The witnesses of the crucifixion were the ones who waited until Jesus' last word, then his last piercing cry and final breath, and afterwards to hear the centurion's profession of faith; they lingered even longer for Jesus' limbs to be excised from crude ferrous nails, and for making a short trek to bear the dead weight of Jesus' lifeless body for entombment.
The women disciples' witness of God's audible and visual silence lacked the classical features of heroic engagement and resistance.
Peter [not named but a likely hotblooded swordsman] had already played that classical persona in Gethsemane, having severed an ear from the High Priest's slave (Mark 14: 47). But that persona fell away as fast as he fled. Certainly, misery loves company because Peter was not alone in flight. Mark also mentions "a certain young man" ran off naked, leaving the crowd from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders with his linen cloth, which had been his sole piece of clothing worn.
Mark does not specify but leaves the reader to assume this "young man" had been someone faithful to Jesus because the Greek text repeats similar wording for the crowd grabbing this scantily clad young man like the crowd had put their hands on Jesus.
Even with daylight to arrive after a night in Gethsemane where Jesus' prayed, Peter and the naked young man in Gethsemane with Jesus were nowhere near the cross from the ninth through twelfth hour, at which time a congregation of women watched. Fear had choked courage from the elder Peter and the unnamed younger man. They [the discipled men] ran for the shadows. The women, on the other hand, stayed at the cross. Who's the hero in this narrative? The women, of course.
In rhetorical contrast with the crowd that arrested Jesus in Gethsemane, the women whom Mark identifies by name among "many" more women who followed Jesus to Jerusalem, formed a sisterly and motherly band to accompany him not only through Galilee to Jerusalem in life but also, in their loyalty, to his death. Therefore, we might conclude the women remained in the light of their spiritual companionship, unlike the shadows where the men made their home.
Who were the people in “the crowd” sent by the chief priests, scribes, and elders? We cannot say; Mark does not. Were there men and women in the crowd? Maybe.
But a crowd suggests a rhetorical inference that includes everybody: brother, sister, extended family, cousins, and all their acquaintances. Everybody. How can the reader not spot self among the motley crew? If most of the the women among Jesus' disciples were not named, then they were part of a nameless crowd, too. Can the reader see that she or he is among this crowd, too?
My point is as follows: a crowd covers a lot of sins and sinners as well as a lot of saintly persons, whose selfless actions were what they themselves might consider 'de rigueur' or unnoticed by themselves.
'Somos servidores que no hacíamos falta, hemos hecho lo que era nuestro deber' (Lucas 17:10, BC-L).
"We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!” (Luke 17: 10, NRSVCE).
Paraphrasing Matthew 25: 31-40:
"Lord, when did we see you betrayed and yet we stuck with you?
When did we watch your mortality leave you and we did not abandon you?
The witnesses of the crucifixion were the ones who waited until Jesus' last word, then his last piercing cry and final breath, and afterwards to hear the centurion's profession of faith; they lingered even longer for Jesus' limbs to be excised from crude ferrous nails, and for making a short trek to bear the dead weight of Jesus' lifeless body for entombment.
The women disciples' witness of God's audible and visual silence lacked the classical features of heroic engagement and resistance.
Peter [not named but a likely hotblooded swordsman] had already played that classical persona in Gethsemane, having severed an ear from the High Priest's slave (Mark 14: 47). But that persona fell away as fast as he fled. Certainly, misery loves company because Peter was not alone in flight. Mark also mentions "a certain young man" ran off naked, leaving the crowd from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders with his linen cloth, which had been his sole piece of clothing worn.
Mark does not specify but leaves the reader to assume this "young man" had been someone faithful to Jesus because the Greek text repeats similar wording for the crowd grabbing this scantily clad young man like the crowd had put their hands on Jesus.
Even with daylight to arrive after a night in Gethsemane where Jesus' prayed, Peter and the naked young man in Gethsemane with Jesus were nowhere near the cross from the ninth through twelfth hour, at which time a congregation of women watched. Fear had choked courage from the elder Peter and the unnamed younger man. They [the discipled men] ran for the shadows. The women, on the other hand, stayed at the cross. Who's the hero in this narrative? The women, of course.
In rhetorical contrast with the crowd that arrested Jesus in Gethsemane, the women whom Mark identifies by name among "many" more women who followed Jesus to Jerusalem, formed a sisterly and motherly band to accompany him not only through Galilee to Jerusalem in life but also, in their loyalty, to his death. Therefore, we might conclude the women remained in the light of their spiritual companionship, unlike the shadows where the men made their home.
Who were the people in “the crowd” sent by the chief priests, scribes, and elders? We cannot say; Mark does not. Were there men and women in the crowd? Maybe.
But a crowd suggests a rhetorical inference that includes everybody: brother, sister, extended family, cousins, and all their acquaintances. Everybody. How can the reader not spot self among the motley crew? If most of the the women among Jesus' disciples were not named, then they were part of a nameless crowd, too. Can the reader see that she or he is among this crowd, too?
My point is as follows: a crowd covers a lot of sins and sinners as well as a lot of saintly persons, whose selfless actions were what they themselves might consider 'de rigueur' or unnoticed by themselves.
'Somos servidores que no hacíamos falta, hemos hecho lo que era nuestro deber' (Lucas 17:10, BC-L).
"We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!” (Luke 17: 10, NRSVCE).
Paraphrasing Matthew 25: 31-40:
"Lord, when did we see you betrayed and yet we stuck with you?
When did we watch your mortality leave you and we did not abandon you?