Who Was With Jesus at Calvary?

“When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left.”  (Luke 23:33)

Jesus was condemned to death by the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman governor in Jerusalem.  After being beaten and forced to carry the instrument of his execution, Jesus was crucified upon a cross on Calvary (Golgotha) and died for our sins and our salvation.   There was a size-able crowd on Calvary with Jesus that fateful day but most of the people there were not with Jesus.  They were against Jesus.

There was a diverse group of people gathered at Calvary on the day of Our Lord’s Crucifixion.  They had diverse motivations for being there and they had differing experiences of this fateful event.  

The Jewish leaders and Roman governor condemned Jesus to death.  Roman soldiers actually carried out the crucifixion. They nailed him to the Cross, divided his clothes amongst themselves and mocked him as he hung in agony on the Cross.  “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself,” the soldiers taunted (Luke 23:37).

The Roman Governor Pontius Pilate had an inscription attached to the Cross above Jesus that read “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.”  The Jewish leaders objected to this inscription but Pilate refused to change it.  (John 19:19-22). 

The Jewish leaders came to Calvary to revel in Jesus’s agony and death.  They condemned him to death out of envy and jealousy.  They saw him as a threat to their power and their personal ambitions.  They hated him because he pointed out their hypocrisy.  So at Calvary, the Jewish leaders mocked him and hurled insults and verbal abuse at him.  They took demented delight in his extreme pain and suffering.  “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God,” they said (Luke 23:35).  They mocked him saying “He saved others; he cannot save himself.  Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.”  (Mark 15:31-32).

In his Gospel Saint Matthew offers some more details about what the Chief Priests and Scribes said:  “He saved others; he cannot save himself. So he is the king of Israel! Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”  (Matthew 27:41-42).

Jesus was crucified with two other persons, identified either as “thieves” or “revolutionaries.”  In three of the Gospel accounts, both crucified persons join in the mocking of Jesus.  But in Luke’s Gospel, one of them (Saint Dismas) comes to Jesus’s defense.   As Saint Luke records:

“The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation?   And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.”  

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”  (Luke 23:40-43).

The Crucifixion of Jesus was a public spectacle and no doubt there were people at Calvary who were there because it was a public spectacle.  There were people at Calvary because of their own curiosity.  There were people at Calvary who were the type of people that slow down while driving past a motor vehicle accident scene or who converge on the scene of a natural or manmade disaster out of morbid curiosity. 

There were other people besides the Jewish leaders who also hated Jesus and came to Calvary to rejoice in his death.  “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross,” they said contemptuously (Mark 15:29-30).  See also Matthew 27:39-40).

At three o’clock, Jesus calls out “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) quoting the words of Psalm 22.   (Mark 15:34)

Some of the bystanders misunderstood what Jesus said and thought that he was calling for Elijah the prophet (Mark 15:35).  

Then one of the bystanders did something very puzzling.   As Saint Mark tells us in his Gospel:   One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.” (Mark 15:36).  At first, it seems like the bystander is acting out of kindness and compassion, but his comments about waiting to see if Elijah will come to take Jesus down from the Cross make me question what his true motivations were.  Why is that bystander there at Calvary?  Why does he offer Jesus a drink and then express a desire to see if Elijah will come?

Most importantly, there were a few people at Calvary who were there out of love for Jesus.  They suffered with Jesus emotionally and spiritually, agonizing in their hearts as Jesus hung dying on the Cross.  

They were Jesus’s friends and his relatives.  Saint John writes that Jesus’s mother,  his mother’s sister, and Mary the wife of Clopas were there with Jesus (John 19:25).  Saint Mark writes that Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome were with Jesus (Mark 15:40).  Saint Matthew writes that Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee were with Jesus  (Matthew 27:56).   Matthew, Mark and John all agree that Mary Magdalene (Mary of Magdala) was there at Calvary.  Saint Luke writes that the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee were with Jesus at Calvary but he does not give us their names (Luke 23:49).

Most importantly there was Mary his Most Blessed Mother and the disciple whom Jesus loved, Saint John, the only Apostle not to abandon Jesus.  From the Cross, Jesus said to his mother “Woman, behold your son,” referring to Saint John.  And then to Saint John, he said “Behold your mother.”  (John 19:26-27) 

When all had been accomplished, Jesus willingly handed over his life and died on the Cross.  

Seeing how Jesus died, one or more of the soldiers finally realized who Jesus was.   As St. Luke tells us “The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God and said, “This man was innocent beyond doubt.” (Luke 23:47).  Saint Mark tells it a little differently:  “When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mark 15:39).  As St. Matthew tells us, “The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”   (Matthew 27:54).  

The Gospel accounts of Jesus’s Crucifixion and Death on the Cross give us some insights into why people were at Calvary:  curiosity, envy, hatred, morbid delight in witnessing suffering, jealousy, but also love and compassion.

There were many people physically present with Jesus on Calvary when he was crucified but most of these people were not there for Jesus.  There were there to mock him and take demented pleasure in seeing his excruciating death.  They were there out of curiosity.  But there were also a special few persons who were there to support and suffer with Jesus, namely Saint John, Saint Mary Magdalene, several holy women who had been accompanying him with his ministry and his Most Blessed Mother.  

When we see a Crucifix with our Lord upon the Cross, we should spiritually stand with Saint John, the Holy Women and Our Blessed Mother and offer our prayers and our love to him as these holy persons did at Calvary.