Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 27:55

And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:

Beholding afar off – These women were probably not suffered to come near the cross because it was surrounded by soldiers. They witnessed with intense feelings his sufferings from some convenient place as near as they could approach.

Ministering unto him – Attending him and providing for his wants. While multitudes of people joined in the cry, Crucify him! and forsook him in his trying moments, it does not appear that any of his female followers were thus unfaithful. In the midst of all his trials, and all the Contempt poured upon him, they adhered to their Redeemer. Never did female constancy shine more brightly, and never was a happier example set for all who should afterward believe on him!

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 55. Many women] To their everlasting honour, these women evidenced more courage, and affectionate attachment to their Lord and Master, than the disciples did, who had promised to die with him rather than forsake him.

Beholding afar off] At a distance – . Though this expression may be understood to refer, rather to the distance from which they came, (viz. from Galilee,) than the distance they stood from the cross; yet, as all malefactors were crucified naked, perhaps this may account for the distance at which these modest women stood.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

55. And many women were therebeholding afar off, which followed JesusThe sense here wouldbe better brought out by the use of the pluperfect, “which hadfollowed Jesus.”

from Galilee, ministeringunto himAs these dear women had ministered to Him during Hisglorious missionary tours in Galilee (see on Lu8:1-3), so from this statement it should seem that theyaccompanied him and ministered to His wants from Galilee onHis final journey to Jerusalem.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And many women were there,…. At the cross of Christ, at some little distance from it; but where was Peter, who had declared he would never be offended, though all men were; and would die with Christ, rather than deny him? and where were the rest of the disciples, who said the same things? None were present excepting John, as can be learnt from the evangelists; but many women, those of the weaker sex, were there, which was a rebuke of the former vanity and confidence of the disciples, and of their present pusillanimity and cowardice:

beholding afar off; Christ upon the cross, in all his agonies, the chief priests and people mocking him, the darkness upon the earth, the quaking of it, and the rending of the rocks: they were witnesses of all this, being at some little distance, by reason of the crowd of people and soldiers about the cross; and they beheld with an eye of faith, their bleeding, dying Lord, as crucified for them, and as bearing and taking away their sins: a sight which at once stirred up their affection and love to Christ, their concern for him, and sorrow for sin; and yet joy and peace, in believing in him:

which followed Jesus from Galilee: where they had seen his miracles, heard his doctrines, and had been savingly converted by him; and therefore followed him wherever he went, though an hundred miles or more, and through many difficulties and discouragements: they attended him in his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and now at his cross; nor did they leave him when dead, and in his grave:

ministering unto him: not now, for he stood in no need of their assistance, nor could they give him any; but this respects what they had done heretofore, in their journey with him from Galilee to Jerusalem; when they ministered to him of their worldly substance, as a token of their affection for him; and which expresses the low estate and mean condition he was in, and is an instruction to his followers, how to behave towards the faithful preachers of his Gospel; see Lu 8:3.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Many women ( ). We have come to expect the women from Galilee to be faithful, last at the Cross and first at the tomb. Luke (Lu 23:49) says that “all his acquaintance” ( ) stood at a distance and saw the end. One may hope that the apostles were in that sad group. But certainly many women were there. The Mother of Jesus had been taken away from the side of the Cross by the Beloved Disciple to his own home (Joh 19:27). Matthew names three of the group by name. Mary Magdalene is mentioned as a well-known person though not previously named in Matthew’s Gospel. Certainly she is not the sinful woman of Lu 7 nor Mary of Bethany. There is another Mary, the mother of James and Joseph (Joses) not otherwise known to us. And then there is the mother of the sons of Zebedee (James and John), usually identified with Salome (Mr 15:40). These noble and faithful women were “beholding from afar” ( ). These three women may have drawn nearer to the Cross for Mary the Mother of Jesus stood beside the Cross ( ) with Mary of Clopas and Mary Magdalene (Joh 19:25) before she left. They had once ministered unto Jesus ( ) and now he is dead. Matthew does not try to picture the anguish of heart of these noble women nor does he say as Luke (Lu 23:48) does that “they returned smiting their breasts.” He drops the curtain on that saddest of all tragedies as the loyal band stood and looked at the dead Christ on Golgotha. What hope did life now hold for them?

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Which had followed [] . Denoting a class : who were of the body of women that had followed him.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

55. And there were also many women there. I consider this to have been added in order to inform us that, while the disciples had fled and were scattered in every direction, still some of their company were retained by the Lord as witnesses. Now though the Apostle John did not depart from the cross, yet no mention is made of him; but praise is bestowed on the women alone, who accompanied Christ till death, because their extraordinary attachment to their Master was the more strikingly displayed, when the men fled trembling. For they must have been endued with extraordinary strength of attachment, since, though they could render him no service, they did not cease to treat him with reverence, even when exposed to the lowest disgrace. And yet we learn fromLuke that all the men had not fled; for he says that all his acquaintances stood at a distance. But not without reason do the Evangelists bestow the chief praise on the women, for they deserved the preference above the men. In my opinion, the implied contrast suggests a severe reproof of the apostles. I speak of the great body of them; for since only one remained, the three Evangelists, as I mentioned a little ago, take no notice of him. It was in the highest degree disgraceful to chosen witnesses to withdraw from that spectacle on which depended the salvation of the world. Accordingly, when they afterwards proclaimed the gospel, they must have borrowed from women the chief portion of the history. But if a remedy had not been miraculously prepared by Providence against a great evil, they would have deprived themselves, and us along with them, of the knowledge of redemption.

At first sight, we might think that the testimony of the women does not possess equal authority; but if we duly consider by what power of the Spirit they were supported against that temptation, we shall find that there is no reason why our faith should waver, since it rests on God, who is the real Author of their testimony. (292) Yet let us observe, that it proceeded from the inconceivable goodness of God, that even to us should come that gospel which speaks of the expiation by which God has been reconciled to us. For during the general desertion of those who ought to have run before others, God encouraged some, out of the midst of the flock, who, recovering from the alarm, should be witnesses to us of that history, without the belief of which we cannot be saved. Of the women themselves, we shall presently have another opportunity of saying something. At present, it may be sufficient to take a passing notice of one point, that their eagerness for instruction led them to withdraw from their country, and constantly to learn from the lips of Christ, and that they spared neither toil nor money, provided that they might enjoy his saving doctrine.

