his friendship with Mary of Bethany and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, and the presence of Mary Magdalene, his mother, and the other women as he was crucified. New Testament scholar Ben Witherington III says "Jesus broke with both biblical and rabbinic traditions that restricted women's roles in religious practices, and he rejected attempts to devalue the worth of a woman, or her word of witness." Women in the New Testament Mary, mother of Jesus Outside of the infancy narratives, Mary is mentioned infrequently after the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. The Gospels say Mary is the one "of whom Jesus was born" (Matthew 1:16) and that she is the "favored one" (Luke 1:28). Some scholars believe the infancy narratives were interpolations by the early church. Bart Ehrman explains that Jesus is never mentioned by name in the Talmud, but there is a subtle attack on the virgin birth that refers to the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier named "Panthera." (Ehrman says, "In Greek the word for virgin is parthenos"). Mary is not introduced in the Gospels in a way that would make her seem noteworthy or deserving of special honor. She is young, resides in an insignificant town, far from the centers of power, with no special social position or status, yet she is the one granted the highest of all statuses, demonstrating the supreme reversal. When she receives the announcement of Jesus' birth, she asks "How can this be?" Then, "...let it be" (1:38). In the Gospel of Luke, Mary visits Elizabeth, her cousin, twice, and twice Elizabeth calls her blessed (Luke 1:42,45). Mary herself states all future generations will call her blessed (1:48). Mary "ponders" Simeon's warning that "a sword would pierce her soul" in Luke 2:34,35. She is troubled by Jesus staying behind in the Temple at Jerusalem at 12 and his assumption his parents would know where he was (Luke 2:49). Mary "ponders all these things in her heart." In all three synoptic gospels, Mark, Matthew and Luke, Mary and Jesus' brothers are disowned by Jesus. The Matthew version has it as "Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and