Blog / Who Were Those Women?

Some women were watching from a distance (Mark 15:40, NIV).

After completing a two-year sojourn through My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers*, I struggled with his challenge to “get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ”. In doing so, he said, “you set loose the energy of God!” He then encouraged readers to “consider bare-spirited the tragedy of God” as you “brood upon the tragedy of God upon the cross.”

I winced at the thought. I have always dreaded Easter messages detailing the agony and torture of Christ. My heart recoils and my mind just tunes out! I prefer the children’s version—the same one I’ve told to first graders for fifteen years. Small objects hidden in numbered plastic eggs communicate the story, from Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem to Jesus ascending to heaven. In telling the story I can move quickly through the traumatic parts and on to the happy ending, the resurrection!

Oswald Chambers’ challenge to bring myself “back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ” seriously impacted me. I did brood, but with my seemingly inescapable struggle to engage. It was then I remembered some women actually attended the crucifixion. They heard the buzz of the flies and breathed the dust of the passing crowds. They didn’t just listen to the crucifixion story while sitting on padded pews in an air-conditioned church. They experienced firsthand the whole tragedy.

I carefully read the gospel accounts from the perspective of the women standing at the scene of the crucifixion. During the process I was surprised to discover different listings of women in each of the gospels. I eventually wrote down the names to keep them straight. Scripture revealed four women, a fifth woman identified as the sister of Mary, Jesus’ mother, and two women whose presence is inferred. In addition, all the Gospels included a reference to other women.

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Suzanna, Mary the mother of James and Joses, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary’s sister, and Salome—in Galilee they had traveled with Jesus to care for His needs. They also helped support Jesus and the disciples out of their own financial resources. They had arrived in Jerusalem with Jesus and the disciples from Galilee to celebrate the Passover feast. That day they witnessed a Roman execution, a crucifixion—a horribly torturous death reserved for criminals and slaves.

By noon, when most of the passersby had returned to their holiday preparations, this small band of faithful women underwent together an unnatural, encroaching darkness. The rays of the sun dimmed and blackness crept over the land. They surely huddled closer and held tightly to one another as this ominous miracle of nature overtook them.

Later in the day, a small cluster of women broke away from the crowd. Moving cautiously, they eased past the soldiers to stand close to the cross. From there Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene could see and hear Jesus clearly. The apostle John, having arrived at the scene, stood with them. Upon looking down and seeing His mother with John, Jesus said, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to (John), “Here is your mother” (John 19:26-27, NIV). Silence followed, interrupted only by His labored, intermittent breathing.

With Jesus’ final words, “It is finished” (John 19:30, NIV), the earth cried out its own agony. It moaned and groaned with rumblings and violent quakes. Boulders crashed, tombs broke open, and the crowd scattered. But the women endured. By evening though, when Sabbath preparations demanded completion before sundown, only two women remained to see Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus arrive unexpectedly to claim Jesus’ body from the cross. They heard the rustle of linen and smelled the aroma of spices as the men hastily wrapped the corpse and carried it to a nearby tomb before darkness came for the second time that day.

What drew them to the scene of the cross? What compelled these women to witness Jesus’ crucifixion and burial? And, most of all, why did they remain when others fled?

By the conclusion of my research, I was surprised not only by what I learned but by what I experienced—spiritual kinship with the women who stood there that day. I felt like I too had worshiped with them at the cross.**

In addition, I’d attained a new depth of love for Jesus and a rekindled gratitude for His obedience to death on the cross. Now I extend an invitation to you to join with me this Good Friday in observing with our earliest sisters-in-Christ the wonder, the mystery, the gift, and yes, even the agony of Christ’s great love.

*Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Westwood, NJ: Barbour, 1935), p.330-331, November 25&26.

**Linda Lesniewski, Women at the Cross: Experiencing the Wonder and Mystery of Christ’s Love (Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2005), edited excerpts, 11-20. Available on Kindle.

Linda Lesniewski

Linda served as Women’s Minister at Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, TX for 24 years. She has authored "A Little Book About Knowing a Big God" for children; "Women at the Cross" and "Connecting Women: A Guide for Leaders in Women’s Ministry", by Revell; as well as "His Story My Story", a digital download available from LifeWay. Linda enjoys spending time with her four young adult children and six granddaughters. She has served on the Womenary Board of Directors for many years. You can contact Linda at lindalesniewski49@gmail.com.