Salome mother of James and John.
Matt. 20:2-21, Mark 15:40-41
There are two women named Salome in the New Testament, but only one is mentioned by that name. One Salome was righteous; we read of the other Salome in Mark 6 - the daughter of Herodias who danced at Herod's party. was unrighteous and is not mentioned by name in the gospels. John the Baptist’s fate was decided when Herodias’s daughter danced for Herod at his birthday banquet. Pleased with the girl’s performance, Herod offered her a rash promise. Salome went to Herodias to ask her advice on what the gift should be, and Herodias told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Salome obediently asked Herod for this gift, and, though the Bible says Herod was grieved, he honored his promise. John was beheaded in prison, and his head given to Herodias’s daughter who took it to her mother (Mark 6:21–28). Though Salome is not mentioned by name in the biblical record, the historian Josephus tells us her name.
The righteous Salome was the wife of Zebedee (Matthew 27:56), the mother of the disciples James and John, and was a female follower of Jesus. Salome and her husband Zebedee and their family lived in Capernaum. Peter was also from there. Salome was one of the group of women that contributed to the support of Jesus and His apostles - Luke 8:1-3
This Salome was the one who came to Jesus with the request that her sons sit in places of honor in the kingdom (Matthew 20:20–21). She was also one of the women “looking on from a distance” when Jesus was being crucified—with her were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses and James the Less (Mark 15:40). These same women were together on the third day after that, bringing spices to Jesus’ tomb to anoint Him. When they encountered the angel, -who told them that Jesus was risen- they ran to tell the disciples the good news (Mark 16:1–8). Mark’s Gospel is the only one that mentions Salome by name as one of the women who was at the tomb on Resurrection day.
Salome was a mother who gave a huge contribution to our Christian faith – the apostles James and John
We have only three recorded accounts of her life –
(1) Matthew 20:20-24; 27:56 when she asks Jesus to let her sons sit on his right and left side in the coming kingdom.
(2) Mark 15:40-41 – when she was present at the crucifixion with the ladies who followed and ministered to him.
(3) Mark 16:1-2 – when she is with the ladies who discover the tomb is empty and are visited by the angel.
We can, however, read between the lines of her life just from the few things we do know about her. We know that she was the wife of Zebedee, a wealthy fisherman - he had hired servants who helped in the fishing trade - Mark 1:19-20. We know she was a godly mother who taught her children well because they were more than willing to leave the boat and their father when Jesus called them to follow Him.
Salome was a great example of a mother who raised her children in the Lord and then released them to do what God had for them. We know from the bits and pieces of the gospel narrative that she must have agreed with their decision to follow Jesus because not only did she permit them to go, she went as well.
But we can have one thousand great shining moments and they fade into the distance in comparison to the one time that we make a mistake I feel like this is what happened to Salome. People don’t usually equate her with being a follower of Jesus, being one of those who supported financially Jesus' ministry, being at the crucifixion when it was dangerous to do so , seeing where He was laid in the tomb and even being one of the women at the tomb that was visited by the angel who announced the resurrection.
Nope, she’s remembered as the mother who just didn’t get the concept of the kingdom right and was overly ambitious for her children
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In Matthew 20:20-24 we find the most well known passage about this mother – when Salome approaches Jesus with a request. She kneels at Jesus’ feet and asks him if he will grant that her two sons will sit at his right and left side when he comes into his kingdom. The parallel passage in Mark 10:35-37 reveals that it was her sons who had engineered this request! James and John were the ones vying to get the top positions for themselves. - as they are quick to jump in with a resounding “We are able” when Jesus asks if they can drink the same cup He does. Matt:20: 22
She thought her kids were the best suited for the job and wanted to make sure Jesus knew it also. We need to be reminded that she wasn't talking about a heavenly kingdom, she isn’t asking if they can sit on his right and left on the heavenly throne. No, she like all the other Jews had an earthly kingdom mindset. She, like the other followers, thought there would be an established kingdom with Jesus as the conquering ruler.
We have to understand that like most of the Jews in her day, Salome probably believed that the Messiah would set up His kingdom on earth and deliver God’s people from the hands of the Roman Empire - see Luke 24: 21 and Acts 1: 6.
Salome, however, didn’t consider the ramifications of what her request really meant.
“‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus said to them. ‘Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?'”
‘We can,’ they answered.
Jesus said to them, ‘You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.'”
We know that Jesus was referring to the cup of suffering. And from history, we also know that James was the first disciple to be martyred. John was eventually exiled to the island of Patmos. Following Jesus wasn’t the easiest or safest path to take in life.
If we want God’s best for our children, we have to consider that His plan for them may not be as safe and comfy and prosperous as what we really want for them.
Jesus didn’t rebuke Salome. He just asked the boys if they realized what they were getting into. He told them they would indeed face suffering if they continued to follow Him.
Jesus used their desire to reign with Him as an object lesson in what it really means to serve.
Jesus called the others together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave–just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to give his life as a ransom for many.'” Matt 20:24-28. Jesus was telling the apostles with Salome and her 2 sons present, that if you want to be the boss you have to be a servant first.
We live in a world where people strive diligently for high positions of power and leadership, and for fame and recognition. We live in a world where few people want to be servants. And if there are people who do serve, they serve only because of the prospect of personal gain – in terms of money, honour, power or recognition. That is the way things are done in the world. It is considered demeaning to serve others, and it is considered foolish to serve for nothing. But Christ requires us to take a very different view of service.
Now that we have got this incident off our attention we come to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Salome was present at the crucifixion, beholding that grim scene afar off, even when one of her two sons had withdrawn - John was there at the cross for Jesus to hand His mother to him - John 19: 25-27.
