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A group of women from Galilee suddenly appears in Matthew 27:55. \u00a0They are \u201cbeholding from a distance\u201d ( makrothen <\/em> ), having \u201cfollowed\u201d Jesus ( eklouthesan <\/em> ). <\/p>\n This is precisely the description given of Peter in 26:58: When Jesus is arrested, he too \u201cfollows Him at a distance\u201d ( ekolouthe auto apo makrothen <\/em> ). \u00a0The women have not only taken up the place of the disciples in general, but specifically of Peter, who had confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God. <\/p>\n In fact, the women are the ones who have been following Jesus throughout the gospel. <\/p>\n Matthew uses the disciple-word \u201cfollow\u201d some 24 times in his gospel. \u00a0Initially, the word describes the disciples\u2019 immediate forsaking of their nets to follow Jesus (4:20, 22; cf. 9:9), but almost immediately the multitude takes the place of the twelve as those who \u201cfollow\u201d Jesus (4:25; 8:1; 12:15; 14:13; 19:2; 20:29, 34; 21:9). \u00a0Apart from Jesus\u2019 initial call, Matthew doesn\u2019t say that any disciples \u201cfollows\u201d Jesus except Peter in 26:58, and he\u2019s following from a distance. \u00a0Peter says <\/em> he\u2019s forsaken everything to follow Jesus, and Jesus agrees (19:27-28), but we don\u2019t actually see it happening. <\/p>\n All along, though, a crowd of \u201cmany women\u201d have been invisibly part of the \u201cmultitude\u201d following Jesus from Galilee. \u00a0While, in Matthew\u2019s telling. the multitude and disciples have abandoned Jesus at the cross and tomb, however, these women stick around. \u00a0While Judas betrays, and Peter denies, and the crowd cries out for Jesus\u2019 blood, the women from Galilee are near enough to watch and wait, and to become witnesses of Jesus\u2019 resurrection. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A group of women from Galilee suddenly appears in Matthew 27:55. \u00a0They are \u201cbeholding from a distance\u201d ( makrothen ), having \u201cfollowed\u201d Jesus ( eklouthesan ). This is precisely the description given of Peter in 26:58: When Jesus is arrested, he too \u201cfollows Him at a distance\u201d ( ekolouthe auto apo makrothen ). \u00a0The women […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-nt-matthew"],"yoast_head":"\n