Luke 23:49

εἱστήκεισαν δέ. The multitudes began to return (ὑπέστρεφον), but the few who loved Him stayed on the spot, though they dared not to approach very near.

πάντες οἱ γνωστοὶ αὐτῷ. Peculiar to St Luke. Comp. Luke 2:44.

ἀπὸ μακρόθεν. See on Luke 16:23.

ὁρῶσαι. The word used is not θεωροῦντες, as in Luke 23:35. There is, perhaps, in the “afar off,” a sad allusion to Psalms 38:11, “My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.” St Luke omits the breaking of the legs of the robbers, and the piercing of the side of Jesus by the soldiers, which are narrated in John 19:31-37.