Favorite Bible Women Wrap-up

PODCAST

Mar 12

Written By Ryan Joy & Bryan Schiele

274 | “So Many Marys”

Draft Your Favorite Bible Women

Voting is officially open! Before you cast your ballots in the Favorite Bible Women Bible Bracket, we're wrapping up our draft with the final two regions. In Part 2, we tackle the "Friends and Followers" (the devoted inner circle of the early church) and the "Nameless Notables" (the anonymous women whose faith left a permanent mark on Scripture). We debate whether Mary Magdalene or Mary of Bethany deserves the overall #1 seed, and we marvel at how many of our most frequently preached sermons feature women whose names we don't even know. We finalize the bracket, share a few honorable mentions who almost made the cut (sorry, Gomer and Mary of Clopas!), and invite you to join the fun.

Takeaways

The Big Idea: The stories of biblical women — from famous matriarchs to unnamed women of valor — are foundational examples of courage, leadership, and faith that still shape us today.

This Week's Challenge: Pick one woman from the bracket whose story you aren't familiar with and read about her this week.

Helpful Links

Friends & Followers Regional

The inner circle of the New Testament and the early church.

Mary Magdalene – The first witness to the Resurrection (John 20:11–18).
Mary of Bethany – The disciple who chose "the better part" at Jesus' feet (Luke 10:38-42).
Martha – The hardworking host and bold confessor of faith (John 11:20-27).
Elizabeth – The mother of John the Baptist, who was filled with the Spirit (Luke 1:39-45).
Lois – The faithful grandmother who passed down her sincere faith to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:5).
Eunice – The devoted mother who raised Timothy in the genuine faith (2 Timothy 1:5).
Tabitha (Dorcas) – A woman of immense charity raised from the dead (Acts 9:36-42).
Anna the Prophetess – The elderly widow who recognized the infant Savior (Luke 2:36-38).
Junia – Commended by Paul as a fellow prisoner known among the apostles (Romans 16:7).
Susanna – A faithful follower who provided for Jesus from her means (Luke 8:3).
Joanna – The wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, who helped fund Jesus’ ministry (Luke 8:1-3).
Mary (Mark’s Mother) – The host of the early church in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12).
Rhoda – The young girl whose joy at Peter's release was infectious (Acts 12:13-15).
Daughters of Philip – Four sisters who used their gift of prophecy (Acts 21:8-9).
Euodia – A co-worker of Paul urged to be of the same mind in the Lord (Philippians 4:2-3).
Syntyche – A fellow laborer in the gospel encouraged to unite with Euodia (Philippians 4:2-3).

Nameless Notables Regional

The anonymous women who demonstrated extraordinary faith or grace.

Woman at the Well – The Samaritan who evangelized her city (John 4:1-42).
Sinful Woman (Luke 7) – She washed Jesus' feet with her tears (Luke 7:36-50).
Widow with Two Mites – Honored for her total financial sacrifice (Mark 12:41-44).
Canaanite Woman – The mother whose great faith and wit impressed Jesus to heal her daughter (Matthew 15:21-28).
Young Hebrew Maid – Captive girl who directed Naaman to healing (2 Kings 5:1-4).
Noah’s Wife – The matriarch who survived the flood and helped repopulate the earth (Genesis 6-8).
Wise Woman of Tekoa – Used a clever parable to reconcile a king (2 Samuel 14).
Jephthah’s Daughter – The young woman who honored her father’s tragic vow (Judges 11:34–40).
Adulterous Woman – A recipient of Jesus’ transformative grace (John 8:1-11).
Song of Songs Bride – The poetic voice of passionate, seeking, and celebrated love (Song of Solomon 1-8).
Widow of Nain – The grieving mother whose son Jesus raised (Luke 7:11-17).
Crippled Woman – Bound for 18 years, healed on the Sabbath (Luke 13:10-17).
Persistent Widow – The parable hero of unceasing prayer (Luke 18:1-8).
Wise Woman of Abel – A negotiator who saved her city, Abel Beth Maacah, from siege (2 Samuel 20:14-22).
Manoah’s Wife – Samson’s mother who received an angelic visitation (Judges 13).
Lemuel’s Mother – The wise queen who taught her son the iconic proverb of the virtuous woman (Proverbs 31:1-31).

