This evening we consider the third word that Jesus spoke from the cross. Woman, behold thy son, behold thy mother. We read the scriptures in John chapter 19 and we'll start to read in that chapter at verse 16. Reading the sacred, the Infallible, the true word of God, in John 19, verse 16. Referring now to Pilate, then delivered he him, therefore, unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two other with him on either side, one and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read many of the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am the king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. Then the soldiers, which when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts to every soldier a part, and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves, let us not rent it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled which saith, they parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture did they cast lots. these things, therefore the soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her unto his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon Hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. The Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was in high day, besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and break the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that it he saith true. that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. And again, in other scriptures, saith, they shall look on him whom they pierced. And after this, Joseph of Baramathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, And Pilate gave him leave. He came, therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloe, about an hundred-pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen cloths, with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden. And in the garden, a new sepulcher wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus, therefore, because the Jews' preparation day for the sepulcher was nigh at hand. We pray that God will bless the scripture tonight to our hearts. Our text will be verses 25 through 27. verses 25 through 27. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother. From that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, what is there that Jesus does not know, does not know about you. What is there? What feeling do you have? What struggle? What sorrow? What sin? What thoughts? What heart pain that he does not know? What have you ever experienced in life or are experiencing right now tonight that he does not know right now? And not only that he knows it, but that his grace is also all-sufficient for exactly what you now feel and experience. Can you imagine a feeling to which he is a stranger? Do you think, do you ever think that his grace is not sufficient for you? What is there in a mother's heart that he does not know? What is there in the death of a child What part of your way of walk tonight does he not know? He has tasted in the flesh all of it. He knows. He knows personally about you tonight. And you must, by faith, come to him. And you must hear him. And you must hear him speak to you. from the cross. Jesus has now hung on the cross for close to three hours. He was upon the cross from nine in the morning till 3 p.m. in the afternoon. Those first three hours, he's reaching the end of the first three hours, which were the hours of light. At 12 noon, darkness will fall upon the earth. We estimate that in this third cross now, he is very close to entering into that darkness, where there will be only silence at the cross. For three hours, no one will speak, and Jesus himself will go into the darkness to bear our sins, and no one will go with him into that darkness. Isaiah 63, verse 3, I have trodden the winepress alone and of the people there was none with me." He will bear the full brunt of God's wrath against our sins. But before that happened around 11, 1130 that morning, when the venom and the mockery of the crowd at the foot of Calvary began to abate, began to subside just a little bit, We learn from the gospel narratives that at that point, those who loved him came closer and walked closer to the cross so that they could actually be close to him. Within 10 or 15 feet of our Lord Jesus Christ, his loved ones gathered. John gathered his mother and his relatives at the foot of the cross where they could see him and he plainly could see them. We gather when we compare the gospel narratives that John, one of the twelve, was the only one to follow him into the high priest's palace, to follow him into his trial, and to follow him even to when they crucified him. But then John appears to be absent. He does not record the first crossword. He does not record the second crossword. He seems to be absent for a time. He has left. Why? Well, we believe it was because John's heart had gone to find Mary, the Lord's mother, and the Lord's sister-in-law, and Mary Magdalene. He had gone to gather four women and had brought them to the foot of the cross. Now Mary, his mother, who gave him birth, this is her son in the flesh on