“When we first drew near his eyes were shut. Blood dripped from both wrists and feet where the nails had been driven through his flesh and bones and into the wood. I turned my head, unable to look on our beloved master. His words—I could hear his words from another day, as if he were speaking them again from the cross—‘Behold, we go up to Jerusalem: and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death. They shall deliver him to the gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him.’ My heart was broken. I wanted to flee—to run and run and never stop. Only the hand of the Lord’s mother, firmly in mine, kept me there. And then I heard his voice and I opened my eyes and he was looking directly at his mother and he said, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ and then his lovely brown eyes stared directly at me and he said, ‘Son, behold your mother!’ I know I was sobbing and so was she, for he was so close and yet we could not lift a finger to help him or soothe his pain. In yet a little while he opened his eyes again and said, ‘I thirst,’ and they passed him vinegar on a sponge. Then we heard him cry, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ and soon thereafter he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost, and when he did his mother collapsed in my arms.”

“Were any of the other apostles at the crucifixion?”

“No, only myself and the four women.”

“What did you do next?”

“With my mother’s help I brought the Lord’s mother back to this house and then resumed my vigil with Peter, who was still delirious.”

“And the two women?”

“Mary Magdalene and the mother of James and Joses remained behind to see where the soldiers would dispose of the Lord’s body in the hopes that we might retrieve it later. Before sundown they returned to tell us that Joseph of Arimathea had claimed the body and was having it placed in a tomb located in a small garden near Golgotha. Since Joseph had been a friend of Jesus and many of us, we were relieved to know that our Lord was in good hands.”

“How long did you remain close to Peter?”

“Until sometime during the morning of the day following our Sabbath.”

“You didn’t leave him for any length of time—to visit the grave, perhaps?”

“No, I left his side only to relieve myself.”

“No sleep?”

“In a chair, with my head on the mattress near Peter’s feet.”

“When did you first learn that the women were planning a visit to the tomb?”