{"id":875,"date":"2019-04-16T20:40:38","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T19:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/?page_id=875"},"modified":"2019-04-16T20:40:38","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T19:40:38","slug":"john-19-26-27-the-word-of-affection","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/?page_id=875","title":{"rendered":"John 19: 26-27 The word of affection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are different ways of\ngetting people\u2019s attention, some ways better than others. George Phillips, who\nlives in the Gold Coast area of Australia, some years ago, was going to bed at\nhis usual time when his wife remarked that he\u2019d left the light on in the garden\nshed. The shed was visible from the bedroom window. George got dressed again\nand went out the back door but observed that there were strangers stealing\nthings from the shed. So he quietly retraced his steps and went back into his\nhome. He phoned the police who asked him: \u2018Is someone in your home?\u2019 on\nanswering that the thieves were in his garden shed they informed him that he\nshould lock his door securely and an officer would be along when one was\navailable but all patrols were very busy and it could be some time. George said\n\u2018Okay\u2019 duly locked the house and counted to thirty. Then he phoned the police\nagain: \u2018Hello I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people\nstealing things from my shed. You said your patrols were busy. I wanted to let\nyou know that you don\u2019t have to worry anymore about them because I\u2019ve shot\nthem\u2019. Then he hung up. Within five minutes three police cars, an armed\nresponse unit and an ambulance showed up at the Phillips residence and caught\nthe burglars red-handed. One of the policemen said to George: \u2018I thought you\nhad shot them\u2019. George said: \u2018I thought you said there was nobody available to\nhelp\u2019!!                                                <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    All of us can smile at such a story because\nit speaks very clearly about priorities. All of us struggle with priorities if\nnot all the time at least some of it. Fitting everything into the weekly\nschedule can be a challenging exercise sometimes. Our passage speaks about the\npriorities of Jesus on the cross and when put alongside Luke 23:40-43 which\ndescribed Jesus\u2019 concern for a dying criminal who wanted forgiveness for his\nsins and eternal life to whom Jesus spoke words of reassurance and grace\nreveals an astonishing compassion for the needs of other people. Even if Jesus\nhad not spoken a word to anyone on earth from the cross He could not have been\naccused of sinning or wrong priorities \u2013after all crucifixion was the most\nexcruciating form of death devised on the planet yet in death as in life it was\nsaid of Jesus: No-one ever spoke the way this man does<\/em> (John 7:46) declared the Temple guards when\nreporting back to the Chief Priests and Pharisees and explaining why they had\nnot arrested Jesus. However we focus on some specific words of Jesus recorded\nin John 19:25-27: Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the\nwife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.26<\/sup> When\nJesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing near by, He\nsaid to His mother, Dear Woman, here is your son, 27<\/sup>and\nto the disciple, Here is your mother. From that time on, this disciple took her\ninto his home.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The Prophecy of\nSimeon<\/strong> (Luke 2:25-35)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who\nwas righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the\nHoly Spirit was upon him.26<\/sup> It had been\nrevealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the\nLord’s Christ.27<\/sup>Moved by the\nSpirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child\nJesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28<\/sup>Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29<\/sup>Sovereign\nLord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.30<\/sup> For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31<\/sup> which you have prepared in the sight of all\npeople, 32<\/sup>a light for revelation\nto the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.33<\/sup>The\nchild’s father and mother marvelled at what was said about him. 34<\/sup>Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his\nmother: This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in\nIsrael, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35<\/sup>so\nthat the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too<\/strong><\/em>. <\/em>These words of Simeon\u2019s seemed\nso out of place at an infant dedication. It was a celebration, a thanksgiving\nto God for a new life in a Jewish family. Yet here were words that must have\ncaused a shudder through the bodies of every person who heard them. Our text\nhas zoomed in and focussed on the people at the foot of this cross and in\nparticular on the mother of our Lord and one of His closest disciples John. Near the\ncross of Jesus stood his mother; <\/em>For Mary though this was only the\nlatest step of a journey that had begun when a teenage girl was stunned by the\nvisit of the angel Gabriel, an event recorded in Luke chapter one. The greeting\nof the angel had implied that this child would be the promised One that devout\nJewish women had longed to bear for generations and now this young girl was\nreceiving that news for herself. Gabriel told her: You will be with child and give birth to\na son and you are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be\ncalled the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father\n<\/em>[ancestor] David and He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; His kingdom\nwill never end<\/em>(Luke\n1:31-33).