(61) And there was Mary Magdalene.--The words imply that they remained by the cross while the body was taken down, and watched its entombment: then returning to the house where they lodged, they prepared their spices and ointment before the Sabbath began, for a more complete embalmment, so that they might be ready by the earliest hour of dawn on the first day of the week (Luke 23:56).
Verse 61. - The other Mary. The mother of James and Joses (ver. 56). These pious women could not tear themselves from the spot where their Lord was buried. The last to leave him dead, they were the first to see him risen. And now they watch the last ceremonies at a distance, intending to complete the imperfect embalmment with loving care as soon as ever the sabbath was over. "Seest thou women's courage?" says Chrysostom; "seest thou their affection? seest thou their noble spirit in expending money [Mark 16:1; Luke 23:56]? their noble spirit even unto death? Let us men imitate the women; let us not forsake Jesus in temptations." We may note that the care of Joseph in providing an inviolable tomb, and the preparations of these good women, showed that they as yet had no faith in the incorruptibility of Christ's body or of his corporeal resurrection from the dead.
27:57-61 In the burial of Christ was nothing of pomp or solemnity. As Christ had not a house of his own, wherein to lay his head, while he lived, so he had not a grave of his own, wherein to lay his body, when he was dead. Our Lord Jesus, who had no sin of his own, had no grave of his own. The Jews designed that he should have made his grave with the wicked, should have been buried with the thieves with whom he was crucified, but God overruled it, so that he should make it with the rich in his death, Isa 53:9. And although to the eye of man the beholding a funeral may cause terror, yet if we remember how Christ by his burial has changed the nature of the grave to believers, it should make us rejoice. And we are ever to imitate Christ's burial in being continually occupied in the spiritual burial of our sins.
And there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary,.... The wife of Cleophas, and the mother of James and of Joses:
sitting over against the sepulchre; observing where the body of Christ was put, and how it was laid; for they intended to prepare spices and ointments to anoint it with; and were mourning for the death of Christ: for sitting was a mourning posture, which now they were allowed, the body being taken down from the cross, and interred by leave of the governor; for, for one that died as a malefactor, they might not use the outward signs of mourning: the canon is this (w); for such
"they do not mourn, but they grieve; and there is no grieving but in the heart:
hence these women before stood, John 19:25, but now they sat,
sitting over against the sepulchre; observing where the body of Christ was put, and how it was laid; for they intended to prepare spices and ointments to anoint it with; and were mourning for the death of Christ: for sitting was a mourning posture, which now they were allowed, the body being taken down from the cross, and interred by leave of the governor; for, for one that died as a malefactor, they might not use the outward signs of mourning: the canon is this (w); for such
"they do not mourn, but they grieve; and there is no grieving but in the heart:
hence these women before stood, John 19:25, but now they sat,
(w) Misn. Sarhedrin, c. 6. sect. 4.