The Message of the Cross (18) Jesus’ Last Seven Words on the Cross (2)
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August 16, 2020 |
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 “When Jesus then saw His mother, 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 hour the disciple took her into his own household” (John 19:26-27).
Shortly before He breathed His last on the cross, with all His strength remaining Jesus left behind His last few words. They are known as “The Last Seven Words on the Cross.” Continuing from the last edition, let us pick up today with the third of His last words on the cross.
1. “Woman, behold, your son!”
John 19:26 reads, “When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’” Here, “your son” refers to the disciple whom [Jesus] loved?John. Jesus is asking the Virgin Mary to consider John as her own son.
Why, then, did Jesus say “Woman, behold, your son!”? One element of which to be mindful here is the fact that Jesus called the Virgin Mary, “woman.” The Bible never documents an instance in which Jesus referred to the Virgin Mary as His “mother.”
The term “mother” in “The Book of John” was used from the perspective of the author, John, not that of Jesus. In John 2 is a scene in which Jesus turned water into wine and again here He referred to and called the Virgin Mary, “woman.” This is because the Virgin Mary could never be the mother of Jesus. How could the Virgin Mary ever be the mother of Jesus, who is equal to God (Philippians 2:6) and God the Son among God the Trinity?
God is from everlasting to everlasting and is “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14); no one has given birth to Him or formed Him. Therefore, Jesus who is “in the form of God” could not call the Virgin Mary, a mere creature, “Mother.” Besides, the Virgin Mary could not be Jesus’ mother even from a biological point of view. People are conceived through the combination of a sperm and an egg. However, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
If a child was born through artificial insemination, is the woman who bore the child his “mother”? If the child spent a while in an incubator, should he call the incubator his “mother”? By the same token, Jesus did not call the Virgin Mary His “mother” just because He was in her womb before being born. God would not be pleased if people thought of and treated the Virgin Mary as Jesus’ mother and worshipped her as they would an idol.
As God tells us in Exodus 20:3-4, “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of…,” we are never to make, serve, or worship idols of any creatures.
Jesus’ next words, “Woman, behold, your son!” were intended to console the Virgin Mary. As she witnessed her beloved Jesus endure inexplicable affliction, the Virgin Mary also endured heart-wrenching pain and sorrow. The ever-so attentive Jesus remembered the Virgin Mary even in His last moments of life and He had her rely on His disciple John as her own son.
2. “Behold, your mother!”
John 19:27 continues, “Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own household.” From that point on, the Bible tells us, John took the Virgin Mary into his home and served her as his own mother. After giving birth as a virgin to Jesus, Mary gave birth to more children with her husband Joseph. Still, Jesus did not ask the children of Mary and Joseph to look after her but entrusted His disciple John with this task.
What must we be clearly aware from this? The Scriptures tells us in Philippians 3:20, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” The children of God who have received salvation belong to heaven. God’s children, all those who have accepted the Lord and whose names are recorded in the book of life, form a spiritual family that serves God as their Father.
God is the source of life. Though each of us has been born of our biological parents, our parents’ sperm and egg have been given to them by God. When we trace back our genealogy, we only find that the forefather of all mankind Adam came also from God. He personally formed Adam’s body and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and therefore, our life is from God. Even if a man and a woman were to marry, they could not conceive another life without God’s permission, for the authority to give a spirit to the conceived child also belongs to God.
As science and technology have developed to an unprecedented level, controversy surrounding human cloning has been brewing but no man is able to create his own spirit. People may be able to reproduce the flesh but since the reproduced flesh will lack the spirit, he will be no different than animals and could not be thought of as a man. Furthermore, the gender, characteristics, outward appearance, and other attributes of the child conceived are also beyond the control of the parents.
The irrefutable fact is that God alone governs the life of mankind. Only God gives the spirit to man and only He governs life, death, curses, and blessings of mankind, and this God is our spiritual Father. If people live lives in accordance with the desires of the worldly ways without believing in Him, such people could not call God “Father!” (John 8:44).
Therefore, even if we associate with certain individuals by blood in this world, we will not dwell in the eternal Heaven with them if they do not believe in the Lord. Even Jesus has reminded us about this very subject in Matthew 12:50, “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother,” and taught us the nature of a true family, which is a spiritual family.
We are to love and serve our fleshly family but it must be spiritual love that is proper in God’s sight. True love is not submitting to and loving one’s family that blasphemes against God and walks in ways that are against His will.
Suppose one’s fleshly parents and siblings said to a person, “Don’t go to church” or “Join with me in committing this crime.” If that person follows them, it is not in the way of love but of death. Therefore, while we are to love and serve our fleshly parents and siblings, we must do so within the boundary of the truth. Furthermore, if we have true love for our family, we first must preach the gospel to them and lead them to Heaven.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, embedded in the third of the words Jesus spoke during crucifixion is the love of Jesus who sought to comfort the lamenting Mary. Our Lord is also telling us that all brothers and sisters in Him are our true family. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will come to grasp the heart of our Lord even more clearly, love God more, and share with one another spiritual love in the Lord.
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