Page 145 - laten-08-06-2020

Salome

Encountering and Experiencing the Cross

Mark 15 : 40
There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary
Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the younger and Joses, and Salome.
Marck 15:40 (NRSV)
Introduction

he given character for today’s meditation is seemingly
Tinsignificant woman called Salome mentioned in the
Passion Narrative Mark: 15:40 (NRSV). In the non-canonical
Greek Gospel of the Egyptians (2nd century), Salome appears
as a disciple of Jesus. She asks Jesus how long death would hold
sway, and he replies, “So long as women bring forth, for I come
to end the works of the female”. Salome replied, “Then I have
done well in not bringing forth”. From this text, it would appear
that there was an early tradition that Salome the disciple was
childless and possibly unmarried. In the gospel of Thomas,
there is a reference of Jesus reclining on a couch and eating at
a table that belonged to Salome. In John 8:12 Jesus says “if you
follow me, you will not have to walk in darkness, because you
will have light that leads to life”. God can demonstrate God’s
might, mercy and sovereign grace through our trials.
In canonical books, Salome whose name appears only in
Mark (Mark: 15:40, 16:1), was the mother of Zebedee’s sons, the
disciples James and John (Matt: 20:20; 27:56). She was probably
the sister of Jesus’ Mother whom Mark did not mention (19:25).
Whereas in Matt: 27: 56, two women (Mary and the mother
of the sons of Zebedee), are mentioned, and the other woman
was Salome. John: 19: 25 refers to two women called Mary the
mother of Jesus and his mother’s sister who stood near the cross.
If his mother’s sister is identified with Salome, then James and
John, the sons of Zabedee, would be cousins of Jesus. However
John made a different section of names out of many other women
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Lenten Meditations Re - Imaging People