BEHOLD YOUR MOTHER
TEXT- JOHN 19:23-27
INTRODUCTION-
Last Sunday at our monthly fellowship meal I sat down with David, Byron, and Ben, and I ask David if he had been busy this week. He said that he had 3 funerals, because David owns the cemetery in Troup. When he said that it sparked a conversation between us about our death and what are our final plans were.
We all seem to reach a point in life that we want to take care of our personal business before we depart this life. We make out wills and settle personal things. Jesus did the same thing, but he made His final request from the cross as He was being crucified.
SERMON
Well, this morning as we look at Jesus’ third statement from the cross we can see that Jesus is getting His earthly affairs in order. Take your bibles and turn with me to John Chapter 19 and verses 23-27.
23-“Then the soldiers when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic: now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece.
24- “So they said to one another, “ let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the scriptures: “They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”
25- “Therefore the soldiers did these things.
But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26- When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, he said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.
Now for Jesus to get his earthly affairs in order was not that complicated of a process because Jesus had no earthly estate to dispose of. You might recall that Luke records a time when He had taken inventory of His possessions and said to His disciples that He had nothing. You might remember the words?
LUKE 9:58
“And Jesus said to him, “the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nest, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Now think about what He is saying. During His earthly ministry even the wild animals had more to call their own than He did, because Jesus hardly had anything to call His own. In fact during His three and half years ministry along the highways and byways of Palestine He had to pretty munch borrow everything.
I mean not only was he born in a borrowed manger, Jesus preached one of His greatest sermons from a borrowed boat, rode into Jerusalem on a borrowed colt, ate the last supper in a borrowed room, was crucified on a borrowed cross, and was buried in a borrowed tomb. As the world counts riches, Jesus lived and died a poor man. Luke 8 tells us when it came to food He was dependant upon His friends. You can read about it in Luke 8:1-4.
To make matters worse, on the night before is death Judas betrayed them all and took what little remained of their meager funds. I can see why the Apostle Paul refers to Jesus and says
2 COR. 8:9
9-“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”
Jesus did indeed become poor for our sakes. In fact you might say the only thing He owned at the end of His life on earth was THE CLOTHES ON HIS BACK.
Now Jewish men of that day usually wore five pieces of clothing: a head piece, which was some type of turban or cloth about the head, sandals, an outer robe, which hung loosely around the body, usually all the way down to the angles, a girdle-which was what we would call a belt or a sash that held the loose-hanging robe close to the body, and AN UNDERGARMENT.
Jesus was not even able to say who got those clothes. No, as the scripture says, the Roman soldiers in charge of Jesus’ crucifixion claimed all of Jesus’ clothes. This was their right under Roman law but there was a problem. The detail was made up of four enlisted men and a officer-a centurion. The centurion did not have the right to the clothing, so that left 5 pieces of clothing to be divided between 4 soldiers.
I assume that each soldier picked one piece of clothing, one selected the turban, one the sandals, one the robe, and one the sash, and that left the undergarment . They would gamble for that last piece of clothing. Now when they did that John reminds us they were fulfilling a prophesy made hundreds of years earlier in Psalms 22:18. It said “ They divide My garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”
Well, this undergarment they gambled for was a loose-fitting tunic-sort of a long undershirt made of soft material that went all the way to the knees. History says think of it as a nightgown. It was referred to as a CHITON ( pronounced KEYTONE). Tradition says that normally the mother of a Jewish boy made the chiton for him when he reached manhood and was ready to step out in the real world. If tradition holds true here then Mary made Jesus chiton as He left their home to begin His earthly ministry. And John tells us that Jesus’ chiton was special in that it was SEAMLESS- it was woven from one piece of material.
I want us to understand the importance of this seamless undergarment.
William Barclay, a noted historian of this period, someone who has written some famous commentaries, said that the description John gives of the chiton matches the description of the High Priest’. It to was to be woven from one piece of material-SEAMLESS.
