Friday, September 14, 2007

John 19:26-27

Being the oldest son, Jesus would have been responsible for the care of His mother. If anything had happened to Him, the responsibility would have fallen to the next oldest male child, presumably James. It's curious, then, that Jesus entrusts His mother to John, the youngest of the disciples. We are told that she went to live in his home from that time on. Tradition says that John was with her when she died.

In the garden, amid the tremendous struggle of will Jesus was caught up in, three times He broke off His prayers to check on the disciples - Peter, James, and John - worried that they might be falling into temptation. Now, here at the cross as Jesus faces the struggle of His life, He is nevertheless mindful of His mother. Though His lament comes from the deepest part of the self, it is not selfish or self-centered. He is concerned for the soldiers. He is concerned for His mother. And perhaps this second statement shows a measure of concern for the youthful John, who perhaps at this point in his life needed Mary more than she needed him.

John's obedience to Jesus' words was immediate. "From that hour," he says, "the disciple took her to his own home." It might seem puzzling if we stop tp think about it. They weren't even remotely close to John's home in Capernaum, far to the north, in the Galilee. (Though there is a tradition that John's father, Zebedee, had a business in Jerusalem and would have naturally had a home there, there is nothing about it in the text.)

I've been paid for in FULL 9:12 AM