the cross, and his aunt, and his mother-in-law, And Mary Magdalene, stand before the cross. Mary, his mother, can't be there, but she must be there, for this is her son. And he will speak. He will speak a tender, precious word of the family of God. He will tell them that through his blood He will give birth, and he will bond the family of God. The third crossword, woman, behold thy son, son, behold thy mother. The three points will be a tender care, a soul care, and a perfect care. The very first thing that we must see about the third crossword is quite simple. And that is, we have here a son, a human son, arranging for the earthly needs of his mother, for he is about to die. Jesus begins the third crossword with his eyes. When Jesus saw his mother, he is wracked in pain. To speak is very difficult. But now he sees that his mother and John, the disciple who he loved, and the other women mentioned in the text have come close before the cross and looking at them. He looked at Mary when he said these words and he looked at John When he saw his mother and the disciples standing by, deliberately looking at them first with his eyes, he then said to Mary, woman, and then looking at John, behold thy son. And then looking at John, he said, looking at Mary, behold thy mother. He's taking care of his mother. Mary is a widow. The last account of her husband Joseph in the scriptures is in Luke 2 when Jesus was 12 years old in the temple. Then the next account that we read of Mary after that is in John chapter 2 in the wedding feast at Cana of Galilee at the beginning of his ministry when Jesus was 30. His mother, Mary, was at that wedding feast alone as a widow. The great joy of a wedding, but the hurt of attending when your spouse has died. Mary was there. Somewhere in between, Joseph had died maybe as long as 18 years. She was a widow and now she is at the cross and as I said Even though she can hardly bear to be there and to see these things that have come upon Her son to whom she gave birth. She gave birth to him It was a mother's love that she had for them though. She could hardly bear it. She had to be there She simply had to be there and Jesus who is human. He is fully human. Yes, he's divine, but he's fully human. He sees his mother. And at first, what a comfort that had to be to him. But what a deep pain to him. And the same for Mary. Her whole life had been a mixture of joy and pain as she raised a sinless son. Think about that. How she loved him. He was without sin. He returned to her everything a mother wants from her son. He returned it to her perfectly as the son of God. And she has seen him hated. She has seen him abused. She sees him hanging upon a cross. She wants to do something, but what can she do? Perhaps she thinks at the foot of the cross when he was a little boy and their ritual that they would have most likely like any other mother when she would put him to bed and she would kiss him on the forehead. But what can she do? She can do nothing. And probably the words of old Simeon, do you remember them? Luke chapter 2, when 40 days old, she gave the baby Jesus. Mothers remember things like this. She gave the baby to old Simeon, and Simeon had said, this child is set for the fall and the rising of many in Israel, for a sign that shall be spoken against. Yea, a sword shall pierce through your own soul, Mary, and the thoughts of many hearts shall be revealed. She stands only yards from him. She has greatest love and hurt, but now consider him your savior tonight. Though as the son of God in flesh, his mind is upon you by name. and upon the whole host of God. And though God is now transferring to him the iniquity of us all, and he is rising in the pain of the cross physically, and he has appeared as the substitute for sinners, for all the sinners of God throughout the ages, yet, though this is true, he now sees his mother and he will care for her. He will keep the law of God in every one of its aspects perfectly. He keeps the law of God perfectly. The fifth commandment, honor thy father and mother. That's not a commandment just for little boys and girls. To obey. Boys and girls, obey your mom and dad. Obey your mother and love her. Love her, boys and girls. And Jesus did that. But it's not just for a little boy. It's for an adult son. He will care for his mother. He shows from his perfect humanity his love for his birth mother. And he will provide for her in her future by giving her John. He will take care of her. If anyone could have been cut slack in caring for his mother at that point, would it not be our Savior? As He is engaged in the work of our salvation, does He not have a more important task for His mind and His heart? No, no, that's true. But His heart and His mind cares in love for Mary. But if we dig just a little deeper than that, a son providing for his mother, Christ perfectly obedient to the law of God, Christ the perfect Savior and Shepherd, we see even something a little further in that. We see that he now is experiencing the separation of an earthly bond. He is her son. In death, that relationship that he enjoyed with Mary