Family

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

FAMILY

John 19:25-27

25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"  27 and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

NIV

Although Jesus was indeed the son of Mary, at this present time he was indeed the Son of God. It is also noteworthy that as he was doing that which he came to do, he saw to it that his earthy mother was cared for. We can only surmise from all of scripture that Mary was a young teen at the time of her receiving the news of her being chosen by God to bear his Son Jesus. Joseph was an older man, which was the custom of that time for an older man to marry a young woman. If Mary was about thirteen or fourteen at the time of the birth of Jesus, she would now be forty-five to forty-seven years of age, not a young woman, and Joseph having been older at marriage was now, most likely already dead. We are not sure, as he is no longer mentioned combined with Jesus wanting John to take Mary in as his mother. We would certainly think that Joseph died of natural causes of old age, otherwise we would think Jesus would surely have healed him had he died early in life from some disease.  In that culture it was unthinkable for a woman to be on her own, without having an identity of being a daughter, wife or mother. Although she had other children, brothers and sisters conceived by her husband Joseph, Jesus wanted his disciple John to take her into his household as his mother. What can we learn from this, what life application is there here? From other scriptures we know it should be our responsibility to care for the widows and orphans, and perhaps this is exactly what Jesus was taking care of. John and his brother James were the sons of Zebedee and his wife Salome, so John was not an orphan, but Mary was certainly a widow and Jesus wanting his mother to be cared for, made this statement. So we could learn to see after the widows perhaps more than we do, taking them into our homes as our mother. That may not fly in this culture as many of the widows desire to cling to their own possessions, which remind them of their dead husbands. This is not a bad thing, although if they cling too much to the past memories it may not be in their best interest as they may not be able to serve God as he desires widows to do. Many also have large life insurance payouts and other investment incomes so they indeed have little need of caring for.  Some however may truly be in need and we should be aware of those and be willing to take them in, in a manner of speaking, but they too should not be just cared for without their serving God, without filling their life with good deeds. Surely Mary was doing all that needed to be done, and was worthy of being cared for by John as his mother. A good lesson for us all, the sons and daughters and the widows, all a part of the family.