(Mark 15:40-41)Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.
| Mark 10:35-45 | comment |
| 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. | From Josephus, Antiquities V, 33-34 , we know that who is son of Zebedee is a thief. Two λῃστάς are crucified with Jesus. |
| “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” 38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink | The son of man in his ''glory'' will be the son of man crucified on Golgotha and named ''King of Jews'', in Mark 15:26 : The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews. The ''cup'' that Jesus will drink is described in Mark 15:23 ''Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.'' and Mark 15:36 : Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said. It is implicit that the two crucified λῃστάς will drink a similar cup, as usual for crucified people. |
| or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” 39 “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 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.” | Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, in Mark 1:9 : At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. But that baptism is insufficient according to John himself, in Mark 1:8 : I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Therefore the true baptism is on the cross, as true expiation of the sins, in Mark 15:34-35 : 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). 35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”. Elijah is the true ''John the Baptist'', he is the true baptizer of the sins of the son of man (''Jesus Nazarene''). The two λῃστάς are sinners, too, in Mark 15:32 : ''Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him''. therefore also they will be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. |
| 41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” | There is rivalry between the disciples and Jesus notes it. The rivalry is the opposite of peace, therefore the sons of Zebedee are rejecting the peace, de facto. Jesus had rejected his mother and his brothers in Mark 3:31-34 : Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”. Therefore before the crucified Jesus there is ''Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph'': the same woman rejected by Jesus. Who is before the two crucified λῃστάς ? Just the same ''woman'' that the two λῃστάς had rejected: the ''Peace'' (first meaning of ''Salome'', from SALEM=peace). |
Note what Matthew does in reaction to Mark. Matthew doesn't like that the sons of Zebedee are described as desirous of material power, therefore in Matthew is the ''mother of the sons of Zebedee'' to make the request of glory for her sons (and not the sons themselves), and is always the ''mother of the sons of Zebedee'' to see the crucified on Golgotha: she is not more named ''Salome'' so to remove the attack against the sons of Zebedee.
The fact that Matthew has removed completely ''Salome'' from her location in Mark confirms the explanatory power of my thesis.
And so the enigma ''Salome'' has a solution.
And that solution confirms also that the two λῃστάς crucified with Jesus are just the sons of Zebedee: James and John.