INSERT # 1
1- JESUS CAME TO BE A BRIDGE-BUILDER
You see, before Jesus died on the cross OUR sin had separated us from a sinless GOD. This what Paul meant When he wrote Ephesians 2:13, and it says,
Ephesians 2:13-“But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
You see, that after Jesus’ clothes were taken from Him and he hung on the cross He would be clothed with something else—OUR SIN. As Apostle Peter put it in 1 Peter 2:24
1 Peter 2:24-“ and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
So this seamless garment should remind us that Jesus took our sin on Himself as He hung on that tree and in so doing built a bridge between us and GOD.
We also should know that because of His sacrifice we can now boldly approach GOD’S throne of GRACE. This is why, as He hung on Calvary’s cross that day, the veil in the temple that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy place-where God said He would dwell was torn from top to bottom. The veil that was 6 inches thick was rent, and it proclaimed the glorious truth that our sis is atoned for-the sin barrier is removed and we now have access to GOD.
Heb. 10:19- “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,”
I guess it was kind of like what happen during the Civil War:
During the Civil War there was a young soldier in the union army and He had lost His brother and his father in the Battle of Gettysburg. As the only surviving male member of his family he decided that he needed to go to Washington D.C. and personally talk to President Abraham Lincoln. The young man wanted to talk to him about an exemption from his military service so that he could go home and take care of his mother and young sister. He needed to do the spring plowing so that they could survive.
Well he received his furlough to go and plead his case and he traveled to Washington. When he arrived he went to the front gate and ask to see the President. The guard on duty told him, “ You can’t just walk in here and see the President. He is a very busy man. Don’t you know there is a war going on , and you need to get back to the lines where you belong.”
So, the young soldier left and he was very disheartened. He just went a little ways from the White House and he sat down on a park bench not knowing what do next. Then a little boy walked by and he saw the soldier and said, “ Soldier you very unhappy. What’s wrong? The soldier then just spilled out his heart to the little boy, sharing why he had come and how bad he needed to talk to President Lincoln.
The little boy listened and said, “ I believe I can help you.” Then the little boy took the young man’s hand and led him to the front gate of the White House. This time the guard didn’t even stop Him. In fact they walked right to the front door of the White House and walked in. After that they walked in and around generals and other high ranking officials, and no one said a word.
Well the young soldier didn’t understand this, and he wondered why no one stopped them. Finally they reached the oval office-where the President was working-and the little boy didn’t even knock on the door. He just walked right on in and led the soldier with him. There was President Lincoln and the Secretary of State behind the desk looking over plans that were laid out in front of them.
The President looked at the boy and then at the soldier and said, “ Good afternoon, Todd. Can you introduce me to your friend?” And Todd Lincoln, the son of the President said, “ Daddy, this soldier needs to talk to you.” The soldier then pleaded his case before the President of the United States of America and right then and there he received the exemption he desired.
Well, this Priestly undergarment that the soldiers gambled for should remind us that our perfect High Priest Jesus Christ-the Son of God-intercedes for us and because he does- we have access to our Heavenly Father. We can now go BOLDLY into His presence and find GRACE in our time of need.
Jesus now hanging on the cross and watching the soldiers gambling for His undergarment, and He knew this was a very personal thing to Him because in all probability His mother made it for him like all Jewish mothers did for their sons.
I don’t personally think that this was a coincident that it was at this time that John tells us that Jesus looked down at His Mother, the one most likely to have made that garment for Him. Now Jesus will settle His final earthly affairs by saying, “ Woman here is your son.” Then He said to the Apostle John, the disciple that HE LOVED, “ Here is your Mother.”
There is something very moving in the fact that Jesus in the agony on the cross, in the moment when the SALVATION of the world stood in the balance, thought of the welfare of His Mother for the future days after He was gone. I mean, even tough He was preoccupied with the most important event in the history of redemption, Jesus stopped to make provisions for the needs of His Mother. He remained a faithful first born son until the end, fulfilling His responsibility to care for Mary-something He had always done since His earthly Father Joseph died years before.
