Help with Mk 15:40

[Seeks_God]

I’m Catholic and accept the Mother of Jesus’ eternal virginity, but how do you explain “There were also women looking on on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome.” ?

The Gospel according to Mt resords this as “Among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee” Mt 27:50

Luke says “but all his acquaintances stood at a distance, including the women who had followed him from Galilee and saw these events.” Lk 23:49

Why is it that John is the only Gospel writer to show Jesus’ mother specifically at the crucifixion? (There is no mention of Mary with other children)

I’m just curious what the take is on this…

 

[trailblazer]

Jesus had quite a following, including women disciples. Thus, he was quite an anomally for a 1st Century Jew. It is amazing when we think of how his apostles fled, yet his women disciples remained! In one gospel Mary Magdalene was first at the tomb. His grreatest disciple was Mary, his mother, who followed and pondered. We see her throughout Jesus’ ministry, including in the upper room when at Pentecost. This is important because we can see how significant women were to Jesus, especially his mother. Just as she never deserted her son then, neither will she desert him now in bringing us to him. Devotion to Mary can only do one thing – lead us to her son Jesus!

Each writer had a certain community he was writing for. Their method of writing was very different from us. This is natural because their culture and time gave them a unique worldview. Their writings centered on bringing Jesus and his teachings alive to the needs of their community. Specific details were not as important as the message itself. As such, we would not expect each gospel to be exact in all details. In fact, we can even find some interesting differences in the way cerytain instances are reported. This does not make one wrong and the other right by their standards; rather, they are both right.

Catholics hold the Bible in high esteme. Scripture falls into one of our Big-T traditions. It was brought together by the Church. The Church measures things against its teachings. As Catholics, it is important to pray with Scripture and take time to understand what it meant to the original communities…so we can better apply it to our life today. At the same time, we must trust the magisterium of the Church for accurate interpretation. Otherwise, some of these little differences you spoke of (not understood properly) could cause infinite divisions as it has for our Protestant brothers and sisters.

John’s gospel shows clearly how Jesus, in giving his mother to the care of his disciple and him to the care of her – united us with her in a similar way. If we pay attention to Mary, contemplate her example and ask her assistance, she will lead us by the hand to her greatest love, Jesus Christ!

May our blessed mother, Mary, continuously intercede for us and when all is done, lead us to Christ. God bless you!

Bob

 

[Seeks_God]

Bob,

Your explaination certainly shed some light on the matter for me. I have never doubted The Blessed Mother’s role for the Church, but I was curious about that particular situation. I also realize it is a point of contention with Protestants. I just needed some perspective that I wasn’t seeing - there were more people present at the crucifixion then were mentioned in the Gospels, suffices for me.

SG

 

[Zooey]

This is just my own opinion, but since the Gospels were written very early, that most people would have known/assumed that Mary was there, so they were recording the *other *people that would not be known as being at the crucifixion.
Our community does a cantata every Palm Sunday afternoon and evening. We have folks from many churches singing & acting.(Catholic & Protestant). This year, there was a scene near the end where Jesus has risen, & the women come to the tomb to anoint the body? In it, Mary, the mother of Jesus was there, & they spoke to each other. One person got all bent out of shape that it does not say in the Bible that she was there. The lady playing Mary spoke up & said: “I have 3 children; I would be there for any one of them. Mary only had Jesus. No way was she not there!”…The ‘objector’ slunk off, embarrassed…
I think we can just take it that Mary’s presence was assumed to be, without saying it. The Holy Spirit inspired the record so that no one could claim that she wasnt there!!

 

[KBrad]

I found your inquiry interesting and Bob’s reponse very informative. I am not sure what kind of help you are seeking. However, I don’t believe Bob addressed your query in his reponse. You wrote you “accept the Mother of Jesus’ eternal virginity, but how do you explain …?” It seems to me you are asking about the perpetual virginity of Mary in light of Matthew 27:50.

Often people who challenge the Catholic teaching on Mary’s Perpetual Virginity cite Matthew 3:55-56 “Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not his sisters all with us?” The passage you refer to is often used to support Mary’s virginity since it clearly identifies another Mary as the mother of James and Joseph (Joses). We know from John’s gospel that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was close to the cross at the crucifixion. The other women, some of whom were also called Mary, were present but “looking on from a distance.” Thus Mary, Jesus’ mother, could not be the mother of James or Joses (Joseph). The son’s of Zebedee were the apostles James and John (see Matt 4:21). I am sure there are many good threads that will better explain the relationship of these passages.

I think Bob did a very good job of explaining that there was a large group of people, both men and women, who followed Jesus around. Roman crucifixions were very public events. Golgatha was probably just outside the walls of Jerusalem along a main road. Despite the quick trial and sentencing affected by the powers-to-be at the time, there must have been a crowd of people witnessing the whole event. Some up close, like the Blessed Mother and the apostle John, and others further away, “looking on from a distance.” Eyewitness accounts of any event vary according to one’s perspective.

In my humble opinion the scriptures imply that, of the apostles, only John was present at the crucifixion. It would seem to me then that the writers of the other gospel accounts of the crucifixion events recorded information from secondary sources.

I have always found it interesting that it was mainly the women who stood by Jesus to the end. It was to some of those women whom Jesus appeared to first after His ressurection. Although never recorded in Scripture I personally believe that Jesus first appeared to his mother after his ressurection