The Women at the Cross

At the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry, women in Jewish society were held in low esteem. They were not allowed to be witnesses in courts. They were not allowed to be taught the Torah. They would not figure among the followers of any rabbi; indeed, rabbis would not even speak to women in public. Into such a setting we find that our Lord brought what would have been considered a revolutionary approach in His attitude to women. He spoke to them in public; He taught them and counted many among His followers. With this in mind, it should not surprise us to find so many women at the cross.

Unlike the rabbis of the time, the Lord had female followers. Moving from Galilee to Jerusalem, many women went with Him and ministered unto Him. These dear women met His needs and probably the needs of His disciples out of their own resources, Luke 8. 3. It does not matter if they were rich or poor, it was out of their own resources that they cared for our Lord. They were devoted to Him.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke mention women or many women who had come from Galilee with the Lord. We do not know how many women were in the group, or who they all were. But we do know who some of them were: Mary Magdalene; Mary the mother of James and Joses; Salome, the mother of Zebedee’s children (James and John); Mary, the mother of the Lord; Mary’s sister, and Mary the wife of Cleophas.¹

Mary the mother of the Lord was blessed among women, Luke 1. 28, 42, the one who had hidden the things about her beloved son in her heart, 2. 19, but who now was having a sword pierce her own soul, 2. 35, 51, as she watched her dear son suffer for the sins of the world. She was a devoted mother, often travelling with the Lord during His ministry, John 2. 12. Joanna and Mary Magdalene were healed of some infirmity or delivered of an evil spirit, Luke 8. 2, along with a number of other unnamed women.

Mary the wife of Cleophas is really unknown to us. There is only one reference to her in scripture. However, her name is similar to Cleopas, one of the disciples the Lord spoke to on the road to Emmaus, 24. 18. Some have taken the similarity to suggest the same person, while others think they are entirely different people.

Salome is mentioned just once. Some think that she is Mary’s sister and the mother of James and John. If this is the case, then James and John were cousins of the Lord. However, as there were mentions of many women, it may be also that the Gospel writers had different people in mind.

John brings to our attention that the women were by the cross, John 19. 25. So close were they to the cross that they could hear what Jesus said, v. 27. What a place for these dear women to be, right next to the cross of Christ. Perhaps this phrase was in Fanny Crosby’s mind when she wrote, ‘Jesus, keep me near the cross’. After Jesus had ensured His mother’s well-being, this small group of people moved away from the cross and continued to watch at a distance.

The devotion and love of these women towards our Lord is a lesson for all. They were not ashamed to identify themselves with Him at Calvary, surely bearing His reproach even to some degree. They were not slack in showing their love for our Lord in attempting to attend to His funeral rites by going to His tomb on the first day of the week with spices, Luke 24. 1. However, they were not able to carry out what they thought would be their last act of devotion; instead, they became the first witnesses to resurrection.

At the angels’ command the women went and told the disciples what they had seen and heard, Matt. 28. 7. The apostles, not believing the women, went to check out the accounts for themselves, Luke 24. 11, 12. By letting women be the first witnesses to the resurrection, God had turned upside down the accepted wisdom of the day, and shown that His ways are not man’s ways, Isa. 55. 8. To many Jews at the time, women would have been considered foolish or weak. But God ‘hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty’, 1 Cor. 1. 27.

The gospel is for all; no one group or section has exclusive claim to hear the gospel. By many of the standards of the day, the Lord did some unusual things, Matt. 11. 19; Mark 2. 16. He showed that the good news of the gospel is for all. The Gospel writers show us this clearly in the way that our Lord dealt with women and the way in which those who had previously been excluded from so many things responded in love, devotion, and loyalty to Him, even when many of His disciples abandoned Him at the cross.