Now there stood by the cross of Jesus
So near as not only to see him, but to hear him speak:
his mother;
the mother of Jesus, Mary; which showed her affection to Christ,
and her constancy in abiding by him to the last; though it must
be a cutting sight, and now was fulfilled Simeon's prophecy, (
Luke 2:35 ) to
see her son in such agonies and sorrow, and jeered and insulted
by the worst of men; and though she herself was exposed to
danger, and liable to be abused by the outrageous multitude; and
it also showed that she stood in need, as others, of a crucified
Saviour; so far was she from being a co-partner with him in
making satisfaction for sin, as the Papists wickedly say:
and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of
Cleophas.
The Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions distinguish Mary the
wife of Cleophas from his mother's sister, by placing the
copulative and between them, and so make two persons; whereas one
and the same is intended, and who was the sister of Mary, the
mother of Christ; not her own sister, for it is not likely that
two sisters should be of the same name; but her husband Joseph's
sister, and so her's; or else Cleophas was Joseph's brother, as
Eusebius from Hegesippus says F11: and who was also not the
daughter of Cleophas, as the Arabic version has here supplied it;
much less the mother of him; but his wife, as is rightly put in
our translation: for, according to the other evangelists, she was
the mother of James and Joses, and who were the sons of Cleophas
or Alphaeus; which are not the names of two persons, nor two
names of one and the same person, but one and the same name
differently pronounced; his true name in Hebrew was (yplx) , or (yaplx) , or (yplyx) , "Chelphi", or "Chelphai", or "Chilphi", a
name frequently to be met with in Talmudic and Rabbinic writings;
and so a Jewish writer F12 observes, that (aplya awhw aplyx) , "Chilpha is the
same as Ilpha"; and in Greek may be pronounced either Cleophas,
or Alphaeus, as it is both ways: ignorance of this has led
interpreters to form different conjectures, as that either the
husband of this Mary had two names; or that she was twice married
to two different persons, once to Alphaeus, and after his death
to Cleophas; or that Cleophas was her father, and Alphaeus her
husband; for neither of which is there any foundation. She was no
doubt a believer in Christ, and came and stood by his cross; not
merely to keep her sister company, but out of affection to Jesus,
and to testify her faith in him:
and Mary Magdalene;
out of whom he had cast seven devils, and who had been a true
penitent, a real believer in him, an hearty lover of him, was
zealously attached to him, and followed him to the last. Three
Marys are here mentioned as together; and it is observable, that
the greater part of those that are taken notice of, as following
Christ to the cross, and standing by it, were women, the weaker,
and timorous sex, when all his disciples forsook him and fled;
and none of them attended at the cross, as we read of, excepting
John; no, not even Peter, who boasted so much of his attachment
to him. These good women standing by the cross of Christ, may
teach us to do, as they did, look upon a crucified Christ, view
his sorrows, and his sufferings, and our sins laid upon him, and
borne and taken away by him; we should look unto him for pardon,
cleansing, and justification, and, in short, for the whole of
salvation: we should also weep, as they did, whilst we look on
him; shed even tears of affection for, and sympathy with him; of
humiliation for sin, and of joy for a Saviour: and likewise
should abide by him as they did, by his persons, offices, and
grace; by the doctrine of the cross, continuing steadfastly in
it; and by the ordinances of Christ, constantly attending on
them, and that notwithstanding all reproaches and sufferings we
may undergo.