By Clement Harrold
April 10, 2025
All four Gospels record the presence of a group of women at the crucifixion of Jesus:
There were also many women there, looking on from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him; among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. (Mt 27:55-56)
There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome, who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered to him; and also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. (Mk 15:40-41)
And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance and saw these things. (Lk 23:49)
But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. (Jn 19:25)
From these descriptions, we can immediately glean a number of facts:
- There were “many women” (Mt 27:55) present at the crucifixion
- These women had followed Jesus from Galilee and helped support His ministry (Mt 27:55; Mk 15:41; Lk 23:49; cf. Lk 8:2-3)
- For the most part these women observed the crucifixion “from afar” (Mt 27:55; 15:40) or “at a distance” (Lk 23:49); but at some point, a group of them got close enough to stand by the cross of Jesus and hear Him speak (Jn 19:25-27)
With these facts in place, let’s turn our attention to identifying the different women named by the evangelists. This task is complicated by the ambiguity in John’s description: “But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene” (Jn 19:25). John tells us that both the mother of Jesus and her sister were present at the crucifixion. But is John telling us that this sister is Mary the wife of Clopas, or is he listing Mary the wife of Clopas as a separate person?
On balance, it seems more likely that the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus is the same woman as Mary the wife of Clopas. This is evidenced in the fact that John inserts an “and” (Greek, kai) between the other names, but doesn’t include it here: “his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” It seems that the words Mary the wife of Clopas are placed in apposition to the words his mother’s sister; that is, they are describing who his mother’s sister is, rather than introducing a new person.
But if this reading is correct, then we are left with a new puzzle: Does it really make sense to say that Mary the mother of Jesus had a sister who was also called Mary? Admittedly, there was far less variety of personal names in first century Judea than what we observe in western culture today. Mary in particular was an extremely popular female name, accounting for as many as one in four of the women who lived in the Holy Land during Jesus’s day. But even so, it still seems unlikely that a family would give two of their daughters the same first name.
Fortunately, we can avoid this conundrum by recognizing that the Greek word for “sister” (adelphē) is not necessarily restricted to biological siblings. For example, the word can also refer to sisters-in-law, which in this instance seems to make the most sense. In fact, early Christian tradition identifies Clopas as the brother of Joseph, the foster father of Jesus (see Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.11 and 4.22). If this tradition is correct, then Joseph and Clopas were brothers who both married women called Mary, and these Marys were therefore sisters-in-law.
We can therefore conclude with some degree of probability that Mary the wife of Clopas is the woman whom John describes as the sister(-in-law) of Mary the mother of Jesus. Where things get a whole lot more complicated, however, is in the scholarly debates over whether this Mary the wife of Clopas who appears in John’s Gospel is the same woman as the one whom Matthew calls “Mary the mother of James and Joseph” and Mark calls “Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses.” (Note: Joses is simply a Greek variant on the name Joseph; hence Matthew and Mark are clearly referring to the same woman.) While this debate can be fascinating, it also tends to be inconclusive. For this reason, we won’t get into the weeds of the arguments here; readers who wish to investigate further may consult the reading list below.
This leaves one final enigma, namely, the identity of the woman Salome. Only Mark’s Gospel mentions her by name, but there is good reason to suppose that she is the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee (see Mt 10:2). This reasoning is based on the fact that Matthew and Mark offer parallel descriptions of the women present at the crucifixion, but whereas Matthew lists “Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee,” Mark’s version gives us “Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.” On this basis, it is often inferred that Salome is the mother of the sons of Zebedee. If this is correct, then it suggests that Salome is the same mother who approached Jesus earlier in the Gospels to ask whether her two “sons of thunder” (Mk 3:17) might sit at His right and left hand in His Kingdom (see Mt 20:20-24).
Based on the foregoing, we are now in a position to summarize which women were present at the crucifixion:
Mary Magdalene
Mary of Clopas (= the sister-in-law of Mary the Mother of Jesus)
Mary the mother of James and Joseph (= POSSIBLY the same woman as #2)
Salome (= the mother of the sons of Zebedee)
Mary the Mother of Jesus
Of course, these are just a few of the “many women” (Mt 27:55) who accompanied Jesus to Calvary and remained with Him in His darkest hour.
Further Reading
Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (William B Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2008)
St. Jerome, Against Helvidius (#13-16)
St. Jerome, On Illustrious Men (#2)
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/mary-of-cleophas-1080
https://lonelypilgrim.com/2012/07/25/too-many-jameses-untangling-jesuss-family-and-friends/
https://my.stpaulcenter.com/play/women-in-scripture
About Clement Harrold
Clement Harrold earned his master’s degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame in 2024, and his bachelor’s from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2021. His writings have appeared in First Things, Church Life Journal, Crisis Magazine, and the Washington Examiner.
