Jesus sees that His mother and the disciple have followed Him to His cross. They are firm witnesses of His love for humanity.
A powerful witness of the most important events of Jesus's mission, John stood at the foot of the cross to witness the Lord's death, ran to the tomb after the Resurrection to confirm that it was empty, and saw the resurrected Savior.
But right there on that cross Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). All this happened while Jesus' mother and the disciple John were at the cross, wanting to be with Jesus. But Peter wasn't there.
Emphasis mine). There are two disciples in this narrative, Peter and the "other disciple" who according to the scholars was John. Both of them hurried to the tomb of the Lord after they had been told that He was not there anymore. Both of them had first-hand experience about the absence of Jesus' body.
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.
The assumption that the beloved disciple was one of the Apostles is based on the observation that he was apparently present at the Last Supper, and Matthew and Mark state that Jesus ate with the Twelve. Thus, the most frequent identification is with John the Apostle, who would then be the same as John the Evangelist.
(The other disciple is believed to be the writer of the book, John.) Two notes regarding John's hesitation of going into the cave. First, it would have been a death penalty to go into a Roman sealed tomb, and he could only see partly into that dark cave.
The fifth Station of the Cross, showing Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus carry his cross.
The Apostle John is the only one of the twelve who was not martyred and who stood at the foot of the cross with Jesus's mother during the crucifixion. The Apostle John, his brother James, and Peter were the only three invited with Jesus to the mountain where the Transfiguration would occur.
This would correspond or coincide with the Ephesus tradition according to which John the apostle who, according to Irenaeus of Lyons (Ad. Haer. III, 1, 1-2), wrote his gospel in Ephesus, took Mary, the mother of God, with him to that famous city in Asia minor where she died according to legend.
All four canonical gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) noted Mary Magdalene's presence at Jesus's Crucifixion, but only the Gospel of Luke discussed her role in Jesus's life and ministry, listing her among “some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities” (Luke 8:1–3).
Hill, interpret the Matthew 1:25 statement that Joseph "knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn son" as meaning that Joseph and Mary did have normal marital relations after Jesus's birth, and that James, Joses, Jude, and Simon, were the natural sons of Mary and Joseph and, thus, half brothers of Jesus.
According to Mark 6:3 Jesus had four brothers (and two sisters): "Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?
According to church tradition, their mother was Salome. Also according to some traditions, Salome was the sister of Mary, Jesus' mother, making Salome Jesus' aunt, and her sons John the Apostle and James were Jesus' cousins.
A careful look at the New Testament shows that Mary kept her vow of virginity and never had any children other than Jesus. When Jesus was found in the Temple at age twelve, the context suggests that he was the only son of Mary and Joseph.
The Apostle John was most notably the only one of the twelve left with Jesus to witness the crucifixion. He continued to work to spread the gospel for many years after Jesus's death.
The fifth Station of the Cross, showing Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus carry his cross.
Mary Magdalene's life after the Gospel accounts. According to Eastern tradition, she accompanied St. John the Apostle to Ephesus, where she died and was buried. French tradition spuriously claims that she evangelized Provence (southeastern France) and spent her last 30 years in an Alpine cavern.