Opening Prayer
At Your cross, Lord Jesus, is the home of love; draw me there, O draw me
there. Amen.
Text: John 19:25–27
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.
Devotion
After His Baptism Jesus called Mary “woman,” but cared for her as His mother. This will now come to an end. For He shall be “cut off from the land of the living” (Isa 53:8) and no longer be known by anyone according to the flesh. But He does not leave His mother friendless and helpless. As He Himself willingly entered the state of being a son, with a son’s love and duty for Mary, He now places the same love and duty on John. For He has this authority even from the cross. And to Mary He gives a mother’s rights in the house of John. He is the Lord of the Fourth Commandment, but submitted obediently to it. How perfectly He pays for all our disobedience against this commandment and how gloriously He honors this commandment and teaches us the duty of love toward our parents!
It was a beautiful gift John received here. He accepts as his mother the one blessed by God among women. He cares for her, takes care of her, and as far as possible heals her soul wounded by the piercing sword of grief (Luk 2:35). Yes, for John, the disciple of love, this is a beautiful and precious treasure. But many who say they love the Lord refuse to accept such a gift from Him. John led Mary away from the cross as his mother (presumably before the final terrible hours of darkness) and it is said that she lived with him for eleven years before he closed her eyes in death.
But your parents and other elderly and forsaken people are also Jesus’ mother (Mat 12:48ff) whom He gives you and whom He wants you to give your filial love to receive them and care for them. “Do you seek your peace in Jesus, and is His cross your stay?” Then see, they are standing with you under the cross and from there He speaks to you, saying: “Behold your mother!” Your crucified Jesus gives them to you. Receive them from Him, and with the love that follows them as His gift to your heart they shall become for you the most precious treasure you could have in your home on earth.
“O Christ is a generous Benefactor! He bestows His body as food, His blood as drink, His soul as ransom price, His wounds as healing, His arms as refuge, His cross as shield, His pierced heart as deposit of love, the water from His side as a bath, His sweat as medicine, His crown of thorns as adornment, His words as testimony, His life as model, but His members as recipients of the love of those who are loved by Him” (Bernard of Clairvaux).
Closing Prayer
Grant me grace, Lord Jesus, also to receive and care for Your own. Give me the precious gift of love in my poor heart, and let it rule in my home. Amen.
Hymn
And when His mother He beheld,
Whose heart with agony was filled,
He said: “Behold thy mother, John!”
And unto her: “Behold thy son!”
O Jesus, should I suffer loss
And stand forsaken with my cross,
Yea, even scorned by man I be,
Send friends of Thine to comfort me.
Kingo: Kom under Jesus Kors at staa 331:5-7 HCH 100:4-5 tr. P. C. Paulsen;
tune: Herrnhut (ELH 324); alternate hymn: Our blessed Savior seven times spoke ELH 337:1.4