Sons (and Daughters) Take Care of Your Mothers
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
John 19:25-27
I don’t think my mom ever expressed it in so many words. But I’m sure it’s a phrase every mother has thought, “Just wait until you have a child just like you.” Since my son is a sinner like his father before him, I only have two words to say: Sorry, Mom.
Being a mom is hard. I know I’m an outsider on this. But I imagine Simeon’s words to Mary resonate much more deeply with you moms out there than with anyone else: “And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:35). How you hurt when they hurt! Their tears become yours!
Now, Mary wasn’t a perfect mother. She confessed as much in her famous song: “My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46,47). What need would she have for a Savior from sin and death if she were already perfect?
She was given the unenviable job of raising the Son of God made flesh. Did that take the pressure off? Or did it make it unbearable at times?
How her heart must have broken when 12-year-old Jesus was missing for three days!
Was she part of the group of Jesus’ family that was saying, “He is out of his mind” (Mark 3:21,31)?
How her soul was pierced as she stood at the foot of Jesus’ cross, watching her son die as a condemned criminal even though he was innocent!
Yet, the amazing thing isn’t so much Mary’s story. Her story is the story of every mother who love her children. Whose heart skips several beats when she loses sight of her child for even a moment. Who perhaps struggles to understand her child’s choices in life, even if their choices are God-pleasing and in his service. Whose soul would be pierced should her child’s death come but she would be present if able even if only to give one last comfort as she had every time she heard that newborn cry.
The amazing thing is Jesus. He’s the one dying on the cross. He’s the one bloodied from head to toe. He’s the one suffering for the world’s sins, for his mother’s sins, many of her sins committed directly against him as his mother. But he thinks nothing of himself. He only thinks of her. He makes sure she’s taken care of by telling his disciple to take her into his home. “Woman, here is your son.”
And by doing this, Jesus fulfills what no son or daughter has done. He perfectly honored his mother. He perfectly loved his mother. He kept the demands of God’s command. My son and my daughter are forgiven. I am forgiven.
Jesus now says to us, “Here is your mother.” Though we are not given the Lord’s mother to care for, we honor our moms as if she were Jesus’ mom. Indeed, he loves your mom as much as he loved his own since he also died for her.
For some, this is easy. For others, this is hard. Not everyone has a good relationship with their mom. Not everyone has a good mom. So first, we rest in the grace of Jesus who did what we could not and died in our place. From this we draw the strength to honor and love our moms. We pray that God would show us what it means to honor our mothers. We ask him to teach us through his Word. And we continually return to the foot of Jesus’ cross where Jesus’ love pours out on sons and daughters, fathers and mothers.