“Woman, Behold Your Son! Behold, Your Mother!”

This devotional is the third in a seven-part series leading up to Easter through the season of Lent. Each week’s devotional will focus on one of Jesus’ seven sayings from the cross. 

“When Jesus 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!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.” John 19:26-27

Even on the cross, Jesus cared for His family. Most scholars believe that, by this time, Jesus’ earthly father Joseph had died. As the oldest son, by tradition, Jesus would have been the one trusted to take care of His mother. However, as He is dying and would soon return to Heaven, He knows that this role must be given to someone else. 

See, Mary was blessed in that she was able to give birth to and raise the Messiah, but this role also came with great pain. In fact, when a man named Simeon saw the newborn Christ, he told Mary, “A sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:35). Though she had seen God in the flesh enter the world, she now beheld Him as He left it. However, Jesus ensured that she would be taken care of as He returned to His Father. 

Jesus fulfills this duty in a slightly puzzling way, however, and one that flew in the face of the tradition of the time. He does not entrust His mother to His brothers (Mary’s other children)—James, Jude, or another sibling. Instead, He tells Mary to behold John, Jesus’ disciple, as her son, and tells John that Mary is now his mother. John heeded Jesus’ words, as the Bible tells us that “from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” (John 19:27). 

Why would Jesus give John this responsibility instead of the family it would naturally go to? One possible reason is that Jesus was concerned with Mary being taken care of spiritually as well as financially (GotQuestions). Jesus’ brothers, though they would become leaders in the early church, did not yet believe in who Jesus is. John, however, was a faithful follower of Jesus. He was part of Jesus’ inner circle, called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved, and was the only one of the twelve present here at the cross. Therefore, Jesus knows he can bear this responsibility and entrusts John with caring for His mother. 

There is something interesting in this exchange that applies to us. We are the family of God. In Matthew 12, Jesus is speaking to a crowd of people when his mother and brothers stand outside wanting to speak with Him. Jesus uses this moment, however, to say that His disciples are His true family. He says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (vs. 49-50). 

Jesus gave John His family responsibilities because He knew John was adopted into the family of God. If you are in Christ, you, too, are adopted into this family. We can “see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1). John, who wrote that verse, saw with his own eyes the love the Father has given to us. He saw it on the cross when He beheld God the Son breathing out His last breaths and bearing the punishment we deserve in our place. 

If you want to be a part of this family, all you have to do is look to Jesus. Behold that love, and trust that His sacrifice is enough to give you life.