Those Who Knew Him

Luke 23:49 But those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

We often watch people’s reactions to events and wonder what is going on inside them. For you see, the outside doesn’t always match the inside. We have learned to “hold it together” and often have become very good at hiding what is on our insides.

But sometimes the inside spills out. In these moments there is congruity between the inside and the outside. Both speak the same language and the same message.

Now I am not advocating always showing everything that is going on inside on the outside. The world would be in an even greater mess than it is already if this happened. We don’t have to be an open book all the time. Sometimes the library is closed.

The reactions to Jesus death on the cross by those who observed it seem a bit puzzling to me. We read that the people who witnessed all the events went into normal mourning for first century Jewish culture. They beat their breasts as a sign that they were mourning Jesus death.

But how much of it really sunk in for them. Were they just doing what was culturally acceptable in that moment? Did the peer pressure move them to act in a certain way in that moment? Did they have any real idea that Jesus had just died for them? I doubt it.

But our text states that there was a difference for those who knew Him. Those in Jesus inner circle, those who followed and who had received what He had taught them, they had a different reaction.

They were standing at a distance, the text states. They weren’t in the ‘mash’ pit of the rock concert. They didn’t have to stand in the front row. They stood at a distance and observed. I wonder why?

Notice also, that the text mentions the women. They had been part of Jesus’ followers, not part of the twelve, but certainly close enough to take in all that Jesus said and did. Earlier in Luke we are told that they supported Jesus’ ministry out of their own finances. They bankrolled Jesus!

And about these women, there is no emotional reaction recorded. You might think they would be the ones to show the outward signs of grief, but nothing is mentioned. They are watching these things.

Now what this means, I’m not sure. Were they in such shock that they froze in disbelief? Were they so focused on the tasks ahead that they weren’t really present in that moment?

All we know is that they watched Jesus die. And I love the fact that the first people to see Jesus after the resurrection are some of these same women. They had watched from a distance, but witnessed Jesus’ alive again first hand, face to face.