“JESUS’ LAST WORD ON COMPASSION”
JOHN 19:26-27

I. Introduction
You and I live in a society that is on the verge of collapse. There are many reasons that one could cite for this collapse, but it’s undeniable that one of them is the growing distain for and ridicule of the marriage of one man and one woman. Another reason is directly related to the first. It’s the ongoing and relentless ridicule and disregard for the traditional family. Marriage and the family are the central building blocks of any culture. So when marriage and the family are deemed to be unimportant or irrelevant, the culture cannot long survive.

The marriage of one man and one woman and the traditional family wherein the next gener-ation is born, raised, educated, and sent out to establish their own families has been known and understood since man first walked upon this earth. But Satan is working overtime to pervert and destroy these God-ordained institutions. You don’t need to come from a Judeo-Christian background to know how to define the terms “marriage” and “family.” Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, even agnostics and atheists all know what the words mean.

Respect for parents and the elderly is also common to virtually every culture throughout human history. Yet, along with the demise of traditional marriage the family structure, we are watching as those values are fading as well. Can there be any hope for a stable society where the young people reject the lawful authority of their elders, and disregard, disrespect, and disobey their parents?

God’s Word speaks to this issue of respect for parents in both testaments. In fact, the fifth commandment – the only commandment with a promise – God says…
Exodus 20:12
12 “Honor your father and your mother, (so) that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.”

In Leviticus 19:3 God said to Moses, “Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father…” In Deuteronomy 27:16a Moses told the people, “Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother…” Jesus Himself repeats the fifth commandment no less than five times in the gospels. And in Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus the apostle reminds us…
Ephesians 6:1-3
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise),
3 that it may be well you, and that you may live long on the earth.

So the principle is clear. Children are to obey their parents. And once they have left their parents’ homes, all children, regardless of their chronological age, are to honor their parents. Such honor includes love, reverence, and respect. That is the scriptural principle.
But when that scriptural principle, is ignored or rejected, the resulting collapse and chaos that permeate the culture should surprise no one. On the other hand, when God’s people strive to obey His Word and live their lives following Jesus’ example, there will be stability in the family and in the church. This is true even as the society in which we live continues to turn its collective back on God and reject His laws.

In this morning’s text we will hear the third thing Jesus’ says from the cross. His words are directed at His mother Mary and the Apostle John, the only one of Jesus’ disciples who has found the courage to be at His side during the last moments of His life.

Even now, in the midst of Jesus’ suffering, His loved ones, and specifically His mother, are on His mind. Even now, as He is about to be crushed under the weight of our sin, He has compassion for His mother.
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II. Text
Once again we find ourselves standing at the foot of Jesus’ cross. And as we look around we see that we are not alone. Standing there with us are others who love our Lord.
*John 19:25b
25b But there were standing by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Four women have followed Jesus up to Golgotha. They are, to say the least, four loyal and courageous women. But where are the men? Where are the strong, fearless, and courageous men? They (with the exception of John) have run away. Just to be clear, Jesus disciples, weak, cowardly, and fearful on this day, will soon prove to be strong, courageous, and fearless enough to lay down their lives for Jesus and the gospel. Once the church is born, once they are filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, they will change the world. But on this day of crucifixion, they are nowhere to be found.

Who are these women who have followed Jesus to the cross? The first is Mary, His mother. We can hardly imagine how horrible this is for her. Yet I can’t help but wonder if she is all that surprised by what she is seeing. I can’t help but wonder if her mind doesn’t flash back thirty years to that moment when Jesus was eight days old and Mary and Joseph presented the boy in the temple in Jerusalem.
*Luke 2:25-26
25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

Simeon came to the temple and saw Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus.
He took Jesus in his arms and prophesied. Blessing God, Simeon said, “…my eyes have seen Your salvation (v. 30).”
*Luke 2:33-35a
33 And (Jesus’) father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed,
35a and a sword will pierce even your own soul…” (back to John 19)

Surely, as Jesus’ mother stands at the foot of the cross, her own soul is being pierced. But at least she is not alone. Standing with Mary is her sister Salome, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala, a.k.a. Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene had been devoted to Jesus ever since He had freed her of demon possession. Luke 8 speaks of some of those who were following Jesus as He taught and ministered in Galilee. Among them was “Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out (v. 2).

Salome was Jesus’ aunt, the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John, Jesus’ cous-ins. Mary, the wife of Clopas, was the mother of one of the other disciples, James the less. Along with Mary Magdalene, she would be one of the women who would go to Jesus’ tomb on Sunday morning. Outside of that, little is known of her.

