“When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’”
John 19:26
John’s transformation in the Upper Room is why, I believe, we find him at the foot of the cross when everyone else had scattered. The rest of the disciples fled in fear. Peter denied Jesus. But here is John, with Jesus’ mother in the last moments of His life.
What a dark day for John as he witnessed his best friend beaten beyond recognition, nails penetrating His hands and feet, lungs struggling to breathe. There’s no way to sanitize what he saw. When John heard Him say, “It is finished,” he must have thought, It’s true; only Jesus could take this cup.
In His final hour, Jesus entrusted His most treasured earthly relationship to the care of His best friend. By asking John to care for His mother, He invited John into a new kind of family, one that transcends our earthly ones. At the foot of the cross, we gain new sisters and brothers, new mothers and fathers. And what a joy it is to be received into the worldwide fellowship of saints, in heaven and on earth, not based on our family lineage, but because we have God’s seal of approval through Christ’s blood on us.
What a dark day for John as he witnessed his best friend beaten beyond recognition, nails penetrating His hands and feet, lungs struggling to breathe. There’s no way to sanitize what he saw. When John heard Him say, “It is finished,” he must have thought, It’s true; only Jesus could take this cup.
In His final hour, Jesus entrusted His most treasured earthly relationship to the care of His best friend. By asking John to care for His mother, He invited John into a new kind of family, one that transcends our earthly ones. At the foot of the cross, we gain new sisters and brothers, new mothers and fathers. And what a joy it is to be received into the worldwide fellowship of saints, in heaven and on earth, not based on our family lineage, but because we have God’s seal of approval through Christ’s blood on us.
Scripture Focus
1 John 1:1-4
Insight
“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard,so that you also may have fellowship with us. …with the Father and with his Son.” (1 John 1:3)
Bible In A Year
- Numbers 10-11
- Psalm 66
- John 7
