Mother and son

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" – John 19.25-26

I will never fully understand the whole concept of Jesus as both God and man. I trust it, I believe it, and I accept it, but I don’t see how it all works. It is however true and here we have an example of how it is manifest.

The ‘big picture’ is the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. God Himself is shedding His blood for you and me. The suffering is intense. He is literally bearing the weight of the world on His shoulders.

Adding to that is the fact that the thousands who once followed Him have disappeared. Not only that but his disciples had almost all fled. He has been rejected, betrayed, denied, and abandoned. But He was still a man and still had earthly concerns. 

At the foot of the cross were four people – only four. His disciple John was there. His mother Mary was there with her sister. And another Mary was there (nobody seems to know who she was, but many think she was James’ mother.)

Jesus looked down from the cross and thought about His mother. Apparently Joseph was dead and she had no one to care for. Jesus said, in some of His rare recorded words from the cross, ‘woman, here is your son’ and to John He said ‘behold your mother.’ Speaking on the cross took great effort. It was nearly impossible to breath, much less speak.

And yet Jesus took the time to show His human love. He saw that His mother would be left all alone. His practical compassion for her was obvious. Barnes put it this way – ‘Jesus, in his dying moments, filled with tender regard for his mother, secured for her an adopted son, obtained for her a home, and consoled her grief by the prospect of attention from him who was the most beloved of all the apostles. What an example of filial attention! What a model to all children! And how lovely appears the dying Saviour, thus remembering his afflicted mother, and making her welfare one of his last cares on the cross, and even when making atonement for the sins of the world!’

What love and what an example of how important family should be.