John
19:25-27
Near
the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing
nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear
woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his
home.
I
think this
is one of the most beautiful, heart-breaking and human stories in the entire
gospel story. As a pastor I have had
the privilege of walking with dozens of families through “end of life issues.” Most
often these issues revolve around adult siblings making decisions about caring
for aging parents. Occasionally parents need to make extremely difficult
decisions having to do with medical treatment for terminally ill children. Here
we see a wrenching combination of both.
Mary
is watching the life drain from her first-born son as he dies a horrifying and
humiliating death. Jesus, as eldest son, bears responsibility for the care of
his mother. (Most scholars believe that Joseph had passed away some years
earlier which left Jesus in the position of responsibility.)
We
know from other places in scripture that while Jesus had younger brothers
(Matthew 13:54-57) they did not believe in him or follow him at this time (John
7:5). That might explain why Mary was with John at the foot of the cross
instead of with one of her other sons.
We
also know that John refers to himself several times as “the disciple Jesus loved.” While this seems almost arrogant to us - didn’t Jesus love all his disciples? - it
may have been just the opposite. Many scholars believe John was actually
displaying humility in refraining from using his own name as he wrote his
gospel account. By referring to himself as “the
disciple Jesus loved” John is simply telling us
that he came to find his identity and calling in the love of Christ.
In
1 John 4 we read:
Dear
friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves
has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God,
because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one
and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not
that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice
for our sins. (1 John 4:7-10)
So
when Jesus looked down and saw his mother with John he loved them both. He
loved his mother by entrusting her to the care of a man he considered faithful,
and he loved John by entrusting him with his mother’s care.
While
we can’t know exactly why
Jesus chose to ask John to care for his mother, I think we see in this story a
picture of the love Jesus intends for his followers to have for each other.
Dear
friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has
ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made
complete in us. (1 John 4:11-12)
Pastor
Brian Coffey
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