And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:
Ver. 55. And many women were there] More hardy than the disciples, who all, save John, were fled and hidden. Oh stand (saith Dr Sutton), and behold a little, with those devout women, the body of thy Saviour, hanging upon the cross. See him afflicted from top to toe. See him wounded in the head, to heal our vain imaginations. See him wounded in the hands, to heal our evil actions. See him wounded in the heart, to cure our vain thoughts. See his eyes shut up, that did enlighten the world; see them shut, that thine might be turned from seeing of vanity. See that countenance so goodly to behold, spirted upon and buffeted, that thy face might shine glorious as the angels in heaven, &c. See Trapp on " Joh 19:25 "
Beholding afar off] Either out of womanly modesty, or weakness of faith; which, when it is in heart, is able by its native puissance to pull the very heart as it were out of hell, and with confidence and conquest to look even death and the devil in the face; as we see in Anne Askew, Alice Driver, and other brave women, that suffered stoutly for Christ.