Today we come to the third week of our seven week series on the Statements from the Cross. Last week our statement was, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” A wonderful statement about salvation and what awaits those who put their trust and faith in Christ. We looked at four lessons that the thief on the cross with Jesus taught us. Today’s statement from the Cross takes us to the gospel of John. As Jesus was at the cross, near him were four faithful women who loved Jesus and would not abandon him during this difficult time. It was Jesus’ mother Mary, and Mary’s sister, probably Salome, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. Along with the women was John, the only disciple who had not scattered in fear and dismay. All of them were people that Christ’s life had dramatically affected in one way or another. Let’s turn to see what Jesus had to say from the cross at that moment.
John 19:25-27
There are some who would look at this statement and think that Jesus was being abrupt and harsh by calling his mother “woman” instead of mother. We must remember in that culture that it was more of a term of respect and affection. To call our mother woman instead of mother in our culture would be harsh and disrespectful but not in theirs. But this statement from Christ speaks of the love and responsibility He felt for his mother. There are also some other things that this statement represents. I may speak of those things as well but I also want to go in a little bit of a different direction with this text this morning. Because when I look at this statement and the ramification of it I also see something else, the cost of total obedience and how that affects family.
When we look at Jesus we see the perfect picture of obedience. He was obedient to what the Father called Him to do to the very end. When we think of the cost of that total obedience we think of the pain that he endured, we think of the of his death on the cross. But I think this also shows us another cost of his obedience to His Father’s plan. His Father’s plan would involve his death and eventually leaving this world. This would mean leaving his mother behind. We don’t know at what point Joseph died, but he is never mentioned again after the time when Jesus went with Mary and Joseph to the Passover when he was twelve years of age. So sometime between the time Jesus was twelve to now when he was thirty-three Joseph had passed away. Which says to us that those children who have lost a parent at an early age that Christ has experienced your pain as well, He knows what’s it like to lose a parent too early. But with Joseph already gone I believe Jesus sensed an even stronger responsibility to make sure His mother was taken good care of. It was here at the cross that Jesus assigns his mother to be the mother of John, and for John to be her son and take Mary into her home. Now there is a lot of speculation about why Jesus didn’t assume that his brothers should take care of her. Some believe that it was because they weren’t at the cross at the time. Many believe that it was because of their lack of faith, spiritually they were not where they should be. At the time, they thought that their brother was a lunatic. John was a very close friend and disciple, who was a believer. I believe that Jesus wanted Mary to find her home in the company of a believer. That speaks very strongly to us about who our true family is. We all remember that time when Jesus’ family was looking for Him and He said, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” So our real family in a sense is the church. So because of Jesus’ total obedience to His Father’s plan he had to entrust his mother, his physical family, to his spiritual family for her care. In the same sense, though none of us will most likely ever go through a crucifixion, our total obedience means we must sometimes entrust our physical family to our spiritual family. There maybe those of you today who have been called to ministry in some kind of form that may one day take you away from this area. You may have been raised in this area and lived in this area all of your life, and if that’s the case it makes it even that much more difficult. Especially if you are surrounded by your family here that can be a very difficult sacrifice. You may feel a certain responsibility to take care of someone in your family, but when God calls you on to other things, you must entrust your physical family to your church family. When Jesus entrusted the care of his mother to John he showed a loving trust that John would follow through. In the same way, we must show that same loving trust in our spiritual family that when we fulfill God’s call on our life they will follow through with their obligation to look after and care for their own. When I look at the next couple of years for the Ward family their will be some sacrifices ahead. In the next few months Chris will be going away to school in Oklahoma City as he pursues his call into the youth ministry. In the very next year Rosa will be going away to Anderson, Indiana as she has felt the call to the mission field. It would be easy for those kids to say, you know I can’t leave my parents all alone like that, they need me. But you must trust your parents and grandparents lives to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Your family will not be alone, we will take care of them. Through the church, God has entrusted us to a spiritual family no matter where we go. During the years that I’ve been away from my family they have gone through some challenges and difficult times, and I wished I could have been there. Though their have been times I’ve been able to run home briefly to be with them. But I have entrusted their lives to the God I serve and those believers who have become their family through the church. I put my faith and trust in them that they will meet my families needs and concerns. I believe that there are others of you sitting out here this morning, you may be youth age and you may not be, that God has or will place a call on your life for a special service for Him. That special service may take you to a different location. Just like it was required of Jesus, it will be required of you, to entrust your physical family to your spiritual family.
Just as Jesus was in total obedience to what His Father wanted Him to do. John was in total obedience to what Christ asked Him to do. John stepped in and became a son to Mary and opened up his home and took her in. The same might be required of us one day. Total obedience may require us to step in and be that brother or sister in Christ. I remember the first time the pulpit committee from this church was trying to contact me. I was at Anderson Camp Meeting and then I got called to Kentucky because my grandmother had taken on a serious condition with her heart. I lost my grandmother that week. It was completely unexpected. Up until that time she was still blacktopping her own driveway and trimming the neighbors hedges and anything else that she could get her hands on. Then when I moved here in September of 1998, two months later my other grandmother passed away. It was a difficult time in my life. But I’m not without a grandmother, because Ruby stepped up to the plate and offered to be my grandmother. She’s my spiritual grandmother, my grandmother in Christ. And I know that if I ever needed anything, grandmotherly advice or whatever that she would be there in a heartbeat. I think she has done that for more people than I can count. Ruby is a spiritual grandmother to many people. She’s continued to do that for people despite the loses in her own life.
