Women at the crucifixion

Narrative comparison

Interpretations

Matthew and Mark, who speak of "many women" present at the crucifixion, mention three individually at the death of Jesus and two at his burial. Matthew describes the third individual present at the death as the mother of the sons of Zebedee, without naming her. Mark's third individual is called Salome. Luke mentions none individually. John mentions four individually, including "the mother of Jesus," who is not mentioned by the other gospels. Mark, Matthew, and Luke all place the women "at a distance" (the disciples having fled), whereas John has them "standing by the cross" (19:24).

The indication in could be interpreted as referring to two, three or four women. There are difficulties against taking it as presenting a double apposition, with "his mother" being Mary of Clopas, and "his mother's sister" being Mary Magdalene. If the women are three, then there is a single apposition, with Mary of Clopas presented as the sister of Jesus' mother (despite the awkwardness of having two sisters bearing the same name) or else, since Hebrew and Aramaic had no specific word for "cousin", presented as her cousin or her sister-in-law, with Clopas considered the brother of Joseph. If there is no apposition, the women are four, as understood by Tatian and the Peshitta. If the last interpretation is chosen, the accounts that the four gospels give of individual women present at the crucifixion are:

Mary Magdalene is mentioned by all gospels apart from Luke, who mentions no individual. Mary, mother of James and Joseph/Joses is mentioned by Matthew and Mark. The others are mentioned by one gospel only: Mary, the mother of Jesus; Mary, the mother of the sons of Zebedee; Salome; a sister of Mary, mother of Jesus; Mary of Clopas.

Attempts have been made to consider Mary of Clopas, the mother of James and Joseph/Joses, and a half-sister or sister-in-law of Mary the mother of Jesus as different descriptions of the same person.

References

References

1. Vatican. "The Holy See".
2. [[Raymond E. Brown]], ''The Death of the Messiah'' (Chapman 1994 {{ISBN. 0-225-66748-7), pp. 1014–15
3. Brown, Raymond E.. (1978). "Mary in the New Testament". [[Paulist Press]].
4. [[Adam Clarke]], ''The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments'', Volume 3 1837. p. 794: "That Cleophas, called also Alpheus, married a sister of the blessed virgin, called also Mary, by whom he had the above issue ; and that ... among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome was"