Loving Mother

“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

This is one of the saddest but, for women at least, one of the most endearing passages of Scripture. It shows how Jesus loved His mother to the end.

In Luke 2, Jesus seems to treat His mother with less tenderness than He does at the end of His life. When Jesus was 12 years old, His mother questioned Jesus about why He had lingered at the temple in Jerusalem, not traveling with them when they left town. She actually accused Him of purposely hurting or causing them to fear when she said, “Son, why have You done this to us?” He answered her that she should have known where He would be. In our culture, this seems a rather curt and disrespectful answer from a 12-year-old to his mother.

In John 2, Mary saw a need for more wine at a wedding. Jesus hadn’t yet begun His public ministry, but Mary presented the need to Him, knowing He could perform a miracle. She assumed that He would do what she asked. After all, doesn’t mother know best? Jesus replies that it wasn’t time for Him to reveal Himself, and that she was trying to make her problem become His problem. She ignored what He said, telling the servants to do whatever Jesus asked them to do. Surprisingly, Jesus went ahead and honored His mother’s request. It appears that He did this against His better judgment, perhaps so that she is not shamed publicly.

In Matthew 12, Mary and Jesus’s brothers were standing around waiting to talk to Him. When someone told Jesus about it, He “stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, ‘Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.’” Today we look at this response and wonder why Jesus would give honor to His followers above His own family. Jesus, of course, had found a teachable moment for those who believed in Him.

Mary watched her Son die. Did she spend those agonizing hours recalling the angel’s announcement to her some 30 years earlier, when she was still a virgin? Did she flash back to her escape to Egypt with this Child as she put her own life on the line to protect Him? Had she taught Him to play fair? To wait His turn? To have good manners?

Most mothers fight a brave battle. They fight injustice when their children are bullied. They fight their emotions when they see their sons and daughters off to war. They fight the feeling of loss as their child is married. They fight the enemy on their knees in prayer. Mothers fight because they love, and Jesus knew this. I’m sure He had His reasons for speaking to His mother as He did in earlier times, but when she was in the clutch of grief, He comforted her with relationship.

Father, may we honor our mothers today with relationship. This is all they have ever truly wanted, and for many of us, it is all we have to give. Comfort those who have lost their mothers, and those mothers who have lost their sons and daughters. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.