(292) “ Qui est à la verité l’Autheur de ce tesmoignage des femmes;” — “who is in reality the Author of this testimony of the women.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(55) Many women were there beholding.The group was obviously distinct from that of the daughters of Jerusalem, of Luk. 23:28, but was probably identical with that mentioned in Luk. 8:2-3, as accompanying our Lord in many of His journeyings.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

142. THE FRIENDS OF JESUS, vv. AND HIS BURIAL, Mat 27:55-61 .

Pilate had early disappeared; the chief priests had been driven off by the darkness and earthquake: the revilers had been put to silence; and even the soldiers having confessed, the cross seems now to have been surrounded by the friends of Jesus, and his faithful followers heave in view. His death seems to have conquered all, and to have won the field to his own side. The voice of hostile triumph is changed to consternation, and words of revilings give place to confessions of his divinity. Amid the display of divine power and displeasure, the alarmed supplicators begin to fear that Elias may appear to the rescue; or that Jesus will come down from the cross, and the wrath of Jehovah be executed upon themselves for his murder. Alas! the fulfilment of that fear, predicted indeed in these convulsions of nature, is postponed, not abolished. The same multitudes must undergo the woes of Roman cruelty; and the same men must meet him when he has exchanged the cross for the throne, and “look on him whom they have pierced and mourn.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

55. And many women were there Relatives, and followers of his doctrines. They stood the ground more firmly than his disciples. Indeed, their weakness was the source of their strength; for, from their sex, they were in less danger than the male followers of the Lord. At a modest distance, now that the worst of the Lord’s enemies are gone, they dare appear conspicuous in sight. These women (as we are informed, Mar 15:41, Luk 8:2-3) ministered unto Jesus of their substance while he was in Galilee. They had come now to Jerusalem for the same purpose. Mary the mother of Jesus, who previously stood at the cross, and whom Jesus on the cross committed to the guardianship of John, (Joh 19:25-27,) seems now to have departed.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And many women were there beholding from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him,’

Among those who had been observers of the crucifixion were ‘many women’ from Galilee, who had been followers of Jesus and had ministered to His needs. We are given more details of these women in Luk 8:2-3. They watched proceedings from afar, thus complying with the thought in Psa 38:11, ‘those who love me, and my friends, stand aloof from my plague, and my kinsmen stand afar off’ (although there it was for a different reason. Here they are probably compelled to do it because of the Roman restrictions. Probably only female relatives would have been allowed to approach closer). The women would not be seen by the disciples as in the same danger as the men, for no one would be interested in them. They were irrelevant in Jewish eyes. (The men also, however, would soon recognise that their fears were unnecessary). The importance of the presence of the women comes out later in that they are the first witnesses of the resurrection. But they are also a confirmation of the importance of women to God in the new Israel.

From among the Apostles we only hear of John as being present at the crucifixion. He seemingly had connections with the High Priest’s family and knew that he was relatively safe, and the fact that he was there as a support for Jesus’ mother would take attention off him (Joh 18:15). The remainder were keeping out of the way. They knew that round the cross was very much where they would be looked for by anyone who was seeking to arrest them. And in fact we should recognise that had a party of brawny men who were known to be followers of Jesus appeared there it would unquestionably have raised alarm bells, if not more decisive action. They may well have been seen as a threat. No one, however, would be concerned about the presence of the women.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Body Of Jesus Is Rescued From Ignominy And Buried In A Rich Man’ Tomb (27:55-61).

Matthew now brings out that God had made His own funeral arrangements for His Son, as He had revealed beforehand. As Isaiah had said, ‘They made His grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death’ (Isa 53:9). And while the faithful women disciples watched from afar (they would not have been seen as under the same threat as the Apostles), waiting for an opportunity to pay their respects to Jesus’ body, ‘a rich man’ from Arimathea came to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. Normally the bodies of crucified criminals would be tossed onto the burning rubbish dump in the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem (compare Isa 66:24), for they were seen as accursed, but Pilate had the last say in what happened to the bodies of men subjected to Rome’s jurisdiction, and he gave permission for the body of Jesus to be put at Joseph’s disposal. We learn in Luk 23:50 that Joseph was a respected councillor, a member of the Sanhedrin, one who had not consented to the verdict against Jesus, although whether he was present at the final morning trial we do not know. And Joseph laid Jesus’ body in his new family tomb that had not yet been used. The fact that it had not been used previously would be seen by many Christian Jews as important, for it demonstrated the unique holiness of the body of Jesus. For it was ‘holy things’ that must not be subjected to what was previously used. Compare the asses unused colt on which Jesus entered Jerusalem (Luk 19:30), and the ‘new cart’ that bore the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH (2Sa 6:3). See also 1Sa 6:7.

Analysis.

a And many women were there beholding from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee (Mat 27:55-56).

b And when even was come, there came a rich man from Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple (Mat 27:57).

c This man went to Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus (Mat 27:58 a).

d Then Pilate commanded it to be given up (Mat 27:58 b).

c And Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock (59-60a).

b And he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed (Mat 27:60 b).

a And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre (Mat 27:61).

Note that in ‘a’ the women were watching at the cross and in the parallel they are watching at the tomb. In ‘b’ Joseph comes, and in the parallel he departs. In ‘c’ he requests the body of Jesus, and in the parallel he gives it good burial. Centrally in ‘d’ Pilate yields up the body of Jesus (that the Scripture might be fulfilled).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Body Is Laid In A Splendid Tomb; The Chief Priests And Pharisees Seal The Tomb And Put A Guard On It So As To Keep Him There; An Angel Opens The Tomb To Reveal That Jesus Has Risen (27:55-28:6).

In this subsection we have centrally a picture of the vain arrangements of men by which they hope to thwart God and prevent Jesus from rising, while on one side of this we have God’s arrangement for His Son to have a splendid new tomb, and on the other God’s arrangement to open that tomb so as to reveal that His Son has risen. This can be portrayed as follows:

* Jesus is laid in clean linen in the splendid new tomb of a rich man (Mat 27:55-61).

* The Chief Priest and Pharisees seek to seal Jesus in the tomb (Mat 27:62-66).

* The angel opens the tomb and reveals that it is empty. Jesus is risen (Mat 28:1-6).

This will then followed by a further threesome which will complete the Gospel:

* Through the women both the angel and Jesus tell His disciples to go to Galilee (Mat 28:7-10).

* The Chief Priests try to cover up the fact as to why the tomb which they had sealed is empty (Mat 27:11-15).

* The disciples return to Galilee, see the risen Jesus, learn of His coronation, and receive their great commission, with the promise of His continual presence with them (Mat 27:16-20).

Note how in both threesomes the failed activities of the Chief Priests are sandwiched within the triumphant activities of God and of the risen Lord, JesusChrist.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Mat 27:55 f. ] Here, as in Mat 27:60 and often elsewhere, we have the aorist in the relative clause instead of the usual pluperfect.

] from Magdala (see on Mat 15:39 ), comp. Luk 8:2 ; she is not identical with the Mary of Joh 12:1 ff., who again has been confounded with the sinner of Luk 7:36 . Comp. on Mat 26:6 ff. The is likewise mentioned in Rabbinical literature (Eisenmenger, entdeckt. Judenth. I. p. 277), though this must not be confounded with , a plaiter of hair, which the Talmud alleges the mother of Jesus to have been (Lightfoot, p. 498).

, . . .] the wife of Alphaeus. See on Mat 13:55 ; Joh 19:25 . The mother of Joses is not a different Mary from the mother of James (Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 401), otherwise we should have had . See also Mar 15:47 , Remark.

