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!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. John 19: 25-27, NKJV.
Heavenly Father, we praise You for Your love, Your kindness, and Your thoughtfulness. As we study Your Word, please teach us how we can become more like You. In the name of Jesus we humbly pray. Amen.
Today we will meditate on Jesus’ “Third Word.” This Word is directed, primarily, to His mother, but also to one of His close friends, John, His disciple. Jesus’ tenderness toward His mother is very touching. Remember He is dying. This is not an ordinary mode of death. It was, and is, considered, one of the most cruel forms of death. It is humiliating, and degrading, and carries very strong demeaning, overtones. I am intentionally, emphasizing what Christ was going through at the time, and my emphasis is proving very inadequate to express the suffering, and shame, of my Savior! Besides being a physically excruciating form of death, it is also emotionally, devastating. May we not for a moment, confuse His dignified manner, at the hour of His death, with the the thought that, it was due to a lack of profound, emotional, and, physical, pain!
It is in the midst of this kind of dehumanizing treatment, with His life ebbing away, that the Savior remembers to leave His mom in good hands, before “giving up the ghost.” This is the essence of Who Jesus is. It is at the hour of sickness, but especially, of death, that the real deal, is revealed. At the hour of death, there is no time, no need, to pretend. The mind is not in the mood to impress, it is in a mode of survival. At that time, all facades disappear! At the moment of death, what You see in a person, is what is. And this was Jesus; the merciful, pitying, Son of God; and just as real, Son of Man! He was perfectly divine, and, perfectly human!
He would not die, until He made sure that His mother would be well cared for. I imagine He chose John to be the one to take care of His mother, because He saw in John a loving, considerate, tender person, and knowing His mother as well as He did, He knew that this was the right person to care for her, in her hour of grief, and for the rest of her life. John could talk to her about her Son, perhaps like no one else. He could fill in the gap, by telling her about all the wonderful miracles he had witnessed while traveling with Jesus and the other disciples. He could, in a very real way, keep the loving memory of her Son, alive, in her heart! I am almost certain that any of the other disciples would have welcomed Mary into their homes, and done everything to make her comfortable. But the Savior knew His mother, and selected the very best “son” for her. The presence of the mother of His Savior, whom he loved dearly, would also provide comfort to John’s heart.
Another glimpse of the very kind, and tender, relational, personality of Jesus becomes evident, when, on the way to Golgotha, He took the time to address the women who stood beside the wayside, weeping for Him, “And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed . . . ” (Luke 23: 27-29)!
In His day, women were not treated with this kind of consideration. But Jesus, in His life, and in His death, elevated womanhood to a height of dignity never before achieved! May God help us, as little girls, young women, and women of all ages, to carry our womanhood, with the greatest of dignity, in honor of our Savior!