Woman, Behold Your Son

If there could be such a thing as a "touching" moment during Jesus' hours on the cross, perhaps it would have been this one in John 19:26&27 where, while He hung between heaven and earth, He had the compassion to care for his mother. Before He took His last breathe, He took the time to recognize His own mother's need.

"When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, 'Woman, behold your son!' Then He said to the disciple 'Behold, your mother!' And from that hour the disciple took her into his own household" (Jn. 19:26,27).

The truth helps us understand that we do not know to what extend we can bear a trial until we have been placed in the fire. Here stands the mother of Jesus, the virgin Mary, and we don't read about her in a "fit of anger" or standing at the cross, ringing her hands. She wasn't "tearing her clothes" but merely standing there as she watches her Son, suffer this agony for the sins of the world. And perhaps it is because she had a better understanding all along about what her Son, the Son of God must endure and her role in it.

So with the tenderness that only God could express, Jesus provides for His mother. He had no gold or silver, no clothes, nothing of earthly value to leave to His mother, so as He sees John, not far from her, He places His mother into John's loving care. He calls her "woman" rather than mother and I think that has a compassionate tone because "mother" at this point would have been very emotionally "cutting" for her.

So here, Jesus provides for His mother before His death. It is believed that Joseph, her husband had long since died and Jesus was her support so now He takes a tender moment to see to her care. Even at this point, for the most part, they do not yet understand what is to come on that Resurrection Sunday morning.

When my father died, we stood out at the graveside, and I motioned for my two brothers and one sister to come up and stand beside me at our Father's casket and proclaimed that now it was up to us to care for our mother, his wife, and I believe that is as it should be.

Jesus knew exactly what the future held and yet He took the time to share this compassion with His loved ones. What was done on the cross, what we plan to celebrate on Sunday, all culminates in the love and compassion we have inherited from our Father above. And so we share our love for one another.

If you are not able to be with your mother this Sunday, give her a call. It will brighten up her day. Praise God, Jesus Christ IS alive!

Dave