Salome, along with the other women “stood afar off,” Luke 23:49, probably because of the malicious crowd, the rough soldiers, and the horrors of the cross, all of which was sufficient to make them timid... Salome was also with the women who came to anoint the body of Jesus, and shared in the glorious news of His Resurrection (Luke 24:10). They hastened to perform their last service for their Lord, but were not at the tomb soon enough to perfume His body with spices. Because by the time the group arrived at the tomb Jesus had already arisen.
Their devotion was rewarded by the revelation of the angel that Jesus was alive .." He is not here He is risen." Matt. 28:6 . The angel asked them to go forth and proclaim the truth of the Resurrection- which Salome’s son, John, was to give emphasis to as he came to write the last book of the Bible (Revelation 1:17, 18).
Comparing all four Gospel accounts of the experiences of the women at the empty tomb on that first Easter morning can be challenging. Each Gospel records the event a little differently. There is, however, in the Gospel accounts of the resurrection a common thread. The first witnesses to the reality of the empty tomb were women
Luke presents us with a number of women at the empty tomb. "The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James," as well as the unnamed "others who accompanied them" (24:10). Luke records the women's experience clearly enough: "But at daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, 'Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day'" (24:1-7).
The difficulty the early Church had with this remembrance is simply that women were not considered credible witnesses. That this was a problem for the apostles is acknowledged by Luke. The women faithfully recount to Peter and the other Apostles what had been revealed to them at the empty tomb, "but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them" (24:11).
If the earliest Christians were making up stories about the resurrection of Jesus, it’s highly unlikely that they would have featured women as their first witnesses. This would not make any sense at all. And, even if somehow these women-centered stories were told at first, we would expect that they would soon have been “corrected” by Christians who wanted to exclude the liability associated with women witnesses
Of course, the fact that women or even if it was men who were the first witnesses of the empty tomb does not provide ironclad proof that the resurrection actually happened. Because an empty tomb is no proof of the resurrection. But these women were witnesses of His crucifixion, His death and saw His body placed in the empty tomb by Joseph - Luke 23:55 . And on the third day when they came with the spices to anoint the body they were welcomed by the stone before the tomb rolled over, an empty tomb and angels who declared that "He is not here - He is risen !" Mark 16: 6-7.
Clearly the women’s story occupies a distinctive space in the narrative. The eleven disciples, had probably gone into hiding following the arrest and death of Jesus. The scattered male disciples are in no position to pull off the deceit which the Jewish leaders in Matthew ’s gospel anticipated - a nocturnal tomb robbery - Matt 27:63-64. Even though there was a Roman guard to prevent such an attempt - Matt. 27:65.-66. The disciples are not superstitious simpletons given to hysterical fantasies of reunion with a beloved leader.
We can’t know for sure why Jesus appeared first to the women and not the men, as the Scriptures do not say why.
But we can infer a reason.
First, note that all four Gospels affirm that women were the first to see the empty tomb and encounter an angel or angels (Matt 28:5-8, Mark 16:1–8, Luke 24:1-8, John 20:1ff). Matthew and John also affirm that Jesus appears to the women after these encounters.
This unanimity of detail is significant. The accounts all align
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But more significant, and indeed puzzling, is why Jesus chose this unlikely source for spreading the good news.
So then why would the gospel writers include these details? Wouldn’t readers of the Gospels have the same response? And why wouldn’t Jesus appear first to the men, so that the testimony of his resurrection is more widely accepted?
If the apostles fabricated the resurrection, they certainly would not have written that women witnessed it first.
The main argument posited for the historicity of the appearance to the women, and the empty tomb for that matter, is that the early Christians would not have invented the story, since the low view of women in first-century Mediterranean society would raise problems of credibility.
It wasn’t just an accident that women were the first to discover that the tomb of Jesus was empty and that He had risen from the dead. I believe that God specifically chose to make known the good news of Easter to several of the female followers of Jesus through what they observed with their eyes, through the testimony of angels, and through the words of Jesus as well.
I’m convinced that God chose woman as the first witnesses in part to affirm their importance, their value as witnesses, not to mention their value as human beings. In a culture that said “The witness of women doesn’t count” God was saying, “On the contrary, the witness of women is essential and trustworthy.” In a culture that tended to minimize the value of women, God was upholding, honoring, and empowering women to be the first to share the good news of Easter. Women were the first evangelists, the first divinely-called witnesses to the resurrection.
It is striking to me that the women who discovered the empty tomb were instructed specifically to tell Jesus’ other disciples that he was risen (Matt 28:7, 10; Mk 16:7; John 20:17). The women were told to pass on truly and authoritatively what they had seen and heard to a group of people in which men were prominent. The women received a mixed response. Luke reports that the disciples did not believe the women “because their words seemed to them like nonsense” (Lk 24:11). To be sure, the specific good news proclaimed by the women witnesses was utterly unexpected and hard to believe.
The whole story of Jesus rising from the dead is incredible.
The apostles affirm that women were indeed the first witnesses, because that’s how it really happened. Throughout the whole story of bible history - the walls of Jericho falling inwards when a group of people went around it shouting and blowing trumpets leaving only one section of the wall standing where Rahab and her family was - Joshua 6:20; from barren women giving birth in their old age, to waters parting to allow a large group of people and animals to cross over and escape an army of Egyptians - Exodus 14:21-22; and boys taking down giants with a sling thrower 1Sam 17:48-49 —God certainly does the unexpected.
As the saying goes, “You can’t make this stuff up.”
Jesus took those whose word society said wasn’t trustworthy and made them the most reliable witnesses to the greatest event in history. He went against the norms of society of the day to show that he came to seek and save all who were lost, women included. And, in Christ, men and women are absolutely equal (Galatians 3:28).