Welcome and Bracket Setup
Bryan: Boy, like why does Jesus attract so many Mary's like I don't know what what is going on there
Ryan: yeah,
Bryan: Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Bible geeks podcast I'm Bryan Schiele
Ryan: I'm Ryan joy.
Bryan: and continuing today on the show We are still in Bible bracket season as we will be for a little while and this time with our second half of our favorite Bible women draft
Ryan: We have meticulously Narrowed down our list. We've got so many women to work
Bryan: so many
Ryan: the Bible and we have Narrowed it down to this incredible set for a 64 person bracket We're gonna knock them back and forth in our four distinct regionals and over the next couple weeks Of course, you'll be able to vote and voting will start today
Bryan: so we've got Queens and prophets and outlaws and even some unnamed heroes So let's get back into it here with our last two regionals. okay, so we're back Right in the middle of drafting here We on our last episode tackled the women of valor and the matriarchs and leaders here in our favorite Bible women Bracket that we're doing here in 2026 today We're getting into friends and followers of Jesus and the nameless notables and I don't know I like these two regionals as a choice together Because they do feel like such an important part of our preaching and I don't know if this is gonna come out But like I feel I feel like a lot of the people were about to talk about wind up in Sermons all over the place and I'm kind of excited to get into to some of their stories.
Ryan: Yeah. Yeah, I See like a whole sermon series wants to come out of this for sure or a guided study.
Bryan: Ooh I like that too. Yeah. Okay.
Voting Starts Today
Bryan: So at the end of this episode after we've drafted all 64 favorite Bible women We will begin the voting. So just know that the voting begins now Stick around for the end of this episode or just you know, skip to the end and go vote But we're gonna start voting at the end of this.
Friends and Followers Draft
Bryan: So here we go I will let you Ryan pick up for our first draft of the friends and followers regional.
Ryan: Friends and followers. Okay. Well, you know after after our conversations around the Chosen Recently, I'm gonna put Mary Magdalene right here at the top
Bryan: That's so good
Ryan: of the friends and followers Regional, you know, the the details are a little more scant than in this in the show but there's there's a lot there about who she is and You know, here's here's a lady who witnessed both the cross and the resurrection and had some important Interactions with Jesus,
Bryan: so Mary Mary Magdalene is probably the correct first pick My second pick is going to be the other correct pick is Mary of Bethany
Ryan: okay
Bryan: of the women who were able to follow Jesus around Mary of Bethany was involved in so many of those like Pivotal moments in Jesus ministry and so Mary of Bethany is is second on the list here.
How about three?
Ryan: You'll never guess who I'm gonna go
Bryan: I know exactly who you're picking next
Ryan: Well, you have throughout this draft picked the first of a pair several times and I've felt compelled to keep them together So I'm gonna go with Martha not Martha Bethany though. She is Usually just call her Martha because there's not not a million Martha's. Yeah also known as Martha Martha Martha and I think Martha deserves more credit than she sometimes gets as a really special woman of faith as seen at the moment of Her conversation with Jesus at Lazarus death.
Bryan: so I'm gonna pick a Deep cut maybe for number four and maybe I should put this lower, but I think she's super important I'm gonna pick Elizabeth as
Ryan: that's that's
Bryan: Pick number four here. Yeah, John the Baptist mother who you know got to experience the baby Jesus as as An infant and of course, you know, she's on my list real high.
So Elizabeth there Luke chapter 1.
Ryan: Pull a Bryan and pick the first of a pair here and go with Lois Timothy's grandmother
Bryan: That's so good. How can you not how can you separate that was my problem, right? How do you separate them because they should be together, right? All right fine pick number six. I'm gonna pick Eunice I think it's correct to have them side by side So pivotal right to to the I mean if you just think we're gonna talk more about this but like so many of these women have been like instrumental in bringing about like these Really powerful preachers or teachers or just like without their efforts the work would never have been accomplished So Lois and Eunice definitely on that list.
