<p>23:55 <i>And the women, who had come with him out of Galilee, followed and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid</i>- It is worth putting together two passages, both from Luke: &ldquo;The women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after&hellip;&rdquo; (Lk. 23:55); and Acts 13:30,31: &ldquo;God raised him from the dead and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now his witnesses&rdquo;. Surely Paul and Luke have in mind here the ministering women. They had followed from Galilee to Jerusalem, the risen Lord had appeared to a woman first of all, and now those women were witnessing to the people. Perhaps 1 Cor. 15:3-7 is relevant here, where we read that the Lord appeared after His resurrection to the twelve, and yet on another occasion to &ldquo;all the apostles&rdquo;- perhaps referring to the group that included the women. An empty tomb was no proof that Jesus of Nazareth had risen- unless there were witnesses there present at that empty tomb who could testify also that it was in that very tomb that Jesus had been laid. And only women, not men, were witnesses of this. The Greek world placed great emphasis upon sight- &ldquo;Eyes are surer witnesses than ears&rdquo;, Heraclitus said. They related to the past visually; for a group of people to be eyewitnesses was considered conclusive. Hence the enormous significance of the way in which the Gospels repeatedly make the women the subjects of verbs of seeing (Mt. 27:55; Mk. 15:40; Lk. 23:49,55). They were the eyewitnesses.</p><p>The women who stood afar off and watched in helplessness and hopelessness and lack of comprehension <i>also followed</i> the Lord (:49) and ministered to Him in the Galilee days. Their standing there like that was still reckoned to them as active following and ministry to Him. They also serve, who merely stand and wait.</p>