will be parted, it will be ended, it will be severed. He has entered into our life. He has taken everything upon himself, all of our sorrows, all of our life. He has now tasted death, yes, the accursed death of the wrath of God, but he tastes all of death, of what death is to you and to me, and death is severing. Death is the pain, the pain of parting and severing. He takes that to himself. You remember with me that he had shown that he would do this all the time. He was constantly, from time to time in his ministry at least, he was with those who wept. You remember that he was at Lazarus' tomb and he wept. And now he will experience that. When he says, woman, behold thy son, son, behold thy mother, he is parting that bond with her. Mary understands that. She would say to him, I'd rather have you, my son, than John. He is experiencing the pain. She is experiencing the pain. We experience the pain. He experiences. He grieves. He grieves in the parting of this bond. He is like us. everything except sin. Is that not the great pain of death? Is not the great pain of death rooted in love? Do we not say by God's grace of ourselves, I'm not afraid to die, It takes God's grace to say that when you really think about it. We say, though I'm not afraid to die, what hurts is departing from my loved ones. We say the struggle is, if we are young, younger, for the sake of my children, my young children, my wife, My parent. Who's going to care for them? Mary, as I said, would have said to him, I'm sure if she said anything, I've seen you calm the seas. I've seen you change water to wine. Why don't you come down? and chase them away. I know your power. When Jesus would say to her, what did he say to her when he was 12? Wish ye not, don't you want me to be, Mary, don't you want me to be about my father's business? Do not think that the Lord does not know. that which hurts you. Have you lost a wife, a husband, a father, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a child? The sharp pain of the knife of death and you weep because of the one that is taken from you tonight? Jesus knows that personally. And He knows that as the Son of God's shepherd for you, our sorrows and our griefs. And He knows, and it's so much more than just that He knows, it's just not that He knows. But that He has gained the victory over death, over our death and over our sin. And by His grace, by His grace, He bears our burden. and our sorrows. We see his tender care. But now tonight, looking just a little closer yet, we see that his care is really directed to Mary's soul, and that he is providing soul care for her at this time. And we get at that when we ask the, I think the obvious question, why John? Have you ever asked that question, why John? He refers to himself, John refers to himself as the disciple who stands by who Jesus loved. That's the way John talks about himself. John was Mary, Jesus' mother Mary. John was Mary's nephew. Jesus and John were cousins. Mary was Aunt Mary to John. At verse 34, it's not clear in the King James, there are actually, not verse 34, verse 25, John 19, 25, there are actually four people that John has brought. There is Jesus' mother, there is his mother's sister, Her name is Salome, the mother of John and James. There is, you could put the word and, and, there's four women, and Mary the wife of Cleophas, that's Mary's sister-in-law, and Mary Magdalene. Mark 15 verse 40 tells us that Mary's sister, The text refers to his mother's sister. Mark 15.40 tells us that her name was Salome. Matthew 27.56 tells us that Salome was the mother of Zebedee's children. Mark 3.17 tells us that the sons of Zebedee were James and John. So when he is looking at John, he is saying, Your Aunt Mary is now to be treated as your mother. And when he looked at Mary, he was saying, your nephew John will now take my place as your son. John is now your family. And the question still is, why John? Why John? Since we know from the scripture that Mary, the mother of the Lord, had at least six children. by Joseph. Six children who we assume, we know two of them were, six of them we assume who are alive and well and were adults and who could and should and would be expected to do this. Jesus being the elder brother, they should, they would take that over. Mark 6 verse 3 we read is not referencing Jesus, He is not this decarpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joseph, Judah, and Simon, and are not his sisters, at least two, with us. Jesus had four brothers, half-brothers. He had two half-sisters who could have been given this responsibility. Why John? Not only that, but two of his half-brothers, James, will become the leader of the church in Acts, chapter 15 of Jerusalem. He will be the inspired author of the book of James in the Bible, and Judas, or Judah, is Jude. He's the one who writes the second to the last book of the Bible. Why does Jesus pick a nephew? and not them? The answer, I believe, is this. Jesus will care for his mother spiritually. And at that moment, at the foot of the cross, none of his family would be capable of providing that spiritual care. Two of