.] Salome. Comp. on Mat 20:20 . In Joh 19:25 she is designated: . The mother of Jesus, whose presence on this occasion is attested by John, is not mentioned by the Synoptists, though at the same time they do not exclude her (in opposition to Schenkel, Keim), especially as Matthew and Mark make no express reference to any but the women who ministered to the Lord. For this reason alone we feel bound to reject the hypothesis of Chrysostom and Theophylact, revived by Fritzsche, but refuted so long ago by Euthymius Zigabenus, the hypothesis, namely, that it is the mother of Jesus who is meant by (Mat 13:55 ). So also Hesychius of Jerusalem in Cramer’s Catena, p. 256.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

Chapter 93

Prayer

Almighty God, how wonderful is thy way in light and in love. We cannot follow all thy going, but thou hast so wrought in us by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, that we can wholly trust thy love, and be assured that thy way is light, though it be in the whirlwind, and the clouds be the dust of thy feet. Thou dost rise above us as the heaven is higher than the earth, yet thine eye is upon us for good, and thine hand is searching our life to find out where it may lay some other gift. Thou dost live to give; thou didst so love the world as to give, and in that giving we saw thy whole heart, all the love of thine eternity, and all the grace of thine infinitude. Thou didst give thine only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Thou hast no pleasure in the death of the wicked thy purpose is life and immortality, and bliss and service that is rest, and expectation that is its own fulfilment. Enable us to lay hold upon the gift of thy Son, and to make it the chief and only treasure of our life. His blood cleanseth from all sin, the great answer of his love confounds every accusation of the law, so that we say, It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?

Enable us more and more clearly to see the cross, to feel its gracious power, to answer its pathetic appeal. May we live in Christ because Christ lives in us, and may we serve Christ because of the inspiration of his own Spirit. May the secret of our energy be in the constraining love of Christ, may the mystery of our power and our industry be found in the love of our heart for the Son of God. He that spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? So would we have but one care, that we have Christ in us, and that we live in Christ then shall all things needful and good be added unto us.

We now unanimously praise thee in cordial and loving song for all thy tender care over us from the first breath until now. We are thy children: thou didst make us and not we ourselves; we have in us thine own image and likeness, marred indeed and broken, not to be known by any eye but thine: yet still God is our Father in heaven. Thou wilt not shut the door until the prodigal returns, thou wilt welcome all who come to thee in penitence and hope and loving trust. Thou dost not turn away from the sons of men who cry unto thee contritely, thou dost further open the home-door and with broader welcomes call to those who are furthest off. Thy mercy endureth for ever: thy mercy is a great sea, thy love is without bound or limit which we can determine. Where sin abounds grace doth much more abound, for art not thou the all-filling One, and all-ruling, putting away everything contrary to thine own holiness and causing thy wisdom to be the light and peace of creation?

We come with our sins, but we shall not take them away again: we lay them down as a black and heavy burden at the foot of the cross. Lord, help us; Lord, pardon us; Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us and say, “Thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven.” Thou dost not forgive little by little, thou dost not pardon partially, thou dost multiply to pardon, yea, thou dost pardon with pardons, as billow rolling upon billow, until our sins are like stones which are cast into the depths of the sea.

We come with our continual prayer for light, guidance, defence, and peace which passeth understanding. We know not how few our days, but we would make them the best days of our whole life. Hence on we would have no mistake or error; from this time forward may our life be complete in thy presence by reason of the holiness of its purpose and the sanctity of its prayer. Yet we know we shall fail, we shall be bruised again, the enemy shall yet overthrow us yet surely thou wilt come in the end and bind us up with an eternal healing, and make us strong with immortality. We are in thine hands as we have always been; our sin shall not separate us from thee, if so be there rise in our heart the hatred of it and the desire to be belter.

We come asking for light upon thy page, holy page, divinely written, full of light and truth. Open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of thy law, give to our understanding the light that shall be as a lamp of thine own lighting, and may we see things afar off, and read with quick and sure vision all the writing of God concerning this life.

Hear any special hymn and any particular prayer now offered by those who bow before thee in morning worship. In some houses thou hast given new life, and with new life is a new song. Otherwhere thou hast put out the fire and blocked up the window into which the most light came, and made the house cold and drear. O visit thou the dwelling thus desolated, and make it glad again with some purer joy. Regard those whose life is now to them a perplexity and a wonder, not knowing how they shall spend the little remainder of their energy, and grant them unexpected answers of release and joy.

The Lord’s blessing be upon us now as a worshipping people; give us the spirit of adoration, the spirit of supplication, and the spirit of hopefulness, and work in us that sacred and vigilant desire which looks out for blessings and hails them with joy in their descent.

As for those who are not with us, they are with thee the sick, the afflicted, the helpless, the poor who dare not venture out in the light, but who wait for the darkness that they may seek even their Father’s house. The Lord remember such, and make all heaven shine upon them with promise and blessing. Our dear ones on the water, the great abyss, voyaging homeward, with many a tender memory and many a sacred hope the Lord himself navigate the ship and bring it to the desired haven.

Bless the stranger within our gate, the man unfamiliar with the place and institute, and give him comfort in the thought that this is his Father’s house. In all our meetings and partings be thou with us, the one Light and the only joy, till we are gathered in the house that is above. Amen.

Mat 27:55-66

55. And many women (distinct from the “daughters of Jerusalem,” Luk 23:28 ) were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:

56. Among which was Mary Magdalene (the first mention of the name in Matthew), and Mary the mother of James (the Little) and Joses, and the mother (Salome, Mar 15:40 ) of Zebedee’s children.

57. When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimatha (probably Ramah, the birthplace of Samuel), named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple;

58. He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.

59. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

60. And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

61. And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.

62. Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,

63. Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.

64. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error (better deceit, as corresponding with deceiver, ver. 63) shall be worse than the first.

65. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.

66. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch (the priests took part as well as the soldiers).

The Sayings on the Cross

These incidents are utterly trifling as compared with what had transpired on the cross itself, as indeed all incidents, except the Resurrection, must be. Nothing can occur, so soon after the scene upon the cross, which can, compared with that tragedy, be worthy of one moment’s consideration. Whilst therefore these petty details are completing themselves, let us study the inner life of Christ as revealed in some of the Sayings which he uttered from the cross in his last agony. These Sayings will admit us into the very sanctuary of his soul. You remember that he called his sermon upon the mount “These sayings of mine,” now that he is upon the higher mount, the cross, he utters Seven Sayings, which are really but a re-pronouncement of the first. The Sayings on the cross seem to be the solemn peroration of the Sayings on the mount. The great music is one. He returns, after many a wondrous and thrilling variation, to the note with which he opened the anthem. In such returns and such consonances, we find an argument for his Deity.

What said he on the cross? “Woman, behold thy son.” He also said, “I thirst.” Further, he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Again he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And he cried, saying, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Finally he said, “It is finished.” He laid the rock when he preached the sermon on the mount: on the cross he built the infinite fabric. Without professing to settle the order in which the Sayings are uttered, we can have no difficulty in discovering the meaning of the revelation. After we have studied that meaning awhile, we can come to these little incidents, and gather them up and show their greater meaning.