Ryan: I love it. I am going to go Dorcas also known as Tabitha who you know, not only was raised but from the from the dead but when People gathered for her funeral They were just talking about all that she did and all that she made and how much of a woman of faith she was
Bryan: That's so good Yeah, Tabitha is on the list for me as well And the next one on my list is Anna the prophetess. So
Ryan: I almost went that but I thought that you might you might let that sit for for me to come back around
Bryan: no no, I got it
Ryan: it. I like it. Okay.
Bryan: the prophetess Luke chapter 2 she was waiting for Jesus and Boy to be to have been in the temple around that time of of you know Him coming that would have been so cool.
And she was one of the people who got to see him first
Ryan: Okay, I am going to go with I think I'm gonna go with Junia here who is listed in in Romans 16
And is talked about as you know, not one of the twelve but as one who is sent, you know, like an apostle And so clearly was important and was in this list of people who were precious to Paul as partners in the work
Bryan: like that one a lot. She was actually in my matriarchs and leaders list
Ryan: Mmm,
Bryan: I we didn't get a chance to pick her. So yeah, that's a really good one. Um Let's see. I am going to go with Man, I'm gonna talk about Susanna on the list here. Yep, Luke 8 verse 3 Faithful follower who was able to provide for Jesus and take care of him.
I I do like that story So let's go with Susanna next
Ryan: Well, you know, let's just call it call that a pair too and I'll go with Joanna That's listed also in Luke 8 3 and I mean these are people who are clearly taking care of Jesus following Jesus Providing for him out of their means it says And so yeah, these are important important people She Joanna was the wife of Herod's household manager and was a follower of Jesus.
Bryan: All right. So can I do another Mary? Does that make any sense? Is that gonna
Ryan: No No, I love it.
Bryan: gonna do Mary the mother of Mark who? Was the host of some followers of Jesus in Acts 12? Yeah, she's going on my list here.
Ryan: so, you know a little bit of humor here just again to stick with that theme. I'm going with Rhoda there in Acts 12 the servant that that shows up and thinks it's Peter's Peter's angel and Yeah, oh, you don't know what you're talking about. And of course Peter is showing up there not his angel, but Peter himself So anyway, that's a fun
Bryan: Yeah, that's a good one for sure Boy, all right low on my list. Uh, can I pick? Maybe we should have thought about this ahead of time. Can I pick more than one person? but they're just categorized as one person can I pick the daughters of Philip as As as a single entry here because they're only listed as the daughters of Philip
Ryan: I think for that particular case that is appropriate because I don't think we want to take four spots for daughter of Philip number one
Bryan: one number two these were four sisters who had the gift of prophecy and Boy, if you if you had not thought about you know women prophets in the early church there they are x21
Ryan: They are
Bryan: Doing some really powerful work with regard to Paul. So what about what about your next one?
Ryan: well not to you don't have to follow the the pairing process we've had here But I'm gonna go here with you Odia
Bryan: Oh
Ryan: Paul's fellow workers And if you don't choose to pick her her partner there in Philippians 4 to Through 4 we could pair them together. If you have somebody else in mind you could you could pull a daughters of Phillips
Bryan: doing we're doing Syntyche Yeah
Ryan: Okay
Bryan: and you know I think of the names that people know Yodia and Syntyche are Two of the more popular ones because they all they stand out pretty uniquely in the book of Philippians, right? It's like oh there they are like these two ladies who I don't know It seems like maybe they were having beef with each other.
But
Ryan: yeah, they were
Bryan: yeah,
Ryan: But also, you know,
Bryan: partners of
Ryan: labored side by side with me in the gospel. Their names are in the book of life They're my fellow workers So they have something to straighten out but Paul had some moments where he had something to straighten out with a with a companion to Like with Barnabas.
Bryan: All right.
Review the Friends List
Bryan: So that is the friends and followers region. I was you look at the list What do you think of are you think this is in the right order? I feel good about it so far
Ryan: do I do feel good about this. Actually. This is we might have we might have gotten this one,
Bryan: all right. Yeah, I hope so
Ryan: yeah, I think
