I've been using the CPH Lenten series and have really enjoyed it. But I thought this week's sermon was a bit "thin" and so I decided to do my own.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The fourth Word from the cross that our Lord speaks is a word of compassion and when it comes to Jesus, compassion is not only a sympathetic feeling for the pain of others, but a concrete action to do something about it.
That’s exactly what we see and hear in this moment on the cross when Jesus speaks to his mother and his best friend: “Woman, behold, your son!”—“[John] Behold, your mother!”—making sure that both would be cared for in the future—his care and concern not for himself—but for others—even as he suffered and died.
Thirty-three years before Simeon had predicted this very thing. When Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus into the temple, Simeon took him into his arms and proclaimed him to be God’s salvation—but he had also promised Mary that a sword would pierce her soul. God’s promise to save the world would not come without a cost.
That’s the way it had been from the moment of Jesus’ conception. An angel had promised Mary that though she was a virgin she would conceive and give birth to God’s Son. The heavens were opened and angels sang at his birth.
But in between these events-- and for the years that followed-- their lives were pretty much like everyone else—there were meals to be prepared and eaten—housework to be done—lessons to be learned.
We know from Scripture that Mary was told that her Son would be the Savior of the world—we know that she pondered all of it in her heart—but perhaps, she hid it away as well.
When Jesus was twelve years old and he and his family had traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover, he stayed behind-- and when Mary found him in the temple three days later she chastised him for worrying his parents—but he quickly reminded her that he had come to do his heavenly Father’s work.
When Jesus was thirty, his mother wanted a special favor from friends who had run out of wine at their wedding-- and he had to remind her that the time for his real work had not yet come.
But there at Calvary on that dark Friday afternoon that real work was at hand—and there Mary was—along with her sister who was the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene and John. All of them faithfully gathered around the cross as Mary’s Son died for the sins of the world.
The little hands that she had held and the little feet that she had kissed were pierced with nails. The head that she had caressed was crowned with thorns. The face that she had gazed upon in love was beaten beyond recognition.
And the words of Simeon were fulfilled: a sword will pierce your soul. This is what it all meant—this is what it was for—this is why she had been chosen: to bear the Savior of the world whose suffering and death would reconcile God to sinners—whose holiness and faithfulness would stand in place of our sins and failures to be who we ought to be—especially in our families.
All of us can look back at our lives and see places where we have failed to be the children we ought to be. Times when were disobedient to our parents—times when we were a hardship rather than a blessing—times when we were inattentive to our parent’s needs.
But Jesus was the perfect Son: kind, loving, obedient, concerned for his mother’s welfare—even in this late moment of his life.
When we look back at our lives I am sure that there are few failures that burden us and weigh as heavy upon our hearts as our failures to be the kind of family members towards one another as we ought to be.
But the Good News for us tonight is that in every place where we have failed to be the kind of children that we should be, Jesus’ life counts as our own. That perfect life continued even to his last, dying moments when his concern was not for himself—but for his mother. “Woman, behold, your Son.”…”[John] Behold, your mother.” And with those words he entrusted her earthly care into the hands of his best friend John.
By this time in our Lord’s life it seems that Joseph has passed away. We know that Jesus’ brothers and sisters are estranged from him. And so Jesus joins Mary and John together in a new family that is formed out his love for both of them at the cross.
Earlier in his ministry he had alluded to this very thing. When his family was concerned for him, they came to his disciples with the plan to take him out of public view and when told that they were waiting for him, Jesus said it was those who did his Father’s will who were really the members of his family.
What Jesus did at the cross for Mary and John is what he still does today in the church. He takes individuals with no natural connection to one another and by his shed blood—in the unity of the cross—he makes them brothers and sisters in him.
Baptized into Jesus’ death and raised in his resurrection, fed with his body and blood, God becomes our Father and Jesus our elder brother and each of us are joined together in the church as brothers and sisters in the bonds of Christ’s holy love.
This is exactly what he had come to do—restore us to fellowship with one another and with God-- and we see a picture of it in these words: “Woman, behold, your son…[John], behold, your mother.”
There are all kinds of explanations given as to why Jesus refers to his mother as “woman.” Some say that this is his way of saying that no earthly person has any special claim on him—not even his mother.
I’ve never really believed this explanation because it seems to be fueled by an anti-catholic sentiment that wants to minimize Mary in the face of Roman excesses.
Instead, I believe that Jesus refers to his mother this way as a gentle reminder to her as to who she really is—and also as a testimony to his own identity.
Thousands and thousands of years before the events of this dark afternoon at Calvary—there was another terrible day in human history—the worst day of all. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin into the world and with it death. From that moment on, every one of Eve’s children would die-- and she knew that she had caused it.
As terrible as it was for Mary to see her Son die on the cross, how unbearable it must have been for Eve to know that she had brought this on every one of her children!
But God called Adam and Eve to himself and restored them with a promise. He said that there would be a woman whose child would destroy Satan and his works. THE WOMAN AND HER SEED. God renewed that promise again and again in salvation history. He raised up a nation in the Israelites who would carry this Good News into the world. He revealed more and more details about this woman and her child through the words of the prophets.
And finally, in the fullness of time, he fulfilled his promise in a young woman named Mary and her Son named Jesus—not just a mother and son—but THE WOMAN and HER SEED who would crush Satan and break his deadly hold on our lives.
During her life, Mary needed to be reminded of her part in that promise. She loved her Son as any mother would. She didn’t want to see him suffer and die. But God had graciously called her to be the mother of the Savior of the world-- and that journey would go to the cross—suffering and death for her Son and a sword for her soul.
No earthly connection—not even that which existed between a mother and her Son could come before that mission and so Jesus spoke those words: “Woman, behold, your Son…[John] behold, your mother”—making sure that his earthly mother was cared for so that he could complete his heavenly Father’s business—so that what Eve had brought upon her children-- and what her daughter Mary was suffering-- would not be the last word about those we love.
Mary was there at our Lord’s birth—she heard the heavenly testimony regarding his mission to save the world—she saw Jesus grow up is wisdom and holiness—she was present for his first miracle—and she saw him die for the sins of the world. But she also saw him raised from the dead—God’s own promise to us that the painful separation we endure when our loved ones die-- is only for a brief moment. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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