The Sayings upon the cross surely give a complete revelation of the humanity of Jesus Christ. It was no dramatic personage that quivered on the cross. It is of importance to say this. The voice was human, the confession of need was human, the sense of desolation was human, his filial affection was human. All these last proofs were needed to render absolutely impossible any theory, mythical, dramatic, or imaginary in any sense. On the cross was the man Christ Jesus. The humanity of Christ made his priesthood possible. We could not have a priest in a mere Deity. Deity does not pray. He must be a man, often as weak as I am; he must have a body as real, burning with the same fire, quivering under the same pain, answering the same great demands. He hungered, he thirsted, he slept, he rested because of weariness, he sat down on Jacob’s well. Verily he took not on him the nature of angels, he took on him the seed of Abraham. Touch him, grasp him, look at him, watch him, and he is Man and Woman, male and female, the ideal man, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. “We have not a High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities: he was in all points tempted like as we are.”

This is the tender power of his priesthood to my soul. Peter touches the exact music of the occasion when he says, “Casting all your care upon him, for…” O listen to the following and completing words. How grandly the sentence would have read had it stood thus, “Casting all your care upon him, for he is omnipotent.” That would, however, have touched but a feeble chord. Only the few can respond to sublimity. The sunset is wasted upon most eyes. But all hearts can answer the sympathetic so the glorious sentence stands not as I have suggested it, but, “Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.” It is the moral sublimity, not the intellectual magnificence, that touches the universal heart!

Herein is the secret of the power of evangelical preaching, above all philosophical abstraction and ethical prelection. These touch but a few, but evangelical unction, sympathy, tenderness, grace, these belong to the universal heart, and the tone is detected as the tone of a universal speech. Be quite sure of your Lord’s humanity. Do not allow any section of the theological church to steal that from you, as if it belonged to that section as a special possession. When a theologian of any school arises and says, “I believe in the humanity of Jesus Christ,” we ought to answer, “And so do we.” More fully, more pathetically, and more trustfully, we accept more from his blood than any school of theologians can accept, who doubt or hesitate concerning his divinity. A body was prepared for him: he interrupted no law of nature: whilst on the cross he said, “I thirst,” what wonder, with his blood drained from his heart, what wonder if the peasant thirsted? The wonder was that he confessed the thirst. But it was a wonder of love, a wonder of condescension, a wonder that concealed a revelation. The words “I thirst” did not indicate a merely personal accident, they revealed and confirmed a sublime doctrine and fact, namely the humanity, and the priestly humanity, of the suffering Son of God. He suppressed no natural instinct “Son,” said he, “behold thy mother.” He created new relationships whilst he was sundering old ones. “Woman,” said he, “behold thy son, thy support, thy friend, thy refuge in time of bitterest loneliness and childlessness.” He set up a new household whilst the temple of his body was being torn asunder, he made whilst he was being unmade. He smothered no natural emotion; “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” uttered in a strange language, ” Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani .” Hark, is it Hebrew? is it Syriac? what is it? They could not tell. The bystanding Jews said, “He calls for Elias.” He was always misunderstood! The Son of God calling for Elias? Always were his great magnificent words dragged down to little applications and accidental circumstances, by the mean interpreters who thronged around him, crowding him with their society, but not enlarging him with their thoughts.

These Sayings do more than reveal the complete humanity of Christ: they show the grandeur of his moral nature. I do not dwell on the tenderness of his care for his mother, but I would point to the sublimity of his forgiveness. It was his then to be the great Man, to work the last miracle, to mount a throne from the very head of the Cross itself. He would have his murderers forgiven! It is grander to forgive than to slay! we should have no enemies if we could really pray for them. They in themselves might continue to be enemies, but in our hearts there would be no sting of enmity. When did the Lord turn the captivity of Job when he gave his most brilliant retort to his three comforters? No. The Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends!

It is always so: it is a subtle and beneficent law in the divine revelation, and the administration of human affairs, that we get our greatest blessings in our most religious moments. Examine what has been done to you, analyze it, weigh it in scales of your own making, measure it by standards of your own setting up, and then you will but aggravate the enmity which you have already deplored. But pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, and though no answer fall upon them, the reply will surely enter your own heart, and in the sanctuary of your consciousness there will be rest, and even joy.

But I would dwell still more upon the magnificence of Christ’s religious conceptions. He called himself “forsaken,” but he did not therefore deny the existence of God; he did not allow the experience of a moment to becloud and destroy the eternal realities. That is where so many of us fail. God takes away the delight of our eyes, and we therefore turn our back upon him, and deny what is infinitely of more consequence than his existence we deny his love! Of what avail is it to confess his existence if we deny his providence, his compassion, his mercy? What does it amount to if we have a theological God, but no God gleaming in the compassion which bedews every morning, and shining in the light which gladdens the whole day? Better deny his existence and shout blasphemous oaths into his blank heaven, than profess to acknowledge his existence and yet deny, or distrust or disown his love and his claims.

Let us read this cry of forsakenness in the light of the other Sayings, and we shall see what it meant. How many of us have taken out this dark expression and reasoned gloomily about it, instead of setting it in its right place, and allowing all the lights to shine upon it and illustrate its great sadness and mystery? “Forsaken,” yet not without consciousness of God: calling him “Father,” committing the spirit into the Father’s hands. He is not “forsaken” who can in the darkness say, “Father.” Forsaken, yet confident in prayer, spending his last breath in supplication addressing the heavens, making no appeal to the earth: sending enough downwards to prove his humanity, but sending upwards the great breadth and force of his life. “Father, receive me, Father, forgive them” he cannot be much forsaken who can thus trust his spirit to the Unseen One!

Forsaken, yet forgiving all; dying with the word of clemency upon his lips, anticipating and outblotting the great judgment about this solemn tragedy. He was not forsaken who thus prayed. ” Why hast thou forsaken me?” ay, that is the question of the ages, and that cry was meant for our consideration rather than as an expression of his own loneliness. ” Why hast thou forsaken me?” Let the ages answer that inquiry! let the church ponder it! let the world renounce all smaller inquiries, and answer this infinite perplexity! It is a question we must answer: God made no reply; we must find out why it was that for one moment Christ was orphaned and left alone. When we come to consider this question in other relations we may find that it was part of the grand priestly process that Christ should feel the woe of orphanage; we shall find that this was no reflection upon his purity or his purpose, but one of the infinitely solemn secrets of the impenetrable decrees of heaven. Maybe that sin explained the forsakenness, that sin wrought out this isolation; the Lamb must stand back in terrible loneliness to receive the last shock of the very storm which he came to silence and to sanctify.

Then mark how these Sayings show Christ’s assurance of the completion of his work. He bowed his head and said, “It is finished.” “It” what? The sentence relates to something beside and beyond itself. “It is finished” how much is signified by that meanest of the pronouns. Who can tell what visions enthralled his attention at that moment? how the eternal purpose stood before him like a tower on which the top stone had just been laid; how some immeasurable cycle of time completed itself and another cycle of vaster sweep and intenser light began its revolution. What decrees were fulfilled, what prophecies matured, what hearts enlightened, what worlds opened none can tell. The atonement was completed, the answer to the law perfected, the way to the Father was opened, the love of God shone upon the world without a cloud to interrupt its light, and righteousness and peace kissed each other over the covenant fulfilled.