Bryan: Yeah, I don't think anyone's out of sorts here. Mary Magdalene Mary of Bethany Martha Elizabeth and again the list goes on Lois and Eunice Tabitha. Yeah, I think this is right I don't think anything here is out
Ryan: think it's pretty good Yeah, Tabitha could you could say which one Lois and Eunice or Tabitha, but I think that's a debate. So yeah No, it feels good. It's a it's in some ways this list has a lot of people that we don't have long stories of but where their name appears they it appears with honor with Import from the the prophetic inspired writers.
And so it just really shows you the importance of these special ladies
Bryan: Yeah no doubt very important and I I feel like a good conversation around the Mary's here is gonna happen in short order like Boy, like why does Jesus attract so many Mary's like I don't know what what is going on there
Ryan: yeah,
Bryan: But but yeah of these two Mary's at least at the first and second seed here I feel like you know, we definitely talk about Mary of Bethany quite a lot and Mary Magdalene deserves to be in the first the first Pick, but I will be curious to see which of the Mary's go go the
Ryan: oh Oh, yeah, we could have like a we could have a sweet 16 with four or Mary's in
Bryan: We could
Ryan: five Even we have five in this in the list so far.
Nameless Notables Intro
Bryan: far All right so let's move on to our nameless notables regional and if I could just like You know be a little bit more honest here about the the categories in the regionals This is my favorite of all of the regionals
Ryan: I Love it.
Bryan: I love this one so much because it's like why are so many of the women who have done like Incredible things in the Bible left unnamed.
I don't know but let's let's talk about these anonymous women Who just demonstrated so much faith and by the way, we are already picking in Some of our other regionals women who don't have a name as well So these won't be the only ones but these are the ones that we've chosen for this Particular regional and I'm gonna go with the woman at the well as the first pick Of course the only first pick for the nameless notables regional that could be done the woman at the
Ryan: I think that's right. I do agree with you there aka the Samaritan woman several names for a nameless woman here boy just such a such a packed list and It's one of those where the first pick is clear and the second pick is not
Bryan: Yeah,
Nameless Notables Draft
Ryan: I am gonna go I'm gonna go with the woman who anointed Jesus feet in Luke 7
Bryan: Oh, yes Yeah,
Ryan: Because you know, which I I think is is different I take as a different anointing than Mary of Bethany's anointing And so yeah, that's what we're gonna go with number two.
Bryan: All right. I think that's the correct next pick I had her lower on my list honestly, but I think you're right to move her up. I'm gonna say The widow with two mites is number three for me just over the moon was Jesus over her financial gift and sacrifice in Mark 12 He noted her made all his disciples like stop what they were doing and look at the woman like that's that's a woman to be To be noticed for sure and not given a name.
So number four.
Ryan: I like that. Okay I am gonna go with the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15
Bryan: Ooh
Ryan: That that you know Jesus interacted with and you know Well, even the scraps of the dog. She keeps coming back to him with faith and Isn't chased away by his what may have been joking with her or whatever is happening there with that that interaction
Bryan: I like
Ryan: So Canaanite woman
Okay, so the Canaanite woman is solid So I actually had on my list the Syrophoenician woman in mark 7 and those two are the same person So I think they're the same person So I'm gonna leave her off of my list because I was going to pick her next But I'm gonna leave the Gospels if that's okay.
Bryan: I think this is the first time we've done that in this one I'm gonna leave the Gospels and go with the little Hebrew maid which is not actually what her name is called in the text But she was the captive girl who was telling Naaman about his healing So in second Kings 5 a little Hebrew maid is my next pick
Ryan: I am going to go in in the collection of wives Instead of the widow collection. I'm gonna go with Noah's wife who you know We don't have a name for but she's one of we all came from her She's a she's like Eve. She's a mom to us all too and she was you know, she she held to For all those years of preaching and crazy Noah building his boat She was with him and was was the mom of the three boys that Hamshem and Japheth, so I'm gonna go Noah's wife