<\/em> After asking for\nclarification about how this could take place Mary declares her trust in the\nLord (Luke 1:38): I am the Lord\u2019s servant, Mary answered. May it be to me as you have\nsaid. <\/em>Yet within a year the young family had to flee to Egypt\nbecause Herod had ordered the killing of all children in the district of\nBethlehem who were under two years old with the words of Simeon still fairly fresh\nin her ears. Had the old man spoken solely about the trauma of exile with Jesus\nas a young baby? No it was culminating here at the cross. Isaiah 53 refers to\nJesus as a\nman of sorrows, familiar with suffering<\/em> (Isa.53:3), yet Mary\nstanding at the cross was going through agonies of heart watched her beloved\nSon endure the pains of crucifixion; hands that had carried out so many acts of\nkindness were impaled on a Roman cross. In the midst of mocking crowds who\ncried: So\nyou who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down\nfrom the cross and save yourself <\/em>(Mark 15:29)!<\/em>  In earshot of religious\nleaders taunting Him: He saved others, they said, but He can\u2019t save Himself!\nLet this Christ, this King of Israel, come down from the cross that we may see\nand believe <\/em>(Mark 15:31-32). If that was not bad enough Mark records\n(15:32) Those\ncrucified with Him also heaped insults on Him. <\/em> In the midst of such hatred and disrespect we\nread:Near\nthe cross of Jesus stood his mother<\/em><\/strong>;<\/em> From Mary\u2019s point of view\ncould you visualise a situation so desperate, one in which you felt so helpless\nthan this scene her at Calvary? She would have winced at the hammer blows as\nthe nails went into His body; she would have flinched at the sight of His\ntemples dripping blood from the jagged thorns that had pierced His head; Here a\nmother could see her son\u2019s agonies and do nothing to relieve the pain; unable\nto quench His thirst, let alone embrace Him. The easiest thing in the world\nwould have been to go away rather than sit or stand there for those awful\nhours, yet for the duration we read: Near the\ncross of Jesus stood his mother <\/em><\/strong>(John 19:25). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.  The Example of the Son<\/strong> (John\n19:26)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relationship between Jesus\nand His mother throughout His earthly life has been reflected on in many a book\nand sermon in different sections of the Christian Church, but from a human\npoint of view when the child born in your home is the Messiah, the Son of God,\nit must have been a challenge for Mary and Joseph to address given the other six\nor seven children in the family home. Likewise if you had created the Universe,\nhad lived for eternity past, to be an obedient child to teenage parents with\ntheir limited life experience cannot have been easy. Yet Jesus obeyed God\u2019s law\nin His life on earth including the fifth commandment: Honour your father and your mother so\nthat you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you <\/em>(Exodus\n20:12). This commandment for a Jewish child was lifelong filial devotion to\nshow that love and affection while your parents were alive. It was not merely\nfor the little people who had no other choice! Yet as He grew up Jesus had a\nconsciousness that His position in the family was different to all the other\nchildren raised by Mary and Joseph. We have one window through which to view\nthis fact in Luke 2:41-52 when Jesus had come of age and was welcomed aged\ntwelve as a man into the Jewish community. 41<\/sup><\/em> Every year\nhis parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42<\/sup>When\nhe was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43<\/sup>After the Feast was over, while his parents were\nreturning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware\nof it. 44<\/sup>Thinking he was in their company,\nthey travelled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their\nrelatives and friends. 45<\/sup>When they did not\nfind him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46<\/sup>After\nthree days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers,\nlistening to them and asking them questions. 47<\/sup>Everyone\nwho heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48<\/sup>When\nhis parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, Son, why\nhave you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching\nfor you. 49<\/sup>Why were you searching for me? he\nasked. Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house? 50<\/sup>But\nthey did not understand what he was saying to them. 51<\/sup>Then\nhe went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother\ntreasured all these things in her heart. 52<\/sup>And\nJesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n<\/em>The occasion was the Passover feast in Jerusalem. The people\nfrom the tiny villages in Galilee went down as a group together for\ncompanionship and security. After all up to a million people might show up over\nthe course of the feast and it would be easy to get separated from the group.\nClearly the family did not expect the children to be in sight throughout each\nday as it was not until the day of departure that Mary and Joseph noticed that\nJesus was missing. They turned back leaving the group to go forward without\nthem in an attempt to find their apparently lost Son. Three days of searching\ndrew a blank \u2013only those of us as parents whose child has gone missing understands\nwhat it feels like- even when only a few minutes or a few hours \u2013the panic,\nheartache and sheer fear of what might have happened pass through our minds. At\nlast they go to the place where it might have been a good idea to have looked\nearlier, in the Temple listening to Bible \/ Jewish faith teaching and asking\nquestions of the rabbis. They were astonished that a twelve year old boy could\nknow so much about God and their faith \u2013maybe had they realised who He was it\nmight not have been such a surprise \u2013yet He was and is truly human as well as\ndivine and Luke 2:52 declares: Jesus grew<\/strong>\nin wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men<\/em>. The particular point to note here are the words of a\nclearly distressed Mary in v48: His mother said to Him, Son, why have you treated us\nlike this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you <\/em>(NIV)\nHowever anxiously\nsearching<\/em> is less than adequate for a translation of her words. The\nverb in question odunaomai carries the\nidea of \u2018sorrowing or suffering torment\u2019, and must have been included by Luke\nwith the understanding that a clear reference is being made to the prophecy of\nSimeon (Howard Marshall Luke<\/em>, p.128); Jesus\u2019 reply is one of surprise that they had\nlooked everywhere except the most obvious place in Jerusalem in the religious\nmeetings in the Temple. Why were you searching for me? He asked. Didn’t you\nknow I had to be in My Father’s house? 50<\/sup>But\nthey did not understand what He was saying to them. <\/em>The passage then\ngoes on to state that He returned with them to Nazareth and was obedient to them <\/em>(v51).\nThis state of affairs, honouring to God continued up to the day when Mary\nbeheld her beloved Son on the cross. So it is not too surprising in some\nrespects that Jesus despite the agonised cost of breathing in order to speak\naudible words addresses His mother as He saw her at the foot of His cross. It\nhad been Jesus as the eldest boy in the household who had taken on the\nresponsibility of providing for the family after Joseph\u2019s early death, taking\nHis earthly father\u2019s place as head of the family until he entered his public\nministry in His late 20s, by which time the other children would have reached\nadulthood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      How does He address Mary? Woman <\/em>is the rendering in some versions;\ndear woman<\/em> in others such as the NIV.\nThe full utterance: Dear woman here is\nyour son <\/em>(John 19:26). Why did He not call her \u2018Mother\u2019 or some similar\nterm as we might have done in our culture? Was it recognition that He was\nbearing her sins as well as the sin of the unpleasant people around her? Did He\ncontinue a pattern evident in His earthly ministry of not giving preferential\ntreatment to His earthly relatives? Mary could not presume that Jesus would\nhave helped at the wedding of Cana in Galilee (John 2) or how on the occasion\nwhen in ministry Mary and the other children turned up at a meeting and asked\nto speak to Him and were required to wait in the line, recorded in Matthew\n12:46-50: 46<\/sup><\/em> While Jesus was still talking to the\ncrowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.47<\/sup> Someone told him, Your mother and brothers are\nstanding outside, wanting to speak to you. 48<\/sup>Here\nis my mother, and who are my brothers? 49<\/sup>Pointing\nto his disciples, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers. 50<\/sup>For\nwhoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and\nmother.<\/em> It is clear that after Jesus entered public ministry that He\nnever again called Mary mother, however the word He uses here was a term of\ngreat respect used to address a queen or woman of high standing implying honour\nand recognition of her position and support to Him (Marcus\nDodds point cited by Drescher Testimony\nof Triumph<\/em>, p. 44). In His hour of greatest need Jesus thought of\nMary and her needs \u2013what greater evidence could be provided of filial devotion\nthan this incident before us?