them, after Pentecost, but none of his family right there. If you look at John chapter 7, a reference to his family, John 7 at verse 3, at verse 2, John 7 verse 2, Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence and go Depart hence and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself unto the world. His brethren wanted him to be popular through these miracles. Four, verse five, four, Neither did his brethren believe in him. His family members, his half-brothers and sisters, did not understand at that point. They did not have a clear grasp of the cross. They saw him only as in a position of gaining great fame among men for himself. Later on, we read in 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus will appear One of his ton appearances before his sons is to his brother, his half-brother James. He will appear to him and he will instruct him. But none of them at this point understood the cross. None of them saw him as the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures at that point. John, John, the disciple who he loved, throughout this Gospel of John you will see that John is always hinting that by God's grace he had a closer a more perceptive understanding of Jesus. The illustration that I would give to you would be resurrection morning, when he and Peter ran to the tomb. And Peter first went in and he looked around and he was bewildered. And John, observant, followed Peter into the tomb and we read, John saw and believed. Before he saw the risen Lord, He believed. In the selection of John, Jesus is providing spiritual care. A spiritual care that his brothers and sisters at this point could not grant unto her. He wanted someone to lead her into a deeper understanding of him and of his cross. He wanted someone who could explain carefully to her what was transpiring on the cross. His brothers and sisters at that point could not do that. In today's terms, Jesus wants someone for his mother who will take her to church on the Lord's Day. He wants a man in his place who will bring the Word of God to her. He wants a man who will be sensitive to her. She has no husband. She has questions. He wants a man who spiritually can care for her. It's not just her physical needs, but it's her spiritual needs, it's her soul that Jesus is concerned about when he picks John. Sons here, older sons, do you care for your mother in Jesus' name? And do you care for your mother this way, especially if she is a widow, do you care for her spiritual well-being? Is your primary concern a spiritual well-being for the soul of your mother or for the soul of your wife's mother? Elders, as you are appointed in the Church of God, elders, you are appointed in the Church of God, and deacons, you are appointed for the care of the soul of widows. and all of us, spiritual care for those in need. When he says this and he looks at her, he's saying, mother, right now I don't want your natural children to receive the primary responsibility for your care, but I want John. And I want John because he can provide the spiritual care that you will need. It was deep love. It was wise love. It was wonderful love. He provided the care that she needed for her soul. But now when we look at that, that our Lord would do that from the cross, then we see something even underneath that. Jesus is saying to us tonight that the spiritual bond that he establishes between believers in his blood is the stronger bond, is the more necessary bond than the blood bond. with our own children. And in our hearts, we know that. This is the bond that ties us. In the covenant, God, by grace, can also establish that blood-bought bond with our siblings and with our parents and our family in the blood of Christ. But the bond The deepest bond, Jesus is saying, is the bond that I establish in my blood. You may have put it this way, from the cross of Jesus Christ, Jesus is pronouncing that through his cross he will recreate, the third cross word, I will recreate the family. When he tells Mary, John will take care of you, John, you provide the spiritual need for my mother Mary he is saying the family of God united in his blood by grace is more than the physical family he's putting into practice exactly what he taught you remember that there was a time that they came to him his physical family mark chapter 3 they were concerned they thought he had lost it he was so busy they said he's beside himself he's suffering a nervous breakdown they wanted to intervene they couldn't get close to him so they sent a note to him his mother and his brothers sent him a note and Jesus when he got the note said who is my mother and who are my brothers And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and he said, Behold, my mother and my brethren, for whosoever doeth the will of my heavenly Father, the same is my mother, my brother, my sister. In his blood, he forms the family of God. As I said, we praise God for His covenant, that God is also pleased by His wonderful grace to work, by His grace to work in continued generations. That's not always the case. We experience that that's not always the case. We