Bryan: I did not even wow, that's so good I did not actually have her on my list, but she is solidly a nameless woman I'm gonna do I'm gonna go with the wise woman of
Ryan: Yeah,
Bryan: Samuel 14 her story there. She's at my seventh position go for number eight
Ryan: All right. I'm gonna go with kind of another complicated story, but Jephthah's daughter,
Bryan: Ooh Interesting
Ryan: what a what whatever the Sacrifice represents there whenever she runs up to him at the end She handles it well And you know it has this this courage character faith that in a terrible time and a rough story Depending on how you interpret that You know, she she stands out as the hero of the care of the story to me.
Bryan: Jephthah's daughter was on my list for women of valor, which I think you basically were just describing But the women of valor was so packed that Jephthah's daughter wound up on this list for me But yeah, that's that's pretty good. I I think it makes sense. But alright, so you talked about a complicated story I'm gonna go another complicated story and pick the woman caught in adultery in John 8
Ryan: I love that pick
Bryan: I feel like we could talk about that I mean there's lots of reasons why that could be a questionable pick or if she even belongs on this list at all but Boy, Jesus response to her changes the entire picture of it.
So because of his grace and his forgiveness of her John 8 that's that's where we're landing
Ryan: I like that I am one of the great stories of course in the Bible that And I am stalling as I think about my next pick here You know I want to go with and this is a little weird But I want to go with the bride in the Song of Songs the Song of Solomon, you know She's so beloved and she speaks with such, you know Such love and poetry and you know kind of we don't think about that all the time but different kind of a character
Bryan: I love that. I Totally was not even thinking about her. But yeah, of course Lots of lots of sultry things being said about that lady You know definitely belongs on a whole book written about her. So yeah for sure
Ryan: yeah,
Bryan: All right. Let's see. I'm gonna go with the widow of Nain I've thought you were gonna pick this one as your widow pick but
Ryan: yeah,
Bryan: I'm going with the widow of Nain here from Luke 7 Who got to see Jesus raise her son, which I mean was so cool that I love that story in Luke 7
Ryan: yeah, okay All right. What about Testament Old Testament here? We're getting getting down to some Lesser known pics here. I I'm gonna go with the bent-over woman in Luke 13
Bryan: Oh, yeah.
Ryan: Another another miracle there
Bryan: on my list as well.
Ryan: Okay
Bryan: I that's solid She was bound up for 18 years healed on the Sabbath and caused a whole ruckus. But yeah Luke 13. That's a great story Let's see. I also am stalling for time here
Ryan: What pick are we on
Bryan: We're on pick 13, I believe where we out here this list three four five six seven eight nine future Bryan Yeah, we're on pick 13 here. So I got just four more left as we wrap this thing up I'm gonna pick as pick 13 the persistent widow. She was also on my list of widows here the persistent widow in Luke 18 Yeah, just someone who would not stop praying and of course, maybe not a real woman But a parable of a woman who could have possibly lived I I'm gonna lean on that So Jesus told the story about a woman who was a widow and wouldn't
Ryan: know what? That's yeah, she was on my list too But I wasn't sure how we felt about parable of people in a parable Okay, I'm gonna go with the wise woman of Abel Abel Beth Maka
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: that that's you know, kind of parlayed and saved the city just another almost like an Abigail type character that Kind of prevents some problems with her wisdom
Bryan: on my my Women of Valor list. Yeah, and I think she's the right pick for this position in the nameless notables regional I'm gonna go with oh, this is my last pick here. So I am
Ryan: whole draft. Yeah,
Bryan: I'm gonna go with
How about Manoah's wife?
Ryan: okay
Bryan: this is a deep cut right but judges judges 13 This is Samson's mother who I guess I could have just called it her Samson's mother But he received an angelic visitation in judges 13. So Manoah's wife.
Ryan: Okay. I like it.
Final Picks and Swap
Ryan: That was also, you know far down here But but it was on my list also and we're we're at the bottom of the story I mean at the bottom of our Bottom of our draft boards here for all of our lists and I am going to go with a slave girl with the spirit of divination in Acts 16 Or poor young lady that had been being used for the abilities that this demon possession Gave her and then she was it was set free which again caused many more problems So I'm sure we left off some like obvious huge ones.