The only man there was John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” This phrase does not imply a lack of love for anyone else. It simply points out the fact that Jesus and John were very close – “best friends” if you like. And isn’t it appropriate that such a friend, despite his fear and trepidation, would be with Jesus at the end?

We have heard the Lord speak His last word on forgiveness – “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” We have heard Him speak His last word on salvation. “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Now we will hear Jesus’ last word on compassion.
*John 19:26
26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved stand-ing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”

When Jesus calls His mother “woman,” we are at first taken aback. It sounds like a harsh and almost unkind term. But that isn’t the case at all. Rather, it is a respectful and dignified term. But more than being respectful and dignified, it carries with it a clear message. Jesus is saying that the mother-son relationship has ended. It’s now been replaced by a Redeemer-
disciple relationship. The old mother-son relationship was temporary anyway, but the new Redeemer-disciple relationship is eternal.

In the past the mother had cared for the Son. In the past the Son had obeyed and followed the mother. But from now on the Son would care for the mother.
From now on the mother would follow and obey the Son. Mary has become one of Jesus’ disciples. Just like us she is a sinner. And just like us she needs a Redeemer. It’s this very point that we oppose in the Roman Catholic teaching of Mary as co-redemptrix with Jesus.

She needed the same redemption that you and I needed. To be sure, Mary was a virtuous woman. Surely God would not have chosen her to bring Jesus into this world had she been anything less than a virtuous woman. For that Mary most certainly deserves our respect as a godly woman. But she neither was nor is what Catholicism has tried to make her.
• She was not virgin born (the Immaculate Conception)
• She was not taken into heaven bodily and alive (the Assumption)
• She was not a perpetual virgin (Jesus had younger half-brothers and sisters)
• She is not now the “Queen of Heaven” (as Rome declared her to be in 1954)
• She is not now the “Mother of the Church” (as Rome declared her to be in 1965)
• She is not now “co-redemptrix,” somehow playing a role in our salvation.
• And she is now not “co-mediatrix,” somehow playing the role of a priest through whom we can get to Jesus. The Bible says, “…there is one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).

If Jesus’ mother Mary were any of the things that Rome claims her to be, would you not expect that the men who wrote the NT would have said so? Yet none of the writers of the NT – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, or Mary’s other sons (Jesus’ half-brothers), James and Jude – have anything to say about Mary having any role in the founding, estab-lishment, ministries, doctrines, or theology of the church. They’re all silent. So let’s once and for all be clear – Mary needed a Savior just like you and I need a Savior.

And now she stands at the cross. Here is her baby boy suffering a horrible death, the crowds are mocking Him, the soldiers are gambling for His clothes, one of the convicted criminals being crucified with Jesus is taunting Him, and He is hanging above her bleeding to death. We cannot measure her pain. There is a level at which she must be in shock.

With her are the few we’ve already identified – Salome, Mary, the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, and the Apostle John. There is deep grief and sorrow here, but there is also great courage. It requires great courage to be here at the foot of the cross. I think we all understand the principle of guilt by association, don’t we. Where is their fear? Their love for Jesus has overcome their fear.

There is a wonderful scriptural principle here that we don’t want to miss. It is so appropriate that John, this “disciple whom Jesus loved,” is the one who will write it down for us.
*1 John 4:18-19
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
19 We love, because He first loved us.
These four women and this one man are at the cross because perfect love has cast out fear. And Jesus looks at His mother and says to her, “Woman, behold, your son!” He is not saying, “Look at Me.” He is saying, “Look at John!” He is giving her over to the one He trusts more than anyone else to care for her. He is having compassion toward her.

It’s incredible to think of the terrible agony that Jesus has been suffering for hours, not to mention the agony that is to come upon Him during His last three hours on the cross when God’s wrath for the sins of the world will be poured out on Him. But despite His own pain and suffering, He has compassion for his mother. He sees to it that she will have a loving son to care for her. By the way, from this it is clear that Mary’s husband, Joseph, has died. If he were still alive he would be the one caring for Mary.

Isn’t it interesting that Mary had four other sons – Joseph, Simon, and the aforementioned James and Jude – any one of whom could have taken her into their homes and cared for her? Even though they were not yet believers, they probably would’ve done so. (Jesus’ brothers came to saving faith after the resurrection.) Yet Jesus chooses to give His mother’s care over to John, His beloved friend.