“In Charles Colson’s book, Loving God, he tells the story of an incredible ninety-one-year-old woman, known affectionately Grandma Howell…As she moved into the twilight of her life, she had more than one reason to let depression take over--to just give up and die. Her youngest son had died. Her oldest son was in declining health. Many of her friends were dying and she had begin to believe that she had nothing left to live for. One day she prayed with all of her heart and told the Lord that if He didn’t have anything more for her to do, she was ready to die. According to Grandma Howell, God spoke three words: Write to prisoners. After arguing with the Lord about her lack of education and her age, Myrtle wrote her first letter:
Dear Inmate,
I am a grandmother who loves and cares for you who is in a place you had not plans to be.
My love and sympathy goes out to you. I am willing to be a friend to you in correspondence. If you’d like to hear from me, write me. I will answer every letter you write.
A Christian Friend,
Grandmother Howell
When the letter was sent to the Atlanta Penitentiary, the prison chaplain sent Myrtle the name of eight prison inmates. That was the beginning of an unbelievable ministry of encouragement. Over the next months, this elderly woman carried on an extensive written ministry with hundreds of incarcerated men and women--- and all of it was done from her little room in a high-rise home for the aged in Columbus, Georgia.
According to Colson, writing to the prisoners was only half of Myrtle’s joy. They wrote back! And their letters were warm, rich epistles of gratitude. One inmate who signed her name ‘Grandmother Janice’ wrote:
Dear Grandmother,
I received your letter and it made me sad when you wrote that you think you may not be alive much longer. I thought I would wait and come to see you and then tell you all you have meant to me. But now I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to tell you now.
You’ve given me all the love and concern and care that I’ve missed for years and my whole outlook on life has changed. You’ve made me realize that life is worth living and that it’s not all bad. You claim it’s all God’s doing, but I think you deserve the credit.
I didn’t think I was capable of feeling love for anyone again, but I know I love you as my very own precious grandmother.” (Acts of Love, Vision House, David Jeremiah, pp. 159-161)
A woman who was a great spiritual grandmother to so many people in need of the love of a grandmother. John became that spiritual son to Mary. In that time in her life where she just lost her precious son, John gave her the love of a son. Sometimes we may be called to step up to the plate because someone has a very close family member that has moved away for God‘s purposes or another job, or sometimes it maybe because someone has passed away. But as brothers and sisters in Christ we are called to step in and help each other when there is a void in someone’s life. There maybe someone in our congregation, maybe their here this morning and maybe their not, that has a void in their life and they need the companionship. They need someone to step up and be that spiritual son or daughter, or maybe even father or mother, that can bring comfort or encouragement to that person’s life. There might be someone else who has no connection to the church that might be brought into the life of the church through you being a spiritual family member and filling a void in their life.
When we look at Mary, Mary knew that bringing the son of God into the world would be a tremendous honor, but she would also pay a price with people’s perception of her and what they would say. After all the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus in her when she was not yet married and still a virgin. We can only imagine what the gossip line must have sounded like. But when Jesus was still a baby she found out that being the mother of Jesus would one day bring her great pain. On the eighth day when it was time for circumcision they brought Jesus to the temple courts for his purification. While there a man named Simeon, who was a righteous man and filled with the Holy Spirit took Jesus in his arms and praised God. God had revealed to him through the Holy Spirit that He would not die until He saw this moment. After Simeon blessed them he then said this to Mary, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Mary was warned that Jesus’ life would cause many to rise and many to fall and that he would be spoken against. But also that a sword would pierce her heart. Other words one day she would feel a pain so great that it would be as painful as a sword piercing her heart. But she continued being the mother of the Son of God raising Him in complete obedience to what God had called of her and Joseph to do, knowing that one day it would bring her great pain. Although she didn’t know how that pain would come about. That day at the cross she felt that stabbing pain go through her heart as she saw her son carrying his cross and then later nailed to the cross. She lost her son that day, but in losing her son the lives of millions of people have been saved and are being saved still today. Total obedience may require that we sacrifice our children in order that they may save the life of others. Thank goodness that you or I will never have to watch our children hang on a cross. But some of us may have to sacrifice having our children near, as God uses them to go on and save many lives with the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Earlier we talked about the sacrifices that Danny and Cindy will be making when their kids leave home and go on to be trained in what God has called them to do. But only God knows how many lives that Chris and Rosa will one day impact for Christ. How many people will find salvation through their spirit-filled lives as Rosa may one day be a witness for Christ across the vast oceans, and Chris here in the missions fields of our own country. There maybe others of you that will be making that same sacrifice someday. Just know that the salvation of those lives are worth the sacrifice you are making.
Total obedience to what our Father calls us to do often times require sacrifice, but we have a loving family in God that cares for our needs and the needs of our family. And the results of those sacrifices often times lead to the salvation of many lives. But when we consider the sacrifice that Christ made that saved our lives, can He ask us to do too much?
