the case, there would be a special reason for the loving devotion of this Joanna to the Master. She reappears among the faithful women in the history of the Resurrection ( Luke 24:10 ). Susanna . The name signifies "lily." The Jews were fond of giving the names of flowers and trees to their girls; thus Rhoda , a rose ( Acts 12:13 ), Tamar , a palm ( 2 Samuel 13:2 ), among many instances. Of this Susanna nothing further is known.