In the light of these reflections turn to the little incidents that make up the rest of this chapter, and in those incidents you find bewildered but undespairing love. “Many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him.” They stood their ground, and were saying just what Christ was saying, in a sense their own. They said, “My Jesus, my Jesus, why hast thou forsaken me?” Had he forsaken them? No more than God had forsaken him. See in their loneliness some hint of the meaning of his own, “I will come again. After three days I will rise again. Destroy this temple and in three days I will build it again.” It was a momentary forsakenness; it recalled an ancient prophecy “For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with everlasting mercies will I gather thee.”

Then here is what we always find in the whole Christian history, and perhaps in the individual story as well Help from an unexpected quarter. “When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimatha, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple; he went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus.” Help from an unexpected quarter! the evening having a star all its own! This star was not seen in the bright light, it shone “when the even was come.” The evening brings us all together: morning scatters us, evening reconstitutes the household and resanctifies the home. Thank God for evening stars, for night glories, for jewellery gleaming through the darkness. We have seen some of God’s bright stars when the night settled upon our houses, but what we have seen is but a dim hint of the glory that shall be revealed.

And here also we have a confession of human weakness. They the chief priests and Pharisees remembered what the disciples had forgotten. The disciples required to be reminded of the resurrection! “Then remembered they the saying that he would rise again,” but the enemies treasured it. Our enemies catch tones in our speech which our friends sometimes miss. Those who watch us most carefully with a view to our destruction write down in their note-books sentences which our friends hardly hear. “Sir,” said they, “we remember that that deceiver said while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.” So they would have precautions taken. Pilate said unto them, I wonder with how much of irony, “Ye have a watch go your way, make it as sure as ye can.” As ye can: go your way wave your hands to the rising sun, and forbid him to advance. What a fool’s errand! Go your way: seal up the Spring, and tell it that this year we shall have no vernal wind and no vernal blossoming. What a fool’s errand! Go your way and tell Arcturus and his sons to shine no more, and bid the Pleiades vanish from the heavens they have illumed so long. What a fool’s errand! but a philosopher’s undertaking compared to sealing the tomb in which lay the Son of God.

So shall all our enemies be disappointed, if we ourselves be right; so all sealing and watching shall come to an ignominious end, if the thing buried be only the body, and not the soul that cannot die!

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

55 And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:

Ver. 55. And many women were there ] More hardy than the disciples, who all, save John, were fled and hidden. Oh stand (saith Dr Sutton), and behold a little, with those devout women, the body of thy Saviour, hanging upon the cross. See him afflicted from top to toe. See him wounded in the head, to heal our vain imaginations. See him wounded in the hands, to heal our evil actions. See him wounded in the heart, to cure our vain thoughts. See his eyes shut up, that did enlighten the world; see them shut, that thine might be turned from seeing of vanity. See that countenance so goodly to behold, spirted upon and buffeted, that thy face might shine glorious as the angels in heaven, &c. See Trapp on “ Joh 19:25 “

Beholding afar off ] Either out of womanly modesty, or weakness of faith; which, when it is in heart, is able by its native puissance to pull the very heart as it were out of hell, and with confidence and conquest to look even death and the devil in the face; as we see in Anne Askew, Alice Driver, and other brave women, that suffered stoutly for Christ.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

55, 56. ] ., the historic aorist in a relative clause, see Act 1:2 ; Joh 11:30 alli [193] . fr.: and Winer, 40. 5, end: where the true account of the idiom is given; viz. that in such clauses, the Greek merely states the event as a past one, where we commonly use the pluperfect.

[193] alii = some cursive mss.

., from Magdala: see note on ch. Mat 15:39 . She is not to be confounded with Mary who anointed our Lord, Joh 12:1 , nor with the woman who did the same, Luk 7:36 ; see Luk 8:2 .

. . . ] The wife of Alphus or Clopas, Joh 19:25 ; see note on ch. Mat 13:55 .

. ] Mark adds , to distinguish him from the brother of our Lord (probably not from the son of Zebedee, see Prolegg. to Epistle of James, i. 8).

. . . . = Mark. Both omit Mary the mother of Jesus : but we must remember, that if we are to take the group as described at this moment, she was not present , having been, as I believe (see note on Joh 19:27 ), led away by the beloved Apostle immediately on the speaking of the words, ‘Behold thy mother.’ And if this view be objected to, yet she could not be named here, nor in Mark, except separately from these three for she could not well have been one of the .

There must have been also another group , of His disciples , within sight; e.g. Thomas, who said, ‘Except I see in his hands the print of the nails,’ &c., and generally those to whom He afterwards shewed his hands and feet as a proof of his identity.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 27:55 . , women , bolder than men, love casting out fear. Lk. associates with them others called , His acquaintance, which might include the disciples. Though they fled panic-stricken they may have rallied and returned to see the end, either along with the women or mixed in the crowd, and so have become qualified afterwards for witnessing to what happened. It is no argument against this that no mention is made of them in the narratives. It is no part of the plan of the evangelists to indicate the sources of their information. The women are not mentioned for this purpose, but because they have a part to play in the sequel. If they had been introduced as witnesses it would not have been made so clear that they stood “afar off” ( ). In like manner that Peter followed his Master to the judgment hall is told, not that he may be available as a witness, but because there is a story of denial to relate about him. , many , a tribute to the impression made on feminine hearts by the Galilean ministry; for it was from Galilee they came, as the following clause states ( , etc., defining them as women who knew Him well, loved Him warmly, and served Him devotedly).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 27:55-56

55Many women were there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him. 56Among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

Mat 27:55 “many women” Mar 15:40 has a parallel list. These women were traveling companions of Jesus and the Twelve. They may have even supported Jesus and the Disciples financially as well as cooking for them and meeting the needs of other women who Jesus and the Apostles ministered to. See Special Topic following.

SPECIAL TOPIC: WOMEN WHO TRAVELED WITH JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought provoking, not definitive.

1. Why did the Sanhedrin go to Pilate? Why not kill Jesus by stoning?

2. How is Judas’repentance different from Peter’s?

3. Why does Pilate try to release Jesus?

4. What is the purpose of finding so many OT allusions to Christ’s death?

5. Why did it turn dark when Jesus was on the cross? Why did Jesus feel forsaken?

6. List the signs that followed Jesus’ death. What was their purpose?

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY (The context includes Mat 27:57 -Mat 28:20)

(The parallels to this Gospel are in Mar 15:42 to Mar 16:8, Luk 23:50 to Luk 24:12, Joh 19:30 to Joh 20:10)

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

beholding. Greek. theoreo. App-133.

afar off = from (Greek. apo. App-104.) afar.

which = who: i.e. such as.

Galilee. App-169.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

55, 56.] ., the historic aorist in a relative clause, see Act 1:2; Joh 11:30 alli[193]. fr.: and Winer, 40. 5, end: where the true account of the idiom is given; viz. that in such clauses, the Greek merely states the event as a past one, where we commonly use the pluperfect.

[193] alii = some cursive mss.

., from Magdala: see note on ch. Mat 15:39. She is not to be confounded with Mary who anointed our Lord, Joh 12:1, nor with the woman who did the same, Luk 7:36; see Luk 8:2.