I'm interested. What's on your list that you didn't put? Oh, you know what? Okay. I think I want to change this out. Tell me what you think about this I mean this the servant girl certainly a worthy consideration but what about as we think about we called one of the Categories women of valor coming from you know, the excellent women of Proverbs 31 What about King Lemuel's mom the Queen Mother in Proverbs 31? What do you think of her as like a deep-cut? You know, she's the one that's passing on some of this wisdom to him
Bryan: I think it's right. So we'll refer to her as Lemuel's mother
Ryan: Yeah, or
Bryan: All right. Yeah, I as a replacement for or you're a 16th pick.
Ryan: for yeah the the woman who had the spirit of
Bryan: I got it. Yeah, I think that's right. Okay Yeah, I could get behind that. Oh, I shall allow it. I Honestly didn't have many others on my list. I had The maidservant of the high priest who was questioning Peter Maybe not on the list. I don't I don't quite know but um, let's see. I think I had The Queen of Ethiopia's official Candace who was mentioned as a ruler in acts 8
All right
Why These Stories Matter
Bryan: So of these women and maybe we'll talk about this at some point But I feel like a lot of these unnamed women wind up being conversation points in our sermons Which I would really like to talk about at some point But it is cool that like while they don't have names almost immediately We remember their stories And we've thought about their impact on the situations in which they were in and I love that about these Nameless women that no they don't have names, but they do show up so often in in the biblical story
Ryan: Yeah I just so it would be nice to have a name for them. That would be great You know, but yeah I mean, I I have a whole sermon on the young Hebrew maid that we've been talking about name and name and his wife servant You know, I mean how many of us have built sermons around the widow with two mites? I mean, it's just such a powerful storyline Yeah, we'll we'll probably fold back around to some of these ladies later on in the season But yeah, that's a couple that jump out to me Yeah
Bryan: here that you have not Caught up on or you're not familiar with take on the challenge of reading about some of these women and their stories Especially as you're voting for them Maybe that would be helpful as you work your way down in the voting process to just read a little bit So we'll have the passages there on our website and also in the show notes for this episode.
Honorable Mentions
Ryan: It applies even more this week because there's these these are small thing, you know Little stories a lot of the time let me let me give you a few of my ones that didn't make
Bryan: Oh, yeah
Ryan: And you can let me real quick. You just make sure that this is all as it should be So I was just thinking about Gomer, but she didn't really fit anywhere But like Hosea's wife and how we are Gomer and I wanted that in there, but I couldn't quite find the spot
Bryan: Gomer and Gomer and the woman caught in adultery are like on the same category of I don't know that they belong here But I get where you're coming from.
Ryan: Yes You know, I was looking for a place maybe in the leaders for Michael, but she's so like she's she's kind of difficult She's a complex character same thing with Vashti another Mary Mary of Clopas didn't make it right one of the other Marys
Bryan: did not make it Mary of Clopas did not
my hard one was in Romans 16 There's like a whole bunch of ladies listed out there and I wanted to add them But like they either had to be all together or you had to list them out separately It was like Mary another Mary Mary of Rome there in in Romans 16 and then persis and try Fina and try Posa Was also there definitely not names that we've regularly run across
Ryan: Mm-hmm. Oh and Rufus's mom who is a mother to me as well. Paul
Bryan: Yeah, so I feel like I feel like our list is fairly complete.
Vote and Farewell
Bryan: We've we've chosen 64 women of the Bible and all of them are a pretty high bar I think the majority of them so I'm looking forward to seeing how the voting goes. So yeah, everybody go out and vote Share it with a friend let other people know about it.
We would really appreciate that Yeah, and until the next episode everyone may the Lord bless you and keep you
Ryan: Shalom.

BIBLE BRACKET

Ryan Joy & Bryan Schiele