Chuza
Chuza is a Judean of high society, close to Herod Antipas whose goods he manages. His father and grandfather already belonged to the court of Herod the Great.[1] Chuza is a handsome man, about forty years old. Not very tall, but well-built, with black hair graying at the temples, sharp dark eyes, a pale complexion, and a square beard.
He marries a princess of royal blood: Joanna, one of the holy Women.
He owns many properties in Tiberias, Jerusalem, and in the Decapolis, near the Tetrarchy of Philip which Herod asks him to oversee.[2] It is probably at this property that Joanna was taken before dying, until being healed by Jesus.[3] His steward is Jonathas, one of the shepherds of Bethlehem.
At Jesus' instigation, Chuza becomes the adoptive father of Mary and Matthias, abandoned orphans.[4]
Chuza is a courtier. Indecisive and calculating:"he thinks that he is a king, by being with the king… And he is terrified of royal disfavour."[5]However, he suffers from living in the toxic climate of the Court but endures it. He contentedly keeps his wife away from it.
He is favorable to Jesus, who healed his wife. He is the one who evangelizes Manaen, milk-brother of Herod Antipas[6] and the royal officer[7] whose son will be healed.[8]
He decisively takes Jesus' side when the princess Salome makes a provocative intrusion during the Charity banquet organized at his home by his wife.[9]
However, he remains a man of the Court. When the ambiguous words of Judas raise fears of a power grab by Jesus, he asks his wife to break with Jesus:"He only said to me, with the authority of a husband, that if the situation is as recent facts make him think it is, I must leave You, because he, as Herod’s dignitary, cannot allow his wife to conspire against Herod."[10]This does not prevent him from plotting himself: sidelined and humiliated by Herod, he dreams, along with Manaen, of seeing Jesus king instead of Herod.[11] For this, Chuza brings Jesus to his house in the Decapolis where about forty notables are gathered, ready to conspire: "No", Jesus responds categorically and withdraws.[12]
After his failed "coup d'état," Chuza keeps a low profile. Confident in Jesus’ forgiveness, he seems to awaken to faith after the spectacular resurrection of Lazarus: "Wonderful! Wonderful! [...] He is really God!" he exclaims.[13] But his faith does not withstand the Passion of Jesus: he forbids his wife from professing faith in Jesus and expels his steward Jonathas.
His name
Chuza, Chuza, Cuza, Kouza, Kuza: Origin unknown.
Where is he mentioned in the work?
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GRM 541 GRM 548 GRM 549 GRM 583 GRM 589 GRM 596
GRM 622 GRM 634
Learn more about this character
Excerpts from the Dictionary of Gospel Characters, According to Maria Valtorta (Msgr. René Laurentin, François-Michel Debroise, Jean-François Lavère, Salvator Editions, 2012):Chuza is mentioned by Flavius Josephus, who calls him a Sadducee. Dr. Johann Sepp, in his Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ[14] attributes to him an Idumean ancestry, the same as Herod’s.