# Joanna the Wife of Herod’s Steward explained — Jesus the Son of Man

> Chapter companion for Jesus the Son of Man by Kahlil Gibran.

## What happens

Joanna, a woman deemed a prostitute for loving a Sadducee who was not her husband, recounts how she was seized by the Sadducees and brought before Jesus as a test. Jesus refused to judge her, instead shaming her accusers and setting her free. From that moment, her life transformed from bitterness to sweetness, and she became a woman without a tainted memory.

## Themes in this chapter

### Social Justice and the Marginalized

Jesus defends a woman condemned by society, showing compassion over judgment.

### Hypocrisy and Religious Authority

The Sadducees use Joanna as a trap for Jesus, revealing their hypocrisy.

## Character check-ins

### Jesus

Jesus befriends women and children, and He refuses to judge Joanna, instead reproaching her accusers.

### Joanna

The narrator, a woman deemed a prostitute, who is freed from shame by Jesus' compassion.

## Key lines

> They say that Jesus heeded not the law of Moses, and that He was over-forgiving to the prostitutes of Jerusalem and the countryside.

People accused Jesus of ignoring the Law of Moses and being too lenient with prostitutes.

_Joanna acknowledges the criticism Jesus faced for His mercy._

> But Jesus judged me not. He laid shame upon those who would have had me shamed, and He reproached them.

Jesus did not condemn me; instead, He turned the shame back on my accusers and rebuked them.

_Jesus' response to the trap set by the Sadducees._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/jesus_the_son_of_man_se/chapters/joanna-the-wife-of-herod-s-steward
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/jesus_the_son_of_man_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/jesus_the_son_of_man_se/chapters