Jesus said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son" and to his disciple (John), "here is your mother."
We are all familiar (or at least should be familiar) with the 7 words of Christ on the cross. Each of these words of Jesus indicates something very important about the nature of his death. Here, the third words of Christ is teaching us that his death now bring about a new relationship among believer in him. Jesus was more than just saying to John, 'take care of my mother since I won't be around.' Rather he was telling his mother and telling John (and we can include ourselves as well) that his death will change their relationship to each other. Isn't that wonderful! Believers in Christ, are brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters to one another. The blood that was shed by Jesus now binds us together as a spiritual family. It doesn't break the tie of relationship we have with our human physical family although sometimes we will be forced to do that. This Christ-centered family is now more important than any earthly family.
The implications for this is so staggering! We all value our earthly family. Most of us see that as our "real" family. But what does the life of Christ teach us? What does the lives of the apostles teach us? It teaches us that the relationship we have with one another in Christ is more important and even more primary. Why do I say that? Because, some people, in fact, many people in the world are forced to choose betwen following Christ and joining the church, or choosing to reject Christ for fear of family rejection. I remember, Steve Cohen, a Jewish believer in Christ. He lost his entire family, father, mother, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters. No one in his family would accept his conversion from Judaism to Christianity. He lost his earthly family but gain an eternal family in Christ. I hope that in our church, we can think more like this and experience a deeper spiritual bond with one another. Let's all pray for that!
Posted by Pastor James
What moves me the most today in reading of Stott's devtion is that Jesus thinks not of his pain but of hers. The pain that Mary was exxperiencing was what Jesus was experiencing as well. There is no pain and suffering that Jesus can't identify with. It's not just sympathy nor pity Jesus feels toward us but it's the very same pain and suffering that we feel and experience that Jesus, too feels and understands. That's why Jesus is the only one can hear our pain and bring comfort and healing unto us no matter what difficulites adn hardships we face in this life. Like the priase song,"there is none like you. Noone else can touch my heart like you do..."
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jesus!