Let’s think about Mary for a moment, and try to put yourself into her shoes. She now would be much older and I’m sure her physical presence probability showed it. She had raised a house full of children and now she is watching her firstborn being crucified. John tells us that she is not alone that day, but John and three other women are with her, her sister Salome ( the wife of Zebedee and mother of James and John), Mary the wife of clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
These five companions must have felt uneasy that day, because they definitely were in the minority. They stood in the midst of a big crowd that was anti-Jesus, the soldiers, the Jewish religious leaders, the angry mob that was heaping insults on Jesus. Hershel Hobbs writes, “In this vast ocean of hate there was a tiny island of love and understanding.”
It must have painful for these people, and especially His Mother-Mary. I mean it would be enough to have a child die at a young age. But to have an adult son brutalized and tortured and hung on a cross—think about it! Don’t you think that in her mind she reviewed the events of their past life together? Maybe she remembered the day that the angel from God told her about that birth of this son and who He would be. Maybe the trip to Bethlehem for the census and His birth in that stable.
I would think she might remember when her and Joseph took Him to the temple to present Him and what she was told that day. Do you remember what happen that day? The aged Simeon had predicted, “ a sword would pass through her own heart.” I doubt anyone recognized what he meant by that, nor how this prediction would place out over the years.
Mary could now feel that sword pierce deeper into her heart than ever before. She could have remembered bad times before like when Herod tried to kill him as a child when he decreed that all male children 2 and under were to be put to death, and they had to escape to Egypt, or when he preached His first sermon and the neighbors tried to push Him off the cliff, or when the Jewish leaders tried to have Him Killed. Those times were bad, but not anything like when they pierced His side with a sword on the cross as He was being crucified. I’m sure she felt like her own side had been pierced.
As a Mother I’m sure she remembered how she kissed His sweet brow as a little Child, or held those little hands when he was learning to walk, which were the same hands that were now nailed into that cross. I’m sure she could remember when she would cradle Him gently in her arms and now saw Him suffering on the garbage dump of Jerusalem.
Have you ever wondered why Mary never took the mother’s way out to save her son? Why didn’t she attempt to save His life by saying anything she had to spar Him? Maybe she could of told them that “ He is my son, and not the Son of God, so they should spar the life of this mentally afflicted man.” Maybe the authorities would have jumped at a chance to prove he had been a deceiver from the very beginning.
Mary never did this because she knew He was indeed the Son of God, and that day she was yielding her will to God’s-in the same way she had done 34 years earlier when the angel came to tell that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and that she would give birth to the Son of God.
In this way Mary helps us see the importance of trusting and yielding to God’s will-even when it’s hard to do so-even when we don’t understand God’s purposes.
Let us look close to exactly what Jesus said to Mary. He said, “Women behold your Son.” I want to point out that no where in scripture does Jesus refer to Mary as Mother. He always refers to her as “WOMEN” or “DEAR WOMEN.” Now that might seem a little disrespectful to some, because we would not refer to our mother as Woman. We would not say, “ Woman where is my breakfast?”
In Jesus’ day the Greek word for woman was never considered impolite. The Greek word was GUNAI and it was an expression of great respect. We know this because the term was used to address queens or women of distinction.
So, Jesus was not being disrespectful-just the opposite, but using the term does underscore the fact that He was much more to Mary than just a son. He was her savior as well. (Luke 1:47) You see GUNAI was a term of separation. I would imagine that as Jesus was growing up He probably called to Mary as mother, but there is no record of Him using that term in the Gospels. Others did but not Jesus. He always called her GUNAI. Therefore, while Jesus held Mary in the greatest of respect, by using that term I believe it was implying that now there was a difference in their relationship-it was a SEPARATION.
Jesus was no longer her son-instead He was her savior. I believe Mary realized that was far better. Mary was no sinless co-redeemer, as some as tried to make her, but she was as dependent on the DIVINE GRACE of Jesus as you and I.
