Verse 25, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clovis, and Mary Magdalene.
Now let me just stop in the middle of this stop here and make sure we don't miss the courage of these four women. Peter's gone. Judas has already hanged himself. Only John will be here, but the other disciples, they've already scattered in fear. Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart with pastor and Bible teacher, Steven Davey. Today, we're reflecting on an extraordinary moment from the cross. Jesus, in the midst of unimaginable suffering, turns his attention to the care of his mother. Steven will show you how Jesus fulfilled the fifth commandment to honor his mother, even as he bears the weight of the world's sin. You'll see how his tender provision for Mary reflects God's heart for the family. It also points us to the unity of believers and how it reminds us to persevere through the misunderstandings and divisions that come.
Here's Steven. Now today we come to the third expression delivered by Jesus. At the end of verse 34, the soldiers are gambling for Jesus' clothing. He writes, and they cast lots to divide his garments. Now John's gospel expands with several verses that set up this third expression from the Lord.
So I want to go to John's account. So turn to John chapter 19, and we'll start there verse 23. John records, when the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts. In other words, they each got one of the four articles of clothing, one part for each soldier. Also his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. And they said to one another, let's not tear it up, but let's cast lots for it to see who's it shall be.
Now let me just fill in the blanks here. Jewish men these days typically wore five articles of clothing, a turban, a pair of sandals, a belt. If you have a King James, it might be translated girdle. We would call it a sash today. Then an outer robe that went nearly to their feet, but an inner tunic worn next to their body. We would call it today an undershirt, although it typically reached nearly to their knees. So these soldiers are gambling for the Lord's clothing, and it has struck me here that this is all he owns.
This is it. The King of kings, just a pair of sandals, some clothing. Now with that I need to pause because John sort of does in the narrative and he reveals the presence of four women, verse 25. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clovis, and Mary Magdalene.
Now let me just stop in the middle of this stop here and make sure we don't miss the courage of these four women. Peter's gone. Judas has already hanged himself. Only John will be here.
But the other disciples, they've already scattered in fear. But these four women, they show up. John records first Mary, the mother of Jesus is there.
More on that later. Then he mentions Mary's sister is there. We go over to Mark's Gospel account and discover that her name is Salome. She's the wife of Zebedee, her two sons, James and John.
You might remember were nicknamed the Sons of Thunder. You also might remember from Matthew chapter 20 that she had asked Jesus sometime earlier if her two sons can sit on either side of Jesus on their thrones when he comes to sit on his throne. A rather brazen request that only a proud mama would dare ask Jesus. But they deserved it, she thought. Besides, they were cousins of Jesus.
They had a special connection that maybe that ought to give them a little special treatment. Well, Jesus responded by asking them, can you drink the cup that I'm about to drink? And they said, well, sure. Of course we can. And, you know, the proud mama's going, well, my boys can do that, whatever it is. Sure. One author points out that standing at the cross of Christ now for her would have been a moment of regret and rebuke, realization that a crown is going to be preceded by a cross.
This was the cup. By the way, one of her boys, those two boys, James, will be the first apostle to be martyred. Her other son John will be the last apostle to die after being exiled on the island of Patmos and writing the book of Revelation. Next, here in verse 25, John mentions Mary, the wife of Clopas. Clopas was the brother-in-law of Mary. He was Joseph's brother.
Now, from all the clues we're given, Joseph has since died. In fact, the last mention of him is back in Luke chapter 2 when they returned to Jerusalem. They were missing 12-year-old Jesus.
Remember that? They traveled back to Jerusalem to find that Jesus was teaching the rabbis a thing or two and got on to him for that. But more than likely, Joseph has passed away before Jesus begins his public ministry. He's not mentioned as being with Mary at the wedding feast at Cana, which would have been unusual. So at this point in time, he has passed away.