John could give to Mary what the others could not – a compassionate understanding of her sorrow, and special God-given comfort in this hour. It’s also interesting that John’s own mother, Salome, is standing right there at the cross, yet Jesus gives his mother to John. Can you see that Jesus is obeying God in this? In humble submission to the fifth commandment, He obeys God and honors His mother.
*John 19:27
27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

Jesus trusts John, and John accepts the responsibility and takes Mary into his own home. In this incident we have a beautiful picture of our Lord’s understanding of the emotional needs that exist between mothers and sons. Even in this hour of Jesus’ greatest need He has com-passion on those whom He loves. Imagine bearing the sin of the world (if you can imagine that) and still having such love and concern for those around you. Only Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, could do such a thing. Such perfect love and compassion could only come from God. It is with this love and compassion for us that Jesus prepared to go to the cross.
John 13:1 (on the night before His crucifixion)
1 Now before the Feast of the of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

That word translated “end” is “tĕlŏs.” It does not mean termination or the opposite of the beginning. Rather, it means to the uttermost, to the limit. Here, in John 13:1 it means that Jesus loves us to perfection. There is no love beyond His love, because His love is perfect.
Jesus’ love and compassion for His children, whether it’s for His mother Mary, or for His beloved disciple John, or for you, or for me, is absolute. It is perfect love. It is selfless love. It is God’s love. He demonstrated it on the cross. That’s worth remembering when we think that Jesus is too busy for us and our problems.

What can we learn from Jesus’ compassionate words when He gave Mary’s care over to John? For one thing we can remember the fifth commandment.
Exodus 20:12
12 “Honor your father and your mother…”

Jesus does so. Joseph is in heaven, but Mary is still here. And isn’t it the obligation of the children to see to it that their parents are cared for when they are no longer able to care for themselves? So when Jesus says to Mary, “Woman, behold your son,” and when He says to John, “Behold your mother,” it’s as if He were not only dictating his last will and testament, but it’s as if He were executing it right there.

It’s as if Jesus is saying to his mother, “Mom, I’m leaving you now and I’m not going to be able to take care of you after I’m gone. There’s nothing else I can do for you. But John will be to you as I was to you. He will provide the help you need.” And it’s as if He is saying to His friend, “John, this is my mother? Take care of her after I’m gone. Do for her what I would do if I were still able.”

Even though Jesus is dying, undergoing this brutal ordeal of crucifixion, and even though He is about to be crushed under the weight of the world’s sin, He is still fulfilling the most basic responsibility and the most sacred obligation that any son ever had. He is making sure that his mother is cared for. He is honoring her!

Jesus has long been out from under Mary’s daily control, but He understands that while He is no longer required to obey her as He did when He was a child, His obligation to her has not ceased. We all owe our parents a debt that we can never fully repay. So while those of us who have grown into adulthood no longer obey them, we are always, regardless of our age, required to esteem them. Even as a child, Jesus both obeyed and esteemed His parents.

Luke illustrates this for us in an incident that took place when Jesus was twelve years old. Joseph and Mary had taken Him to Jerusalem for the Passover. When their caravan departed for Nazareth, His parents assumed Jesus was traveling with some friends or relatives. But He was not in the caravan. It’s easy to imagine Mary’s and Joseph’s anxiety and fear over His absence. What had happened to Him? So His they returned to the city only to find that Jesus had stayed in Jerusalem to listen to the teaching in the temple.
*Luke 2:48-51
48 And when they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.”
49 And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”
50 And they did not understand the statement which He had made to them.
51 And He went down with them and came to Nazareth; and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured these things in her heart.

Jesus’ answer sheds light on His honor for His mother. According to pastor and theologian G. Campbell Morgan the key to understanding Jesus’ statement in v. 49 is putting the em-phasis on the right word. Morgan explained it this way – “Mother, surely you knew Me well enough to know that nothing could detain Me from the affairs of My Father.”

This makes more sense when we read the whole passage. In v. 51 we are told that Jesus left Jerusalem with Joseph and Mary, returned with them to their home in Nazareth, and there-after subjected Himself to them. Jesus obeyed and esteemed His parents!

Eventually the years of obedience ended, but not the years of honor. The lesson for us is clear, is it not? Many of us, having long since left our parents’ homes, and no longer being required to “obey” them, are still expected to honor them. God calls you to make provision for them and their well-being whenever and however you can.

None of us are exempt from this obligation. It doesn’t matter if we are involved in “full-time Christian work” (whatever that means), or if we are busy with our secular work, or even if we pour our time, efforts, and resources into worthwhile ministries. We are not exempt. It should be noted that the Pharisees, those so-called paragons of virtue, tried to excuse them-selves from this very obligation, but Jesus would not let them.
*Matthew 15:4-9
4 “For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’, and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
5 “But you say, ‘Whoever shall say to his father or mother, “Anything of mine you might have been helped by has been given to God,”
6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And thus you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
7 “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me.
9 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”

That is one loaded passage! But the central point for us this morning is that these hypocriti-cal religious leaders were dishonoring their parents by claiming to be so holy that they had to direct all of their resources to “God’s work.”

There is an important lesson for Christians here, especially for those of us who are involved in various ministries. It is good to go to the mission field. It is good to participate in church activities. It is good to minister to the poor and downtrodden. It is good to preach and teach.
All of those things are good. But when any one of those good things hinders the raising and training of one’s children, or the neglect of one’s husband or wife, then they are not good. Let me quote A.W. Pink on this.
“There is a lesson here that many need to take to heart… No work, no duty, however important it may be, can excuse us from… caring for those who have fleshly claims upon us. They who go forth as missionaries to labor in heathen lands, and who leave their children behind, or who send them back… home… to be cared for by strangers, are not following the steps of the Savior. Those women who spend most of their time in public meetings, even… religious meetings, or who go down into the slums to min-ister to the poor and needy, to the neglect of their own family at home, bring reproach upon the name and cause of Christ. Those men, even though they stand at the fore-front of Christian work, who are so busy preaching and teaching that they have no time to discharge the obligations that they owe to their own wives and children, need to study and practice the principle exemplified here by Christ on the cross.” (p. 67)

So in Jesus’ words to Mary, “Woman, behold your son,” and in His words to John, “Behold your mother,” the Lord honors Mary. Even in dying, Jesus obeys God’s laws.

But there’s more. Consider the man to whom Jesus entrusts the care of His mother. It’s bad enough that the Jews, as a people, have rejected Jesus. But now, in His hour of greatest need, Jesus’ own disciples have abandoned Him and fled. They couldn’t stay awake to pray with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, and now they are gone. He had said this would happen as they went to the garden.
Matthew 26:31
31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.”

And scatter they did. But one has come back. The “disciple whom Jesus loved,” and the one who loved Jesus, has found the courage to come back and accompany Mary and the other women to the cross. As has already been said, all of the disciples will find the courage to change the world once they’re empowered by the Holy Spirit. But here, now, at the cross, John is there. How good is that!

Have you ever placed your own interests above Jesus’ interests? Have you ever failed Him? Have you ever denied Him? Then later, having confessed your sin and sought His forgive-ness, have you found it? Of course, you have – if you’re a Christian. Now here is encour-agement – Jesus does not rebuke John for his failure or his denial. Rather, He blesses His friend for his faithfulness.

In giving Mary over to His friend John, and not to His half-brothers, Jesus makes it clear that as strong as natural family ties are, spiritual bonds are even stronger.
And John 19:27 says that “…from that hour the disciple took her into his own household.”
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III. Conclusion
What can you do with all of this? How about taking a few simple steps, and taking them today? Here are a few.
• If your parents are alive you can tell your parents that you love them. Some of you young people can do that right here and now. Some of you may need to make a phone call. Some of you may need to get in the car and go visit them.
• If your parents are no longer on this earth you can honor their memory by remember-ing what they have done for you. And you can thank God for them.
• If you have nothing good to say about your parents, you can refrain from speaking evil of them. You can do that whether they’re still alive or not.

Someone may be asking, “So where is the gospel in a message like this?” It’s right here! It’s in everything Jesus has said and is yet to say from the cross. It’s all about the eternal welfare – the salvation – of those whom God loves. Listen, Jesus died thinking of others, didn’t He?
• First, thinking of His enemies, He said, “Father, forgive them…”
• Second, thinking of lost but repentant sinners, He said, “Today, you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
• Third, thinking of His own mother and His beloved friends, He said, “Woman, behold your son,” and “(John), behold your mother.”

Jesus died as He lived – thinking of others. Now just one more thing and I will close in prayer. The church is a family – a spiritual family. As we sang before the sermon, we are one with in the bond of love with Christ. That bond is eternal. So let us love one another.
John 13:35
35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

~ Pray ~