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The Provision by the Son<\/strong> (John 19:27)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why\ndid Jesus commit His mother into John\u2019s care when He had four step brothers\nalive who could have taken this responsibility? The clue to answering this\nquestion comes earlier in John\u2019s Gospel. John 7:5 states: For\neven His own brothers did not believe in Him. <\/em>Statements like this\ngiving an honest account of the facts confirms the reliability of the Gospel\u2019s\nteaching when it is recorded that people believed in Jesus. Psalm 69: 8-9a\nstates: I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own\nmother\u2019s sons; for zeal for Your house consumes me. <\/em>Jesus wanted to\nentrust His mother to a man who had recognised who He was and could be relied\nupon to take care of Mary. It was not too big a challenge for Mary, after all\nSalome John\u2019s mother was her sister and Salome had accompanied Mary in her\nagonizing vigil at the cross. The words of Matthew 26:56 with reference to the\ntime of Jesus\u2019 arrest in Gethsemane noted: Then all the\ndisciples deserted Him and fled <\/em>\u2013 this was a sad state of affairs.\nThankfully it was not the final word. Peter and John returned to the\nfray-although Peter denied Him, at least he was making a limited effort. John\nwent further and was found at the foot of the cross. In this context the\napostle known as the \u2018beloved disciple\u2019 received this charge from Jesus\nconcerning His mother. John 19:27 records: and to the disciple, Here is your\nmother. From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. <\/em>All\nJesus\u2019 earthly possessions had been taken by the soldiers there was nothing\nleft for Him to bequeath to another person, but the care of His mother had been\nstill outstanding until entrusted to John. It was this disciple who reclined at\nthe table next to Jesus at the Last Supper. It was John who would recognise\nfirst, amongst the apostles, the significance of the resurrection at the garden\ntomb and John again was the follower who recognised Jesus when the disciples\nwent fishing in Galilee, an event described in John 21. Even amongst the women\nwho stood at the cross there were very different relationships with Jesus. Mary\nMagdalene out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons (Luke 8:2) and who would be\none of the first at the tomb of Jesus on Easter Sunday morning and the first to\nmeet with Him (Mark 16:9) was a picture of the redeeming love of God and a\ntransformed life when her sins had been forgiven. Salome was delighted Jesus\nwas the Messiah, but thought His earthly family ought to have a special status\nin God\u2019s kingdom as a result. Matthew 20:20-28 details her audacious request\nfor her two sons James and John to have the top two positions in God\u2019s future\nkingdom. For a lady who valued power and status the sight before her on Calvary\nmust have crushed her worldly expectations. Mary, Clopas\u2019 wife, from Emmaus\n(Luke 24:13-35) like her husband were simple believers who followed Jesus but\nwe in shock and total confusion at what was going on. Our passage records: Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother<\/em><\/strong>,\na woman of faith who had been warned by Simeon of the painful experiences that\nlay ahead of her as she followed the life and ministry of her Son. It was more\nthan maternal loyalty; it was a trust in the God who had called her to her\nvocation in life and who through the devotion of her Son, His Son, in the midst\nof His own suffering demonstrated His love for her and ultimately to us all.\n\n  The challenge\nfor us is to stop and ask: Who am I most like in this story? Or what can I\nlearn from it? Mary Magdalene was someone who had made some big mistakes in the\npast but Jesus had changed her life and now nothing was too much for her to do\nfor Him. Salome, Jesus\u2019 mother\u2019s sister, who was happy to follow Jesus, but\nwanted public recognition for her family in the coming kingdom of Jesus because\nof their commitment to the cause. There was also Mary, Clopas\u2019 wife, whom Jesus\nwould later meet on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection  whose hopes had been shattered by this blow\nand who was struggling to keep going in her faith; alongside Mary, Jesus\u2019 mother,\nwhose quiet devotion to her Son had been so consistent and strong; at different\ntimes in our faith journey we may identify at that stage with  different one, but may we prayerfully reflect\non our devotion to Jesus as we renew afresh our commitment to His cause as we\nfollow Him through another new week,   Amen.\n\n\n\ne<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction There are different ways of getting people\u2019s attention, some ways better than others. George Phillips, who lives in the Gold Coast area of Australia, some years ago, was going to bed at his usual time when his wife remarked that he\u2019d left the light on in the garden shed. The shed was visible from … Continue reading John 19: 26-27 The word of affection<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-875","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/875\/revisions\/876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}