We have every reason to believe that historical accounts are trustworthy. It tells us that Clopas was the brother of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who is now a widow, which is kind of interesting. Just as an aside, you've got two brothers marrying two women who are both named Mary. And I wonder if it ever got confusing on birthdays or whatever. I remember when Marcia and I were married by my father, my older brother was engaged to a girl named Martha. And during the vows, my father referred to Marcia as Martha and then referred to me as Timothy, my younger brother. So after the ceremony, we weren't sure we were legally married. But I can tell you, Timothy and Martha have been married now for 43 years, okay?
And still counting. Thank you. Go ahead.
You can applaud her, all right? It's interesting when you dig into this scene that many of these early followers were related. In fact, one New Testament scholar reported the fact that of the 12 apostles, five of them were cousins. But I got to tell you, all that is code for drama. Let me tell you, it was drama.
It was deep division. And I'm going to point that out later. Notice here you have the mention of then Mary Magdalene or Mary who is from Magdala. She was a faithful follower of the Lord.
She'd been freed of her demon possession by Christ and had been following along with other women who helped serve this team of disciples. Now, John at this point develops – he sets up this moment. The soldiers are gambling and he layers this in. He's there. He's the only gospel writer to talk about it. He was there personally. He saw it happen.
Of course, it happened then. He's standing there with these four women. And there's something easy to miss, something very tender, emotional. When the soldiers began gambling for his clothing, John writes that when they get to the tunic, that Jesus sees Mary.
And there's a reason, I believe, for that. It was typical in these days for the mother of a Jewish boy to make the ketone for her son. In fact, when he stepped out on his own, having reached manhood, a final ketone would be crafted as a special gift between a mother and her son. And this one was special.
It was seamless. It was costly, especially for a widow of a poor carpenter named Joseph who passed away. There's an interesting connection here. They're gambling for his ketone when John writes that Jesus saw his mother. Chuck Swindoll writes on this text, why now? She's been there all along, watching, no doubt weeping.
He hasn't acknowledged her or spoken to her. Could it be now because of the seamless tunic? I think so, he writes. When they touched that tunic, they touched something near and dear to both of them.
And I would agree. At this moment, the Lord would know that this was causing deep pain in the heart of his mother to see this gift that had meant so much. Now in the hands of a Roman soldier. It's at this moment when Jesus kindly speaks to his mother, verse 26. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. Jesus effectively says, John, there's an exclamation point here, this is an imperative. John, I charge you to adopt this woman as your mother. Take care of her.
She's your responsibility now. Jesus is fulfilling his legal obligation as the firstborn. It's interesting though, did you notice that Jesus doesn't refer to Mary as his mother? He calls her woman.
It's a term of respect, kind of like ma'am. But it's not the familial word that he uses when he says, John, take care of your mother. I would agree with New Testament theologians that Jesus is laying the groundwork for a new relationship.
This is going to be different. There's a kinship between believers. In fact, Paul will say to Timothy, the young pastor, treat older women as your mother. Treat older men as your father. Treat younger men as your brother.
Treat younger women as your sisters in all purity. There's a kinship among believers. We're related, by the way, in a family that will never, never go away. So Mary is also, I believe, being instructed ever so gently that she's not to look at him now as her son, but as her savior. But the question remains, there are a lot of them, I'll try to answer this one, why John? Why does Jesus give Mary to John to take care of?
Well, that brings up this issue of dramatic division in the family. Now, you need to understand that Mary and Joseph had more children after Jesus was virgin born. The Catholic Church has maintained the false teaching for centuries of Mary's perpetual virginity in spite of very clear scripture. In fact, Luke records that Mary delivered her first born son, Luke chapter 2 verse 7, not her only son, her first born. Matthew records that when Jesus delivered his first sermon in his own hometown, the whole family was there. No doubt, Matthew writes in chapter 13 verse 54, and coming to his hometown, he taught them in their synagogue so that they were astonished. By the way, in that message, he claims to be the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. And they said, where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?
They already know he's performed miracles. Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary and are not his brothers? James, Joseph, Simon, Jude, Judas could be rendered Jude. James will go on later and write the book of James and Jude will write that little book we call Jude, the book of Jude.
