Women of Note in the New Testament
61
This chapter is based on
Luke 23:27-31
;
Mark 15:40-47
.
When Jesus was thought to be dying beneath the burden of the
cross, many women, who, though not believers in Christ, were touched
with pity for His sufferings, broke forth into a mournful wailing. When
Jesus revived, He looked upon them with tender compassion. He knew
they were not lamenting Him because He was a teacher sent from God,
but from motives of common humanity. He looked upon the weeping
women and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, but weep not for me, but
for yourselves, and for your children.”
Jesus did not despise their tears, but the sympathy which they
expressed wakened a deeper chord of sympathy in His own heart for
them. He forgot His own grief in contemplating the future fate of
Jerusalem. Only a short time ago the people had cried out, “His blood
be on us and on our children.” How blindly had they invoked the
doom they were soon to realize! Many of the very women who were
weeping about Jesus were to perish with their children in the siege of
Jerusalem.—
The Spirit of Prophecy 3:151 (1878)
.
The women of Galilee had remained with the disciple John to see
what disposition would be made of the body of Jesus, which was very
precious to them, although their faith in Him as the promised Messiah
had perished with Him.... The women were astonished to see Joseph
and Nicodemus, both honored and wealthy councilors, as anxious
[68]
and interested as themselves for the proper disposal of the body of
Jesus.—
The Spirit of Prophecy 3:174, 175 (1878)
.
Women at the Tomb of Jesus
This chapter is based on
Matthew 28
;
Mark 16
;
Luke 24
;
John 19, 20
.
While John was troubled about the burial of his Master, Joseph
returned with Pilate’s order for the body of Christ; and Nicodemus
came bringing a costly mixture of myrrh and aloes ... for His embalm-
ing.... The disciples were astonished to see these wealthy rulers as
much interested as they themselves in the burial of their Lord....
Gently and reverently they [Joseph and Nicodemus] removed with
their own hands the body of Jesus from the cross. Their tears of
sympathy fell fast as they looked upon His bruised and lacerated form.