. . .] The wife of Alphus or Clopas, Joh 19:25; see note on ch. Mat 13:55.

.] Mark adds , to distinguish him from the brother of our Lord (probably not from the son of Zebedee, see Prolegg. to Epistle of James, i. 8).

. . . . = Mark. Both omit Mary the mother of Jesus:-but we must remember, that if we are to take the group as described at this moment, she was not present, having been, as I believe (see note on Joh 19:27), led away by the beloved Apostle immediately on the speaking of the words, Behold thy mother. And if this view be objected to, yet she could not be named here, nor in Mark, except separately from these three-for she could not well have been one of the .

There must have been also another group, of His disciples, within sight;-e.g. Thomas, who said, Except I see in his hands the print of the nails, &c., and generally those to whom He afterwards shewed his hands and feet as a proof of his identity.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

The King’s Faithful Friends

Mat 27:55-56. And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.

We have no record of any unkindness to our Lord from any woman, though we have many narratives of the loving ministry of women at various periods in his life. It was meet, therefore, that even at Calvary many women were there beholding afar off. The ribald crowd and the rough soldiers would not permit these timid yet brave souls to come near; but we learn from Joh 19:25 that some of them edged their way through the throng till they “stood by the cross of Jesus.” Love will dare anything.

Mat 27:57-58. When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.

This rich man of Arimatha, named Joseph, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrim, was Jesus’s disciple, “but secretly for fear of the Jews” (Joh 19:38); yet when his Lord was actually dead, extraordinary courage nerved his spirit, and boldly he went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Joseph and Nicodemus are types of many more who have been emboldened by the cross of Christ to do what, without that mighty magnet, they would never have attempted. When night comes, the stars appear; so in the night of Christ’s death these two bright stars shone forth with blessed radiance. Some flowers bloom only at night: such a blossom was the courage of Joseph and Nicodemus.

Mat 27:59-60. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

Our King, even in the grave, must have the best of the best: his body was wrapped in a clean linen cloth, and laid in Joseph’s own new tomb, thus completing the fulfilment of Isa 53:9. Some see in this linen shroud an allusion to the garments, in which priests were to be clothed.

Joseph’s was a virgin sepulchre, wherein up to that time no one had been buried, so that, when Jesus rose, none could say that another came forth from the tomb instead of him.

That rock-hewn cell in the garden sanctified every part of God’s acre where saints lie buried. Instead of longing to live till Christ comes, as some do, we might rather pray to have fellowship with Jesus in his death and burial.

Mat 27:61. And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.

Love and faith were both typified by these two Marys sitting over against the sepulchre. They will be the last to leave their Lord’s resting-place, and the first to return to it when the Sabbath is past.

Can we cling to Christ when his cause seems to be dead and buried? When truth is fallen in the streets, or is even buried in the sepulchre of scepticism or superstition, can we still believe in it, and look forward to its resurrection? That is what some of us are doing at the present time. O Lord, keep us faithful!

Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom

many: Luk 23:27, Luk 23:28, Luk 23:48, Luk 23:49, Joh 19:25-27

ministering: Luk 8:2, Luk 8:3

Reciprocal: Mat 20:26 – minister Mar 1:31 – ministered Mar 15:40 – women Luk 24:1 – they came Act 1:14 – with the Rom 16:6 – who

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

7:55

These women were faithful to the last, but with feminine timidity they stood some distance away watching. They had come from the same district where .Jesus was brought up, Galilee, and had served him on various occasions.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mat 27:55. Many women. Luke (Luk 23:49) speaks of all His acquaintance before these women. John was certainly present, probably some of the other disciples.

Beholding from afar. At one time a few ventured near the cross (Joh 19:25-27), but not many.

Who had followed. For some time, since the journey from Galilee was not direct.

Ministering unto him, i.e., while they followed Him. Comp, on this ministry, Luk 8:2. Others, who had followed Him to Jerusalem, are distinguished from these (Mar 15:41), but it is not necessary to suppose there were two separate groups of women.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Subdivision 3. (Mat 27:55-66; Mat 28:1-20.)

The Resurrection.

The atoning work, then, is done: we are now to have before us the answer on God’s part to it, an answer which certainly cannot be long delayed. Indeed, as we have seen, there has been already answer; but not yet the answer. That will be no less than in raising Christ from the dead, and setting Him at His own right hand in heavenly places, with all authority given to Him in heaven and earth. We do not see Him in Matthew at the right hand of God: that is reserved for Mark. Nor do we even, as in Luke, see His ascent into heaven. But in accordance with the character of Matthew, we do find all authority put into His hand, – the Kingdom of heaven begun; with its administration committed to men, but with the assurance that He is with them to the end of the age.

1. The Lord having gone down to the depths of His humiliation, from this point all is changed. God permits no more indignity, and, marked out still, as every thing here is, by the voice of prophecy, the rich man comes forward to bear testimony to Him, and give His body its temporary resting place. “They assigned Him a grave with wicked men,” says the prophet, “but with the rich man when He had died” (Isa 53:9, Heb.). He is numbered with transgressors no more, but in the hands of disciples, tender, if feeble hands, which though it be the shadow of death upon hopes lately so bright, will anoint Him for His burial. These women that have followed Him from Galilee, ministering to Him, wait on Him still with their eyes through all the terror of the Cross, too intent for fear or sorrow to divert their riveted gaze until the stone closes the sepulchre. This Joseph, too, just at the hour when all seems lost, comes forward openly to join himself to the disciples of a crucified Master. He goes to Pilate to beg the body of Jesus, and having obtained it, lays it in his own new tomb. For this death cannot mingle with the common deaths of men, but is that which dispels death. Nor can the Holy One enter into the abode of corruption – He who is to know none. The instinct of the heart goes, as it would seem, beyond knowledge; and God is over all, guarding and guiding.

2. The enemy, too, is at work to make more secure His coming triumph. His disciples shall not come and steal the body away, and make men think that He is risen. Upon the supposition that they were dealing with imposture merely, that would be well enough: but did they think so? Could they, fresh from the spectacle of such a death as He had died, imagine it?

They remember the words which His own disciples had forgotten; words which had contemplated what they had done to him, and asserted His own final triumph. On the third day He would rise again. If that were indeed true, how vain any effort of theirs to avert the consequences! Yet fear has its fascination; which compels its subjects to follow to the end they dread, – to know and face the worst that can come. Perhaps there were mingled motives, the result of contradictory thoughts which urged them on. At any rate they do all they can with their company of soldiers and their seal upon the sepulchre to make fraud and illusion both impossible, and to certify the only hope available for man.

3. Matthew gives us very briefly the resurrection of the Lord; and of all His manifestations of Himself to His disciples at Jerusalem only that to the women visiting the sepulchre. In His message given through these also He speaks of meeting them, not at Jerusalem, but in Galilee, the scene of His former labors. There the .commission with regard to the Kingdom is given them, and it is the Kingdom with which Matthew, as we know, is occupied.

