Followers and Faithfulness at the Cross

John 19:25-27

Introduction: My hometown of Buffalo, New York, is well known for its winter blizzards. They blow off Lake Erie and sometimes shut down the city for days. My mother was in her 80s when, following one of the snowstorms, she slipped and fell on the ice. She injured her leg and was in the hospital for quite awhile. My brother and his wife were her major caregivers and thus received the call from a social worker at the hospital who told them: “We really don’t think your mother can care for herself or should be living alone. We are recommending a nursing home.” Our family faced the questions that hundreds of other families have faced: Should she move in with one of us? Is it right to put her in a home and relinquish her independence? What do we do with our feelings of guilt? She lived in the suggested nursing home for 8 years before her “home going.”

It’s significant that in one of the “seven words from the cross,” Jesus addresses the care of His mother.

Followers of Jesus at the Cross

“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister [Salome, wife of Zebedee, and mother of James and John], Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene” (John 19:25 NKJV). We know some things about most of these women:

Mary, mother of Jesus. We know that when Mary took the baby Jesus into the temple at Jerusalem, Simeon not only held the infant Jesus in his arms, but he also made a prophecy: “This child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also)” (Luke 2:34-35 NKJV). Was Mary recalling that prediction as she gazed at her suffering son? Was this the piercing sword?

Salome. We remember the day when, prompted by James and John, she made a major request of Jesus: “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom” (Matthew 20:21). Jesus did not grant the request. Salome understood much more as she stood with the others. This was not “crown” day but “cross” day. Suffering came first and then glory.

Mary, wife of Clopas, is only mentioned here.

Mary Magdalene is remembered as the Mary out of whom Jesus cast seven demons.

Faithfulness at the Cross

Some of these women had traveled with Jesus in a serving ministry (Luke 8:1-3). Now they were again with Jesus in His final hours. The disciples on the other hand had run when Jesus was arrested for fear of their own arrest. Only John returned and was there at the cross. These courageous women were last at the cross and first at the empty tomb on Easter morning. This reminds us to thank God for women in today’s church who are disciples and servants of Jesus. The church could not function without women such as these.

With John, these women were witnesses not only of the physical and spiritual suffering of Jesus but also of the disinterest in Jesus by the rest of the watching world. While He was dying for the sins of the world, soldiers gambled for His clothing. “Here lies a striking contrast. Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, dying a horrible death for the sins of the world, saw below Him callous Roman soldiers gambling for His clothes! A seamless garment meant more to these godless men than the Savior of the world” (Charles Swindoll, The Darkness and the Dawn, p.87).

Faithfulness from the Cross

“When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home” (John 19:26-27).

With this passage we make several assumptions. We presume that Joseph has passed away. We assume that there has been no change of attitude in the rest of the family, as recorded in John 7:5: “For even His brothers did not believe in Him.” So Jesus wanted to place His mother in a safe place to be cared for by a man whom He loved, the apostle John. “But there is a quiet tragedy here for Mary. What an ordinary observer of this crucifixion scene expects is for Jesus to commit Mary to her other children, to one of Jesus’ younger brothers. But He doesn’t do that. Mary finds herself between families: Her primary caregiver, Jesus—because Joseph is presumed deceased—is about to die. Where will she go home now? Why doesn’t Jesus commit her to His siblings? There is evidence that the brothers of Jesus did not think He was the Messiah. . . . The most reasonable explanation, then, for why Mary is committed to John instead of to one of Jesus’ siblings emerges from the tragic reality, weighing no doubt on Mary herself, that they did not yet believe in Jesus” (Scot McKnight, The Real Mary, p.92).

Several years ago my wife and I were in the country of Turkey for a missions conference for those who had a ministry in a nation where Islam was the major religion. At the close of the meetings we were offered a tour of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation 2–3. About 40 of us boarded the bus. The most remarkable ruins were in Ephesus. Of my many lasting memories of that trip was seeing a bronze tablet that mentioned the apostle John and Mary, the mother of Jesus. I know that a phrase often heard on tour is “tradition says.” But for me, it was a reminder of John 19:25-27.

Afterword: This passage in John 19 holds out encouragement for those who have been praying for brothers and sisters and mothers and dads who have not yet come to trust Jesus as Savior. In Acts 1:14, Luke tells us: “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” Only the Lord knows what prompted the change in His brothers. Surely the power of His resurrection. Maybe Mary, their mother, was a witness who graciously led them to belief. Whatever it was, take heart today. Your family members can be saved!