In fact Jesus rebuked those who tried to elevate her to an extraordinary spiritual level. In Luke 11:27-28 it tells us of a time when a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice to Jesus and said, “ Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast that nursed you.” When she said this Jesus responded, “ More blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” We should understand that she was indeed BLESSED-but because she was obedient to the Word of God- the same way any other believer is BLESSED.
The other half of the third saying of Christ was directed to John as Jesus said, “ Behold your mother.” Tradition says that John cared for Mary from that day on as if she was his own mother.
Most you know that Joseph and Mary had children of their own after Jesus, and four of them were brothers (Matt.13:53-56). Have you ever wondered why Jesus as the oldest son would not put His mother in the care of one of them instead of the Apostle John?
Well one reason may have been that there was no indication they were in Jerusalem, but I don’t think that was the MAIN reason. Jesus’ brothers did not believe he was who He said He was until after the resurrection. So, I think Jesus put her in the charge of one He knew would love her and care for her but also one that believed and loved Him-one of His closest followers.
This can bring us to another very important thought concerning them and us.
THE DEEPEST RELATIONSHIPS IN LIFE MAY NOT BE GENETIC OR PHYSICAL BUT SPIRITUAL
We read in the scriptures that Jesus had bothers and sisters, but when we read about his life those last three years of his ministry on earth, it seems that He had a closer bond with John and the other disciples than His own family.
If you think about it, that’s not so different in our world. It’s not unlikely for many Christians to have closer relationships with those in the Lord’s Church than there own families. It’s not that we don’t love our families but it is because on a day to day basis we rub shoulders with more people from the Church. That’s one of the great things about the family of God. When we connect and our direction in life is the same we naturally develop roots that are very deep. That’s just true isn’t it? Lynn and I have found friends like you. The Proverb writer says, “ who DO INDEED stick closer than a brother.” ( Proverbs 18:24)
That’s the way it is with Christians, and Bill Hybels wrote about it like this:
“ When believers love one another as Christ commanded, masks come off, conversations get deep, hearts get vulnerable, lives are shared, accountability is invited, and tenderness grows.
People really do become like brothers and sisters. They gather to share from their hearts on the deepest levels. They walk compassionately with each other through life’s problems and pain.”
Now one lesson we can learn from Jesus’ 3rd statement is how precious Christian friendships are. But there is two other lessons to be learned here, and the 1st is this.
JUST LIKE MARY AND JOHN AND THE OTHERS WE ARE CALLED TO STAND NEAR THE CROSS OF Christ.
It took courage and commitment for John and the women to stand near the cross that day. It was a dangerous thing to be around that cross of Jesus that day, but that is what they did. Now here is a good question for us, if we had been there where would we have stood? Would have been with them, or near by or at comfortable distance, or not at all. You know , if we think about it, if we can answer that question it might tell us where we are on that Christian maturity chart. After all Jesus was despised and rejected by men that day and it would have taken great courage be known as one of HIS followers. The cross is still a stumbling block of offense to many.
We should all remember what Jesus said to that generation:
“If any one is ashamed of me and my word in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
JESUS HAS CALLED US TO BE HIS HANDS AND HIS FEET
Just like John we are commissioned to take Jesus’ place in this world.
In his letter to the Church in Corinth Paul compares us to a body-with Jesus as the head. Jesus is still here in this universe- it’s just that we are the flesh He is using now. We are now given a command like John was, and that is take care of people in His name, and these are people He loves just as much as He did His MOTHER.
I’m saying this because of what He said in the scriptures. He was once interrupted by a man saying His Mother and brothers were here looking for Him. He said:
“ Who are My mother and My brothers?” Then pointing to those seated in a wide circle around Him Jesus said, “ here is My Mother and My brothers! Who ever does God’s will is My brother and sister and Mother.” ( Mark 3:33-35)
Jesus said in Matthew 25:40, “ I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it for Me.”
INVITATION