The connection of our Lord with Galilee was from the first the token of His rejection by Israel. In His infancy Jerusalem under the sway of Herod had refused Him, and the rule of Archelaus there had turned Him aside from Judea to Nazareth. Galilee of the Gentiles was the witness of the ruin of Israel, as largely given up to these, the land of the former kingdom of the ten tribes, who had not returned from their captivity in Assyria. Out of Galilee, said the scribes, no prophet could arise. Yet it was there, among a people sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, that the Light was to arise.

The passing by of Jerusalem in the close of Matthew is easily seen, therefore, to be significant of the world-wide aspect of the Kingdom now to be proclaimed, a remnant of Israel sharing in it, in the time of their national rejection; the blessings of Christ’s rule. But not even into these does Matthew enter deeply: the air of reserve which we have noticed in Matthew clings in measure to him, to the end. There is one expression only which seems to break through it, and carry us on towards the complete revelation, – “Go and tell My brethren.” But it is not developed further, and by itself might only apply the language of the Lord’s prophecy (Mat 25:40) to His present followers.

The separation which some would make between an evening visit of the women to the sepulchre, and a morning one, when the angel addresses them, seems neither necessitated by the words themselves,* nor consistent when the account is taken as a whole.** The stone had been rolled away when they got near enough to see; and thus the resurrection had already taken place. They may have felt the trembling of the ground and seen something of the lightning-like flash that had scattered the watch. But He was risen; and the opening of the tomb was to publish to all that it was empty. The victory is gained; and, as of old, the women celebrate it. Mary of Magdala here comes into prominence, out of whom seven demons had been cast by the word of Christ. And now that He has spoiled principalities and powers and led captivity captive, she in whom the complete power of Satan has been met and conquered is fittingly the leader of this company. Her heart is not empty since the unclean spirits left, but Another has filled it. The dead Christ still lives in her and controls her; and now she is a true “Mary of the watch-tower,” even while yet she has no knowledge nor expectation of what has taken place.

{* opse ton sabbaton may mean “after the sabbath” as well as “in the end of” it: see Lange on the text.

**Yet it is evident that Matthew’s account is of the briefest, and that the Lord’s appearing to Mary Magdalene alone is omitted by him. Mark states that He appeared “first” to her, which does not seem to allow the presence of the other women at that time, as thought by some, while yet Matthew and Luke (Luk 24:10) plainly seem to include her with them in what is narrated here.}

It is John who details to us the way in which the risen Lord reveals Himself to her, during an interval of time passed over by Matthew, in which she has left the company with which she had come to the sepulchre to bring Peter and John to see that it was empty. The other women, less bold than she, must have waited for her to rejoin them before they went on to the tomb. If so Mary Magdalene must have already been gladdened with the knowledge that He was risen before she went back with them there. Matthew certainly intimates that Mary was with them at this time, as he only mentions “the other Mary” as her companion; and to these the angel addresses himself.* Now they are told that not only is He risen, but that He is going before them into Galilee, and there they should see Him.

{*In fact there were others, as Luke assures us (Luk 24:10).}

Galilee is in fact the gathering place of the disciples, characterizing the circumstances under which the new faith begins to be published, as we have seen. Presently an unexpected joy is theirs; for Jesus Himself meets them on the way, and while they worship at His feet, repeats to them the message given to them by the angel.

4. Meanwhile some of the guard bring word to the chief priests of all that has taken place. The impotence of all their efforts is revealed; and they have even to publish it, along with the manifestly false account of what had happened while the witnesses were asleep. Spite of all they will continue the vain struggle with omnipotence itself; and such are Israel’s chosen leaders.

5. The Gospel closes with the appearing of the Lord in Galilee, where by appointment the eleven meet Him; with others also, as is plain, for it could hardly be of the eleven, after all that we know to have taken place in Jerusalem, that it is written; that “some doubted.” From His words to the women also Galilee seems to have been appointed, as already said, for a general gathering of the disciples, and it was probably here that He was seen, as the apostle tells us, “of more than five hundred brethren at once” (1Co 15:6). The institution of His Kingdom would naturally call for such a gathering; and here it is that He declares all authority to have been given to Him in heaven and upon earth, and sends them out to disciple all nations to it.

It is not a Kingdom set up as yet in power, but established as a Kingdom of the truth by the sowing of the “word of the Kingdom” in the hearts of men. This the parables of it (Mat 13:1-58) have already shown us. “Discipling” is therefore the mode of introduction into it; but this has two parts, which the Lord joins together here. The great essential for a disciple is, of course, reception of the Word; but since it is a Kingdom into which men are discipled, there is added to this an outward recognition to be made of the authority under which they come: and these are assuredly the “keys of the Kingdom,” of which the Lord spoke to Simon Peter (16: 19). The “key of knowledge” He had spoken of elsewhere (Luk 11:52); here we have the external authoritative admission on the part of those to whom the Kingdom is committed: “disciple all the nations, baptizing them” the name to which they are baptized being that of the Triune God, now fully revealed.

“All nations” shows the whole world to be the sphere in which the Kingdom is to be proclaimed, and cannot be the Gentiles only: Israel cannot be left out of such a commission. Certainly, they have not received the Kingdom, nor the King: they cannot be looked upon as an inner circle from which His messengers are to be sent out; and in Luke “repentance and remission of sins” are to be “preached among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (24: 47). This is in fact the course that was pursued. By and by Paul is raised up of God to lead in the special Gentile work, and the other apostles, owning what God has done, give it up as apostles to Paul and Barnabas; but this is no failure on their part, nor change in the original plan. Paul still preaches “to the Jew first”; and if of the other apostles we have little scriptural notice, tradition scatters them variously among the Gentiles. Moreover, the commission given here in Matthew to baptize and teach is not one that we can limit in any way to the apostles, but must have wide enough application to embrace all who, in fact and according to Scripture, baptize and teach.

Thus the Kingdom takes its place outside all nations, while having its door wide open towards all, its blessed gospel call for all that have an ear to hear.

The King is, as we know, to be away; and just on this account He gives to those who represent Him here the assurance of His being ever present with them. Faith may reckon upon Him as securely all the way as if He were still bodily and visibly in company with His disciples; “all the days” – every single day – cloudy or bright – until the consummation of the age is reached, and the opened heavens yield Him once more to earth.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Mat 27:55-56. And many women were there, beholding afar off Viewing these things with weeping eyes and sympathizing hearts: which followed Jesus from Galilee To Jerusalem, eighty or a hundred miles, out of the great love they had to him, and to his heavenly doctrine; ministering unto him Liberally assisting him and his disciples with their property. Among which were Mary Magdalene Or rather, Mary the Magdalene, or Mary of Magdala, as , would be more properly rendered; even as , is Jesus the Nazarene, or Jesus of Nazareth. There can be no doubt that this addition, employed for distinguishing her from others of the same name, is formed from Magdala, the name of a city, mentioned Mat 15:39, probably the place of her birth, or at least of her residence. Campbell. And Mary the mother of James, (namely, James the Less, 15:49,) and Joses Probably our Lords mothers sister, (called, Joh 19:25, Mary the wife of Cleophas,) and the mother of Zebedees children Namely, Salome. The three evangelists agree in affirming that these women stood afar off, looking on. Yet this is not inconsistent with Joh 19:25, where two of them, with our Lords mother, are said to have stood by the cross. It seems they were kept at a distance a while, perhaps by the guards, or they were afraid to approach. But when the greatest part of the soldiers were drawn off, and the darkness began, they gathered courage, and came so near that Jesus had an opportunity to speak to them a little before he expired. It is greatly to the honour of these excellent women, that they thus manifested more courage and attachment to their Lord and Master, than even the apostles themselves, who, notwithstanding that they had promised to die with him rather than desert him, had forsaken him and fled. But O! who can describe the feelings of these pious females, while they attended Jesus in these last scenes of his sufferings! What words can express, or heart conceive the depth of sorrow, compassion, anxiety, and despondency which must have been excited in their breasts, by what their eyes saw, and their ears heard during these mournful and awful hours! Of some other circumstances which occurred while our Lord hung on the cross, see the notes on Luk 23:39-43; Joh 19:26-27; Joh 19:31-37.

