Word of Salvation – Vol.37 No.14 – April 1992

 

Love To The End

 

Sermon by Rev. D. K. Baird on John 19:25-27

Scripture Reading: John 19:16-30

 

Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Throughout his life the Lord Jesus showed compassion to people.  Think of the many times he healed the sick.  Think of him feeding the crowds.  Think of the hours spent teaching the people the way of life.  He expended himself in these things.

Now we come to his death.  The time of his agony.  Not just the agony of the nails in his hands.  But also the agony of carrying the sin of the world.  What will we see now?  Will he still be able to show compassion to others, or will he be totally distracted by his own predicament?

When we think of the cross we think of Jesus hanging there in his agony and loneliness.  We almost forget the others standing there, silently watching.  They tend to fade into the shadows.

Today, however, we want to consider one group of people who were keeping vigil at the cross.  And we want to hear what Jesus said to them.  Especially what he said to his mother and about his mother.  We want to see how Jesus continued to show compassion and love even as he hung there on that cross.  In this we see his obedience, right to the end.

Try to imagine this situation.  Try to imagine something of his agony as he hung there by his nail-pierced hands.  Think of his humiliation as he was abused and the soldiers cast lots for his clothes.  Above all think of the dreadful separation from his Father as he bore our sin in his body on that tree.

No one has ever, or will ever, carry a load such as he carried at that time.  If there was ever a situation where someone could be excused for being preoccupied with himself, this was it.  What are we like when we are sick or have something on our minds?  Our own feelings and hurts and pains seem to take over.  In the case of Jesus it would be so understandable that his own needs were so great that he had nothing left to give others.  Could you blame him if he was so totally absorbed in his own needs he had nothing left to give others.  Could you blame him if he was totally absorbed in his own grief?  After all, he was carrying nothing less than the sin of the world!

Nonetheless, as he hangs there he shows incredible compassion.  There at the foot of the cross where Jesus is hanging, we find a family scene.  For there stand his mother and his aunt and one or two other woman friends.  A very moving scene.

Among those women is Mary of Magdala: a disciple and friend.  A woman who had experienced a very great deliverance.  Seven demons had been cast out of her by Jesus.  She knew what salvation was all about.  But now she sees her Saviour and Master dying on that cross.  Probably she was quite bewildered, distressed at the suffering of one she loved so much.  She was confused that he who was so good now hung as a criminal on that wicked cross.

Later Mary would look at what Jesus was now doing and her faith would be very much strengthened.  May our faith also be strengthened as we consider the sacrifice Christ Jesus has made.

From the cross Jesus looked down on his mother.  His own mother who gave him birth and brought him up.  There she is watching and waiting; sharing in the distress.  Maybe it would be easier for him to ask her to go home.  He doesn’t.  He is concerned for her welfare.

From the cross Jesus also sees the disciple whom he loved standing nearby.  This is John, who wrote this book.  Because of his modesty John never refers to himself by name.  If we would remember John remember that he is the disciple who was loved by Jesus.  That is the privilege that surpasses everything for John.  To be the special friend of Jesus.  John can never get over how wonderful that is.

[read verses 26-27]

What a wonderful expression of care and love!  Jesus entrusts his mother to John’s care.  He gives his final instructions concerning her welfare.  Right in the midst of his agony, when the sin of the world weighed so totally on him, he does this.

You might say it is natural for a son to arrange for his mother to be looked after as he does.  Yes, it is.  It is a normal and natural affection.  Yet here in the case of Jesus something more is happening.

He is expressing not only a deep-seated love for his mother but also a deep-seated love for his heavenly Father.  He is not only caring for his mother, but is being obedient to his Father in heaven.  Of course the two go together, for the one is the expression of the other.  Here Jesus is fulfilling the 5th Commandment: ‘Honour your father and your mother’.  In making provision for his mother Jesus is practising what the apostle Paul would later urge us all to do: ‘But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.’ (1Tim.5:4).

You know there is a promise which goes with that 5th Commandment.  ‘Honour your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.’  Well, is this promise fulfilled for Jesus?  He died shortly after this didn’t he?  Yes, but on the third day he rose again from the dead.  It was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.  Because he is the Righteous One.  And so now he lives for ever, never to die again.

Remember this: it is as our Saviour that Jesus is obedient here.  He was being compassionate and caring in our place.  The Son came into the world to do the will of God, to live under the law and to obey it from the heart.  None of us have kept the law.  We have back-answered our parents.  We have been too busy to care for them.  We have not appreciated the ways in which they sacrificed for us.  We have broken this command in countless ways.

But here we see Jesus, in extreme circumstances, doing what that commandment asks.  And now, when I know Jesus, I am accepted because of his obedience.  The Father counts the righteousness of Christ as mine, because the perfect Jesus has died and risen again.

As Jesus speaks these words from the cross, he does so not just as the son of his mother or the friend of John.  He speaks as the Christ.  He continues to fulfil the purpose given him by his Father.  So, he speaks to his mother as ‘dear woman’: ‘Dear woman, here is your son’, looking towards John.

You may remember Jesus spoke like this once before.  It was at the wedding in Cana, recorded in chapter 2.  “When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine’.  ‘Dear woman, why do you involve me?’ Jesus replied.  ‘My time has not yet come.” (John 2:4)

Jesus calls his mother ‘Dear woman’ for the same reason in both places.  Respectfully he is reminding her of his mission as the Christ: ‘No matter how strong the bond between us as mother and son, my purpose as the Christ must take priority.’  At the wedding he declared his time had not yet come.  At the cross his time had now come.  His whole mission had been moving towards this point.  Soon he will declare: ‘It is finished!’  But first he speaks words of grace to his mother.  She too is to share in the deliverance he brings.  She is to be cared for by his friend John.

As Mary looks up at the cross she sees there both her son and her Saviour.  She herself is both the mother and the saved.  As she stood there she would have remembered, no doubt, the words the priest spoke to her many years before as he held the baby Jesus in his arms: ‘This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts out of many hearts will be revealed.  And a sword will pierce your own soul too.’ (Luke 2:34-35)

Yes, as she stood at the foot of the cross she felt that sword, but she also heard the words of her son and her redeemer, ‘Dear woman, here is your son.’  And the words to John, ‘Here is your mother.’

Conclusion:

In the midst of his agony and loneliness we hear Jesus speak this word concerning his mother.  In this we hear expressed his love and compassion, shown in the most extreme circumstances.  Here we hear his obedience to the Father: obeying him where we have failed.  We hear him speak to his mother not only as her son, but as her Saviour.  In the midst of her grief, Jesus provides relief and care.  Here we are given a further picture of our Saviour and Lord.  This too is ‘…written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name.’ (20:31)

AMEN