But here's the problem. At this moment, they don't believe that Jesus is who Jesus is saying he is. He is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy? The truth is they thought Jesus had lost his mind. Mark chapter 3 informs us that as Jesus commissioned his disciples early on in his ministry, he commissions them. Then he returns to his hometown and a crowd gathers, and listen to what Mark writes. And when his family heard it, they went out to take him, seize him.
That is, they weren't asking permission. For they were saying, he is out of his mind. Later on in the chapters, Jesus takes on these religious leaders. They claim he's demon possessed and he counters about demon possessed.
How is it that I could cast out demons? It was chaotic. And it says here, and his mother and his brothers came, so here they are, standing outside. They said to him and called him and a crowd was sitting around him and they said to him, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. And he answered them, who are my mother and my brothers?
Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. What? He's lost his mind. He's just disowned his family. He thinks he's the anointed.
We've got to take him away. The family is thrown into this incredible epic of division and anger and misunderstanding and accusation. They've come to the conclusion that Jesus has come unhinged. And here's Mary, the mother, now a widow, in the middle of it all, bewildered.
Jesus, here's the answer. Jesus knows that Mary will feel more at home with her nephew, John, than going back to her adult children. So can you imagine the loneliness of Mary here at the cross? Frankly, I think it's incredible that she's even here. None of her children are here.
None of her male members of her extended family are here, except for John. Her sons, I would imagine, are infuriated that she would even come to this scene and offer Jesus anything but a tongue lashing. Unsure, confused, the evidence to her doesn't match the prophecy the angel delivered to her, that she was going to deliver the Savior. Instead of saving, he's dying. And just like the other disciples, she didn't fully understand. Don't forget that.
We have the completed Scriptures. Her heart is broken. And where does she go?
What does she do? That tunic, that tunic, she'd made with high hopes. He began this itinerary ministry. Well, that's fine, Jesus. You know, I always knew you loved the Word. You loved the Old Testament.
You could quote it. Yeah, okay, go preach. Now she's filled with confusion and despair, and Jesus speaks to her and says, Dear woman, from now on, you go home with John. He's going to take care of you.
He's going to be your son. John records here verse 27, and from that hour, the disciple took her to his home. It seems likely then that just before darkness envelops the world, that's what's going to happen next. Jesus wants Mary removed, safe, away. I think it's also likely, obviously, Jesus, being God, knew the heresies that would grow up around Mary, taught now for centuries that Mary comforts Jesus in his dying moments. She assists him in his death. She holds him when he comes down from the cross. She's given charge of the church. From her womb comes every believer, all kinds of heresies. She's the co-mediator. She never sins. She's taken bodily to heaven. I mean, he just goes on and on and on. Catholic theologian Bernard of Clairvaux summed it up in the 12th century when he writes, It is God's will that we should receive all things through Mary.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It's as if Jesus anticipated this corruption. And yet John removed her before he enters into the final crucial moments of his sacrifice.
He's going to go through it alone. But let me tell you this. While the protesters of this theological corruption, protesters termed protestants, that's where we got our name from, protestants, Protestants, while we protest these heretical issues about Mary that we reject, there are so many honorable issues about Mary that we ought to respect. She's a remarkable woman, incredible, submission to God in spite of having her world as a young teenager turned upside down.
And one night, one message from an angel just basically destroys everything. You ever thought about the fact she never had a wedding? She's preparing for it. She's never even had a wedding. To the misunderstanding of everybody, she's pregnant out of wedlock. Nine months later when she and Joseph take Jesus to the temple, which was quite an act of courage, to be dedicated, a man named Simeon, a devout Jew who's waiting for the consolation of Israel, takes Jesus in his arms and announces that he is Yahweh's Christos.
He's the Messiah. And then he looks at Mary and he says, a sword will pierce your soul. And how true that was. She was going to live a painful, turbulent life.
It had already begun. Delivers her baby in a feed trough. Soon runs for her life with Joseph, with the toddler, Jesus.