Mat 27:57-61. When the even was come That is, when it was past three oclock; for the time from three to six they termed the first evening: this being Friday, or the day before the sabbath, which began at six oclock, after which no work could lawfully be done, our Lords body must have been applied for and obtained as soon as four, or a little after, otherwise there would not have been time to bury it before the sabbath began. There came a rich man of Arimathea A city of the Jews, anciently called Ramoth: (Luke says, he was a counsellor; Mark, an honourable counsellor, and a good man and just;) who also himself was Jesuss disciple (But secretly, Joh 19:38,) not having courage openly to profess his faith in him, for fear of the Jews and their rulers. And he also waited for the kingdom of God, Luk 23:51; that is, for the manifestation of the Messiahs kingdom; and, of consequence, had not consented to the deed of them who condemned Jesus: though a member of the sanhedrim, he had not joined them in their unjust sentence. He had either kept away from the court when they sat on the trial of Jesus, or, if he was present when the sentence was passed, he remonstrated against it. This honourable, just, and pious person went (Mark says, boldly) to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus Joseph had nothing to fear from the governor, who in the course of the trial had showed the greatest inclination to release Jesus; but he had reason to fear that this action would draw upon him abundance of ill-will from the rulers, who had been at such pains to get Jesus crucified. Nevertheless, the regard he had for his Master overcame all other considerations, and he asked leave to take his body down; because, if no friend had obtained it, it would have been ignominiously cast out among the executed malefactors. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered Namely, after he had called the centurion to him, and had been assured by him that Jesus was certainly dead, which Pilate had at first doubted. Pilate was probably the more willing to grant the body to Joseph, both because he was thoroughly convinced that Jesus was innocent, and because it was generally thought by the heathen that the spirits of the departed received some advantage from the honours of a funeral paid to their bodies. In discharging this last duty to his Master, Joseph was assisted (as we learn from Joh 19:39) by another disciple named Nicodemus, the ruler who formerly came to Jesus by night, for fear of the Jews. But he was not afraid of them now, for he showed a courage superior to that of the apostles, bringing such a quantity of spices along with him as was necessary to the funeral of his Master. These two, therefore, taking down the naked body, wrapped it with the spices in the linen furnished by Joseph. And laid it in his own new tomb, hewn out in the rock Here we learn that Joseph, though a man of great wealth, and in a high situation of life, lived mindful of his mortality. For he had erected for himself a sepulchre in his garden, Joh 19:41, the place of his pleasure and retirement, that it might be often in his view, and suggest to him the thoughts of death and eternity. In the description of the sepulchre given by the evangelists, it is particularly remarked, that it was nigh to the place where he was crucified, consequently nigh to Jerusalem. By this circumstance all the cavils are prevented which might otherwise have been occasioned, in case the body had been removed farther off. Moreover, it is observed that the sepulchre was a new one, wherein never any man had been laid. This plainly proves that it could be no other than Jesus who rose out of it, and cuts off all suspicion of his being raised by touching the bones of some prophet buried there, as happened to the corpse which touched the bones of Elisha, 2Ki 13:21. Further, the evangelists take notice that it was a sepulchre hewn out of a rock, to show that there was no passage by which the disciples could get into it but the one at which the guards were placed, Mat 27:62, &c., and consequently that it was not in their power to steal away the body while the guards remained there performing their duty. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre To block up the entrance. The sepulchre, it seems, differed from that of Lazarus, being partly above ground; whereas Lazaruss being wholly under ground, had a stone laid on the mouth of it, covering the entry of the stair by which they went down to it. The rolling of the stone to the graves mouth was with them as filling up the grave is with us; it completed the funeral. Having thus in silence and sorrow deposited the precious body of our Lord Jesus in the house appointed for all living, they departed without any further ceremony. It is the most melancholy circumstance in the funerals of our Christian friends, when we have laid their bodies in the dark and silent grave, to go home and leave them behind; but, it is not we that go home and reave them behind; no, it is they that are gone to the better home, and have left us behind! There was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary Namely, the mother of James and Joses, Mat 27:56. The mother of Jesus, it appears, was not there, being hindered, probably, by the excess of her sorrow, or, perhaps, she might have been taken to the house of John as to her home, Joh 19:26-27. Thus we see the company which attended the funeral was very small and mean. There were none of the relations in mourning to follow the corpse; no formalities to grace the solemnity, but only these two good women, that were true mourners, who, as they had attended him to the cross, so they followed him to the grave, as if they gave themselves up to sorrow; and they sat over against the sepulchre, not so much, says Henry, to fill their eyes with the sight of what was done, as to empty them in rivers of tears: for true love to Christ will carry us to the utmost in following him: death itself will not, cannot, quench that divine fire.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Verse 55

Followed Jesus from Galilee; that is, had been his companions on his last journey to Jerusalem.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

Why did Matthew include reference to the women who observed the crucifixion? Even though Jewish society did not regard women equally with men, their witness of Jesus’ death would have added some credibility to Matthew’s account (cf. 1Co 1:27-31). As Mary, who seemed to understand and believe something of what Jesus had said about dying (Mat 26:6-13), they did not abandon Him as most of His unfaithful male disciples had done. The only believing disciples who did not abandon Him appear to have been a few powerless women, who could not help Him but only observed His sufferings from afar, and John (Joh 19:26-27). These women were the last at the cross and the first at the tomb (cf. Mat 28:1) indicating their devotion to Jesus whom they had followed in Galilee and ministered to financially (Luk 8:2-3). Thus one reason for this mention of the women appears to be to bridge Jesus’ crucifixion and His resurrection. The women Matthew chose to identify by name were probably those whom his original readers knew best by the names he used to describe them. The chart below attempts to harmonize the references in the Gospels that identify the women who observed Jesus on the cross.

Some Women Who Observed the Crucifixion

Mat 27:56	Mar 15:40	Joh 19:25
Mary Magdalene	Mary Magdalene	Mary Magdalene
		Jesus’ mother (Mary)
Mary the mother of James and Joseph =	Mary the mother of James the less and Joses =	Mary the wife of Clopas
Mother of Zebedee’s sons =	Salome =	Jesus’ mother’s sister

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)