Joana de Cusa Foundation

Joanna of Chuza, a Disciple from the Very Beginning
Study developed by Eduardo Costa - website www.ieja.org

What we know nowadays about Joanna de Chuza is partly contained in the Gospel according to Luke and mostly written by Spirit Humberto de Campos in the book “Boa Nova” (Good News), through the mediumship of our beloved medium Chico Xavier.

Joanna was the wife of Chuza, the steward of Herod Antipas, king of the Jews from 4 BC to 39 BC. After having received a grace or a healing from the Master and having known his teachings by listening discreetly to his preaching, she tried to follow him. She was then advised by Jesus not to do so but to stay at home and, through her words and behavior, help the evolution of the husband who had been trusted to her in that life.  

When her son was born, she dedicated her body and her soul to his upbringing and moral education, with the same zeal and love she had for her husband. Following Jesus from a distance, as much as her occupation as zealous mother and dedicated wife would allow, she was one of the women who provided financial help to Jesus and his disciples.

After the martyrdom of Jesus, Joanna joined other women and went to the tomb with spices and ointments to wrap up the dead body of the Master. Arriving there, they found the empty tomb, thus being able to testify the survival of the Spirit after the death of the body, as Jesus had taught them.

After her husband passed away, she had to work for other families to raise her son, something she did with dignity until she was old.

During one of the many persecutions suffered by the early Christians, Joanna was imprisoned with her son and other followers of Jesus and taken to the circus in Rome. There on August 27, year 68, she was sacrificed by being burnt on a pyre stake together with her son and several other martyrs who refused to renounce their faith.

Humberto de Campos’s description of the last moments of Joanna contains additional information that interests us in a particular way. Humberto de Campos tells us that when the flames had already started to touch Joanna’s body, she serenely lived those painful moments with her mind focused on Jesus. Then she was interrogated by an executioner, who asked her:

- Has your Christ only taught you how to die?

To what she placidly replied:

- Not only how to die, but also how to love you! ...
Under the tremendous emotional and mental dilemma of having to choose between keeping faithful to Jesus or betraying him in order to save her life and that of her son, she found strengths to give victory to her mind and restrain her emotions.  On that supreme moment she proved to have learned in the deepest of herself how to love even her executioners.
How much did Joanna of Chuza learn close to her beloved Master!