They find out Herod's going to kill all the little boys two years and under in Bethlehem. She learns that dozens of little boys are slaughtered by Herod's soldiers. She grieves over their deaths. She more than likely takes some of that guilt onto herself.
She knew some of them. She's fleeing now for her life with Joseph. They're going to go to Egypt. Who's in Egypt for them?
Nobody. They're going to eke out an existence for several years until Herod dies. Then they come back and they're viewed with suspicion by everybody.
They live meager lives. They add children to their family. Then at age 30 Jesus begins his ministry and very soon their family is engulfed with division. Just 36 months after he leaves and she wonders every day about his safety, she begins to wonder about his mental health. She hears the confusing news reports from the religious leader she respected about her son, being demon possessed and a blasphemer. Now she learns he's arrested. He's condemned. He's going to be on a cross. And she goes there.
She goes there. I've heard it said that no parent should ever have to bury a child. Have you heard that? Perhaps you've felt that pain of saying farewell to a child, experienced some other loss, maybe the sting of being misunderstood, rejected by your family for your faith. You've endured the sorrow of a family divided. Christmas for you might be one of the most painful times of year.
It is for many people because it's when these divisions bubble up. The losses are remembered. Keep that in mind as you minister to one another. Of what they may be going through. Mary went through all of this. Let me tell you, she was right in the middle of God's will.
Jesus, of course, lived through it all and felt it all including her pain. Let me offer some closing words of application. Three thoughts.
Number one, remembering the needs of your parents is not an option. It's a command. I haven't spent much time on this, but obviously Jesus is fulfilling the law. He's taking care of his widowed mother. He's obeying the fifth commandment to honor your father and mother. That commandment isn't just being obedient and saying yes ma'am and no sir. It actually refers more to taking care of them when they are elderly, aging.
Their needs are to be met. Proverbs 23 verse 22 adds to the law. Listen to your father who gave you life and do not despise your mother when she is old. Jesus is Mary's eldest son. She's his responsibility as long as he's alive and even think of it as he's entering into this incredibly difficult time he's on a cross.
He's engaged in this cosmic battle. He remembers his mother and her well-being. Secondly, meeting the needs of others is not just a memory about Jesus.
It is a model for us as we follow Jesus. He's dying yet he intercedes for his enemies. He's in pain and yet he answers the request of a dying criminal. He makes sure his mother is cared for. This is an incredible model of caring. Caring even from a cross.
Stunning. Third, division and misunderstanding because of the gospel is not an exception. It is an expectation. We don't have any record that Mary left the home of John. She went home to be with John, became part of their family. Her children would have been angry at that.
Hurt. She would be misunderstood further by them and she would have been in great despair over the death of her eldest. Her family is divided. Let me read to you in closing Acts chapter 1 and verse 14. All the disciples have since learned Jesus has risen from the dead. He's met with them, taught them. Forty days have gone by.
Wonderful, glorious reunions. Now he's about to ascend. He's going to ascend and he tells them that you go and you wait for the Holy Spirit. He's going to come. Again, another sermon, but you wait for the Spirit of God. He's going to create this New Testament church.
They're all together in an upper room, crowded into this house. Verse 14 says this. Listen, I don't have it for you on the screen.
Here it is. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers. Isn't that great? Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers. That's a sermon and I don't have time to preach it. But listen, here's Mary reconciled with her sons now, all of them.
Why? Because they're all followers of their Messiah, their Lord, Jesus Christ. Let's carry that lesson into our relationships today. That was Stephen Davey and this is Wisdom for the Heart. Stephen called this message, Caring from the Cross. Do you have a Bible question? Whether you're a new believer or a seasoned one, skip the uncertainty of internet searches and go straight to Wisdom You Can Trust. Just visit wisdomonline.org forward slash ask or click the blue icon on any page. Thanks for listening. Stephen will continue through this series called The Lamb's Last Words next time. So join us on Wisdom for the Heart.
