Woman, Behold Thy Son... Behold Thy Mother!

The Third Saying of Christ on the Cross: John 19:26-27 “Woman, behold thy son...Behold thy mother!”

Jesus is in the deepest darkness of His suffering here on the cross when He says these words. We should first see the women that have gathered around the cross. John mentions Mary, Christ’s mother, Mary’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene, and Mark includes a woman named Salome also (Mark 15:40). These women, having an intense desire to be with their Lord whom they have ministered to for several years (Mark 14:41), have now followed Him to the gruesome scene of a roman crucifixion. In the case of Jesus’ mother Mary, she now looks on in faith that it is not only her son that is being killed, but also her Lord and Saviour. This fulfills the prophecy of Simeon in Luke 2:35 when he said “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also”.

But Mary and the rest of the women are not forgotten by Christ. He speaks these kind and tender words of command showing His heart of passion to His people. There are three lessons for us in these verses.

1. The obedience of Christ. Here Jesus in the middle of His horrific pain and anguish ‘honour His father and mother’. He is not self centered, so He yet cares for and honours His mother. Jesus’ love and obedience to the commands of God shows a heart and life fixed on His Father’s will.

2. The love and understanding of Christ’s love for Mary. Mary is most likely a widow at this time, and with her eldest son is dying, she has no one to provide for her. Jesus sees to that. She also needs the comfort of a family at this time and Christ knows this. In this saying is shown God’s intimate knowledge and care for each of his children on an individual level. In his book ‘Words from the Cross’, Dr. Ian Hamilton says “With the weight of the world’s sin crushing the life out of his soul, Jesus cared for his mother. The remarkable intimacy and individuality of Jesus’ love for needy men and women in beautifully highlighted. Just as the Saviour did not die for sin ‘in the lump’ but for each individual sin, so his care is not for sinners ‘in the lump’ but for individual sinners.” Even in the most horrendous suffering, Jesus still feeds his sheep out of love.

3. Jesus demonstrates the proper love and care that should be shown to others within the church. He shows that relationships within the church are more important and run deeper than family ties. We see this in that Jesus does not call Mary ‘Mother’, but ‘Woman’. He instructs John to treat her as his mother, even though John’s mother was in the crowd with him. So, every member of our church and the Christian church over the world ought to be treated as a beloved family member. This love is to be a self-sacrificing love. This love is first shown by Christ, and we are called to imitate it. We also see John ‘from that hour’ take Mary into his own home. He welcomes her, he provides for her, he cares for and protects her. Does this love mark our relations to the widows, the poor, the grieving and all those in need within the church?