IT’S FRIDAY. BUT SUNDAY’S COMING! Words of Affection

When you are suffering, where is your focus?  When you are in physical pain, what are your feelings?  When you are mistreated by others, how are you reacting?  

While our answers might contain some differences, I think they would all have one thing in common.  We would be focused on ourselves!  On our own feelings!  On our revilement!

In this series, “Seven Saying of Christ from the Cross,” we have already seen that Jesus’ focus was on others.  First, forgiving those who crucified Him.  And then offering redemption to the criminal who sought salvation.

Today, I want to consider Jesus’ words directed toward his mother, Mary.  John records it this way.

When Jesus saw his mother there, 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!From that time on, this disciple took her into his home” (John 19:25-27). 

When Jesus saw his mother standing at the foot of the cross, what did he see?  He saw a woman whose eyes were filled with tears, whose heart was breaking and whose soul was consumed with sorrow. It must have pierced her heart to see her Son rejected.  Despised.  Beaten.  And now here He was hanging from the cross with labored breath, blood running down his face, and bearing the burden of all humanity–the burden of all our sins!

Yet in the midst of it all, Jesus is thinking about his mother. In these words, Jesus expressed His concern for Mary.  Instead of His pain, he was thinking of hers.  Instead of His sorrow, He saw hers.  Instead of His rejection, He felt her isolation.  And so He seeks provision for her.  John is entrusted with Mary’s care.  I think not only physically, but emotionally as well.

These words also reflect Jesus’ affection for his mother. He was her son.  She was his mother.  He felt the affinity that a good son feels for his mother.  Little is revealed about Jesus’ childhood.  But Mary is revealed by the Gospel writers as a good and godly woman.  Devout.  Spiritual.  Holy.  She was chosen by the Father to bear and care for Jesus.  To provide for His earthly needs. And to build an emotional bond between them.  In a time when He might have been consumed with self, Jesus expressed His affection for his beloved mother.

Jesus, in these few words, conveyed honor for his mother.  “Honor your mother,” Paul commanded.  Jesus exemplified it.  He lived it.  He demonstrated it.   As a boy, Jesus was “subject to his parents” (Lk. 2:49).   What a great of example Jesus is to all of us– of honor, respect, and esteem for dear mother.

And so on the Friday, remember Jesus’ words of concern, affection, and honor.  For those of you fortunate to have your mother living, take a few minutes to express your affection to her.  Share your concern for her.  Show your honor.

Oh, and don’t forget… It’s Friday.  But Sunday’s coming!  And Mary’s tears of sorrow will  become tears of joy.  Her breaking heart will leap with delight.  And her sadness will be turned to gladness!  When she sees the empty tomb.  And her resurrected Son alive again!

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman