How to Love Your Mother - Part A

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. A few years ago, my mother died and I miss her. I miss seeing her face. She had such a great smile, always smiled. I miss hearing her voice, her encouraging words. I miss feeling her love. I miss my dad as well, but there is something special about a bond between a mother and her sons, and my mom had four sons.

No girls. I was the youngest of four boys. A very special time that we sons had with our mom. There was a teacher teaching her Sunday school class a lesson on magnetism and demonstrated the magnet. So she took out a magnet, described how it worked, tried to make it simple. It was a class of second graders.

The next day, she offered a test. It was a written test, and one of the questions on the test was, my name has six letters. The first letter is M. I pick things up.

What am I? Teacher was astonished that half the class got it right. The other half of the class, mostly boys, put the word mother instead of magnet. Make sense?

Begins with M, picks things up. That's mom. There is no love in the world like the love of a mother. She will love her child no matter what they do. You've heard the old saying, it's a face only a mother could love.

That's because a mother's love is so distinct and unfailing. Not long ago on television, a documentary hosted convicted criminals who were on their way to be executed. The date was set, or it was going to be in the future. They were hardened criminals. The interview interviewed these men on death row and their moms. And the interviewer was astonished that practically every single mother of these criminals said, oh, but he's such a good boy. And the interviewer's thinking, like, what do you mean good boy? He's a good boy.

What do you mean good boy? He killed 37 people with an ax. I know, she would say, but he has such a good heart. It's hard to imagine anything worse for a mother than to watch her child die. That's the worst experience for a mom. It was much worse for Mary because her son was perfect. Her son committed no crime. Her son was the son of God. And as she would stand at the cross and look up and see him bleeding and suffering, all of those thoughts would come to mind of those past experiences throughout the years. This was the child the angel spoke to me about. This was the child announced by the angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem. This was the child that the Magi came to visit.

And now this. We pick it up in verse 25. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Four women are mentioned. When Jesus, therefore, saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, based on our studies so far, we believe that's John the Apostle, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son. And then he said to the disciple, behold your mother.

And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home. Those verses and this story appear in no other gospel than the Gospel of John. They are particular to the Gospel of John. It's understandable as to why John was there. John was the one that was entrusted with the care of Mary for years to come.

And so John writes about this. You will notice in verse 25, the very first word of the sentence is what? What's the word?

Now. Other translations use the word but, and that would probably be a better word. It's an adversitive conjunction in the Greek language. Simply put, it's a word of strong contrast.

When the author wants to speak about something but then quickly turn the tables and contrast that with something else, he or she will use an adversitive conjunction. So that's what John is doing. He's been writing about the other people at the cross, the soldiers gambling. There were four of them. But now he wants to contrast that to four believing women at the foot of the cross, besides this John who's going to take her. So we have five people. Four of them are women.

We're going to focus on the women. These are the final words of Jesus. Altogether, seven statements are made by Christ during a six-hour period that he hangs on the cross. Three of them are made in the first three hours.

Then there's darkness. The last four are made in the second half before his death. A person's final words are significant. I don't think a person's first words are all that significant.

I know parents think they are but they're pretty much all the same, right? I mean, all of us probably said the same thing. It was a variation of something like that. Could have been dada or mama or whatever, but it wasn't some great articulate statement. But a person's last words are significant and that is because as people live differently, people die differently.

And they die based upon how they have lived and their belief system. And it's very telling, a person's final words. I'll never forget walking into a local hospital, a dear woman, part of this fellowship for many years. She had hours to live. I walked in the room. It was dark.

It was quiet. I walked in. I made myself known.

She recognized me and she sat up in the bed, put her hands up and said, I'm ready to go. I thought great final words. We're reading the last words of Jesus Christ.

Look at it this way. While he was doing his greatest work on earth, he is uttering his greatest words on earth. Warren Wersbe calls these seven statements of Christ windows into the heart of God. What we're going to do this morning in looking at these three verses is divide our time. We want to consider the brave hearted women that stood there at the cross and then a broken hearted woman who suffered at the foot of the cross named Mary. Verse 25 introduces us to the whole lot. They're stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother.

Let's just push her aside for a moment. And his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. Now wouldn't you agree that for anyone to witness a crucifixion would be very difficult? It was a bloody scene. You'd have to endure the moans and groans and agonizing cries of the victims. It would be dangerous to be there because if you're that related and that close to somebody who's a hardened criminal and suffering for it, maybe you're suspect as well. So it would be very difficult for anyone. But what I find interesting is that of all of the people that would be standing at the foot of the cross of Jesus, there's four women and one, one man.

That's a very interesting thought in and of itself. I know that when I turn on television and look at those medical programs, surgical programs, I love them. My wife can't stand them. She'll get up, she'll close her eyes, she'll want to turn the channel. Even if it's a staged setting and it's not real blood, she just cannot endure that.

So it would be difficult for anyone. What's amazing that of the anyone that is there, there are four women at the cross. In other words, in Jesus' greatest trial and hour of need, the women are there. Where are the apostles? Where's Andrew? Where's Bartholomew? Where's Peter? Peter was the guy who said, even all of these will probably forsake you, but you can count on me. I'll die with you.

Okay, where are you? Everybody left except one and that is John. But there are these faithful women. Now that's not surprising if you know the Bible. There are faithful women all throughout the Bible and I just want to underscore that because sometimes the Bible gets attacked as being this male dominant book and women are left out.

Well, just read it and you'll find that's not true. You have great women in the Old Testament like Miriam, the sister of Moses, one of the great worship leaders of the Old Testament. Deborah, a political leader during the judges of the time of Israel. Abigail, one of the wives of David who turned a tide on the nation. Esther, who became a queen of Persia, a Jewish gal, very influential. Huldah, who was called a prophetess in the Old Testament.

Prominent figures. You turn to the New Testament, you find the same thing. Guess who the first convert was in Europe? A woman named Lydia. What's funny about that story is that Paul gets a vision of a man from Macedonia saying, come over and help us. He goes to Macedonia, he finds a woman.

In fact, a bunch of them at the river praying and Lydia, God, opened her heart to receive the things that were spoken by Paul. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig, Weekend Edition. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, the 1960s promised us an explosion of love and brotherhood, but instead they delivered a nation in turmoil, confusion, and moral decline. Fortunately, God has the solution for our damaged families and in Beyond the Summer of Love, Relationships in the Real World, Pastor Skip Heitzig gives a biblical guide for marriage and families that can help restore relationships which have been damaged by sin. Beyond the Summer of Love is our thanks for your gift of at least $25 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your resources when you give $25 or more today to help reach people around the world with the good news of Jesus through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. And then you read the letters of Paul and he mentions not only men, but women who were partners with him. Women like Priscilla, Julia, Junia, Yodia, Suntukay. If you're looking for Bible names for your daughters, you may want to Skip that last one. But of those two women, Yodia and Suntukay, Paul says of them, and I quote, these are fellow workers with me in the gospel.

That's how prominent they were. And you could carry that throughout church history and I would say even from my perspective as a pastor, I have noticed over the years that when we have projects or need volunteers that usually the first ones to respond are women. Usually the first ones to call in when a husband and wife are experiencing marital difficulty and they want an appointment with a pastor, typically the wife will call. One author writes, how are our churches beautified, our sick tended, our poor fed, our children taught and cared for and civilized? Do you think the masculine element goes for much in these things?

No. Women are the church's strong rock. As they were last at the foot of the cross, so they have become first at the altar.

Look back in verse 25 and you'll notice something. Three women in that one verse are named what? Mary. So I think we can all agree that Mary was a pretty common name back then, right?

A lot of gals were named that. In fact, not just three, but in the New Testament there are at least six or seven women named Mary. It was a common Jewish thing to call your daughter after Miriam, that sister of Moses in the Old Testament. So for just a moment, again, push Mary, the mother of Jesus aside and look at the next three on the list in verse 25. First of all, standing there at the cross it says is his mother's sister. We know that her name is Salome from Mark chapter 16. Salome, the wife of Zebedee, the mother of James and John, two apostles of Jesus.

They had a fishing business up there in Galilee. This was the woman who came to Jesus and asked a special favor. Hey, Jesus, in your kingdom could you make sure that my two boys, James and John, one sits on your right hand, one sits on your left hand?

I want to make sure they get good seats. Could you do that for me? Of course, the other guys found out that their mom had to talk to Jesus about it and they never heard the end of it. Well, she's there at the cross. Next on the list is Mary, the wife of Clopas. Well, who's Clopas?

I don't know. But there is the mention in Luke 24 of a disciple of Christ named Clopas, perhaps a variant of that word. One of the disciples walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus that Jesus comes up incognito and has a conversation with.

We looked at that last week. It could be the same one. But if we were to compare the other gospel accounts, especially the gospel of Mark, this gal is the mother of James the Less.

Does that ring a bell? James the Less. He was one of the 12 apostles and he's called James the Less, the son of Alphaeus.

Alphaeus is a Hebrew variant of the term Clopas. That might not be significant to you, but what is significant is that she is called by Luke the other Mary. I don't know if I were Mary, I would enjoy that term, the other Mary. But because there were so many Marys hanging around, she was called the other Mary. She was the one who stood vigil at the tomb of Jesus and was there at resurrection morning, dawn of first light with Mary Magdalene. So you got Mary, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. So she's the other Mary. Last on the list is Mary Magdalene, the most famous of the other Marys in the New Testament.

Or should I say infamous? She had a sordid background. She led a life of sin in which she was cleansed by Jesus and she became an ardent follower. And so she is prominent on all the resurrection accounts you will find Mary Magdalene. She's called Mary Magdalene because the town she grew up in is called Magdala. You can see the ruins of it on the Sea of Galilee today.

If you come to Israel with us in a few months, remind me, I'll point it out to you. We'll take the boat right by it. About two miles north of Tiberias, that's where Mary Magdalene grew up. The Bible says out of her were cast seven demons.

What a background she had. Jesus said, Jesus said, because she has been forgiven much, she loved much. It could be that Mary Magdalene was even the woman that comes, she's unnamed, but in the gospel who comes to Jesus and cries over the feet of Jesus and wipes his feet with her hair. Because she's unmentioned, we don't know, but many suspect it's Mary Magdalene.

So that's these women, these three women, brokenhearted but bravehearted women standing at the cross. Let's shift our focus to one woman, Mary, the mother of Jesus, the brokenhearted woman suffering at the cross. Verse 26, when Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, woman, behold your son. He wasn't saying of Himself, look what they're doing to Me, behold your son. He was saying that of John.

I'll explain why in a minute. And then He said to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. Of all of the people at the cross watching that day, this was the hardest on Mary, the mother of Jesus. That was her son.

That is her son. Going through that, look how they're treating Him. And Jesus has said a few things on the cross to other people. He announced to the crowd, praying to His father, Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing. To the man crucified next to Him, today you'll be with Me in paradise. But now He catches sight of His mother and He turns His attention toward her. As Mary is looking up at the cross and hearing this, it is fulfilling a Scripture. It is actually fulfilling a prediction that is mentioned in the Scripture. Thirty-three years before this, when Jesus was still a baby, Joseph and Mary walked into the temple with baby Jesus to dedicate Him. There was an old man, the Bible tells us, named Simeon.

Remember the story? And Simeon, it says, was waiting for the Lord's Messiah, and God had made him a promise that he wouldn't die until he saw God's Messiah. What would it have been like to be Simeon walking into the temple every day and you're seeing all these moms and dads with their babies and you're going, I wonder if that's the one.

No, no, no, maybe that's the one. Every day looking, scanning, until one day this poor couple from Galilee strolls into the temple and it's the Spirit of God that moves him toward them. And I imagine Simeon walked up to Joseph and Mary and smiled real big and said, excuse me, do you mind if I held your baby for just a moment? Mary's thinking, well, he's an old guy, but he seems pretty stable.

Sure, I'll let him hold my baby. He looks tame, so he takes Jesus and probably lifts Him heavenward and says, bursts out in praise saying, I can die a happy man now, Lord, for my eyes have seen your salvation, a light to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. Joseph and Mary were blown away. They're going, huh, what?

What on earth is he talking about? And then they were more stunned as Simeon looked toward Mary and said, this child is destined for the rise and fall of many in Israel and a sign which will be spoken against. And he said, a sword will pierce your own soul also. Joseph and Mary walked away from that. Mary probably said, Joe, what was that all about?

I don't know, just keep walking, just keep walking, just keep on, get out of here. Mary would see a lot of troubles in her life. Herod tried to kill Jesus.

They were displaced to Egypt. One day in Nazareth when Jesus preached in the synagogue, the people tried to throw him over the cliff. But on this day, as she is looking up at her bloodied crucified son, the memory of what Simeon said came to her mind. This is the sword that he spoke about that is piercing my soul and ripping it apart. A prediction was made.

Now, I'm spending time on this for this reason. I want to speak to fellow sufferers for just a moment, and I want you to take comfort in the fact that some of the greatest people in the Bible and out of the Bible have been sufferers. Job, Joseph, Jeremiah, Paul the Apostle. In fact, when Paul was still Saul of Tarsus and a man came to him representing the Lord, God said, go tell Saul how many things he's going to suffer for my sake. Many of the greatest people who ever lived have suffered great things, and God knew about it in advance.

In fact, God told you in advance that you would suffer. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will help you understand and follow God's plan for your relationships.

Beyond the Summer of Love, Relationships in the Real World by Pastor Skip Heitzig is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $25 or more. Call 800-922-1888.

That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can get a weekly devotional and other resources from Pastor Skip sent right to your email inbox? Simply visit connectwithskip.com and sign up for emails from Skip. We'll see you next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word, here on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Weekend Edition. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.