experience, even in our relationships with our families, that the deepest bond is Jesus. Jesus experienced that. He experienced that his own half-brothers, physically related to him, did not believe in him. We don't know. God's wondrous grace could have saved them all. But God's election and reprobation could have cut through Joseph and Mary's family as well. He is establishing the true bond. He is saying, as the elder brother through my blood, I will now be this cross, my cross and my redemption, the Holy Spirit. He will be the one who will give birth to the family of God. He will be the one that will unite us one with each other. He speaks of the family of God. May God forbid, but it is true sometimes in our own families May God prevent it, if it may be His will. But in our own families, we sometimes see that they don't understand. Our unity, my brother and my sister, is in the blood of Jesus. And finally, we see that Jesus will provide a perfect care. And so we have to deal here with the fact that he called her woman. He did not call her mother. And the point here, I'll tell you what the point is before we get started on this third point. The third point is if Mary is to express, is to experience his perfect care, Mary, though she's his mother, Mary has to know him as savior. She needs to know him personally as her savior. Now he says, woman, behold thy son. Now why doesn't he call her mother? If you read the gospel narratives, unless I am mistaken, on the pages of the New Testament, you will find that Jesus never called Mary mother, but he called her always woman. That does not mean that he didn't call her mother in his private times with her or as a little boy, that he didn't call her his mother. He loved her as his mother. And nor does it mean in this instance that it was a term of disrespect. It is in our culture. If you refer to your mother as woman, that's disrespectful. That can be terribly disrespectful. Woman, that's your mother. You honor her. You respect her. This is not a term of disrespect. In that culture and in the word that Jesus picks, as given in the Greek in the New Testament here, that word is not a word that would be taken as disrespectful. The opposite, Jesus is not being disrespectful to his mother. The very opposite is the truth. He loved her. but he does call her woman, man, boy, girl. He's reminding her that she is a human being and that she needs to know him as her Savior. Mary, you must not see me just as your son. You have to see me as your Savior. Mary, you have to put even this aside now. You're at the foot of the cross and you are not just my mother. You are a woman. A sinner. Man, boy, girl, who you are of yourself. A sinner. And I'm your Redeemer. That's what he's saying to her. You must see me as your Savior. You must see me as your Lord. We could put it this way, he's saying to her, Mary, you can give birth to me and be my human mother. You can do that. By God's grace, you did. And you can still go to hell. Woman, you must see me as your savior. That I was born from you, Mary, my mother, is not enough. It doesn't grant you some magical spiritual place. You are a fallen woman. That's who you are. And you need the grace of me, your Savior. That's what he's saying to her. He doesn't say, see this very clearly, he doesn't say from the cross, oh blessed virgin, queen of heaven, mother of God, someday you will sit on the throne with me and you will mediate for sinners. I'm going to teach my people to pray to you, mother of God. He doesn't say that. He said, woman, created, fallen, sinner, what matters is not that you gave birth to me. That's not what matters. What matters is that I die for you and for your sins, and you know me. as your Lord and as your Savior. Mary, you have significance. Mother, you have significance only by being united to me. Mary must not rest in her position as the mother of Jesus, but she must rest in the blood that she is a member of the blood-bought family of God. We must not rest in our position that God has denied. You must not rest in that as a young person. You must not rest in that as a little boy or girl. You must not rest in that as a young couple, outwardly having everything all in line and right. None of these things, that we're born from believing parents, that we're in good standing with the church, that we are a deacon or an elder or a minister, None of these things save us. We can be all of that and still go to hell. My position does not save me. That I become a minister does not save me. That I was born of two believers does not save me. Jesus. Jesus saves me. He's my Savior. We must fall with Mary, His own mother. We must fall on our knees to the cross and cry to Him as a sinner saved by grace. Jesus is building the family of God, and the family of God is built in His precious blood. What makes us one is not that we are in the same building with pretty much the same skin color, pretty much the same social status, and pretty much the same national backgrounds. That does not make us one. What makes us one is that we are united in his shed blood for me. Did he die for you? He died for me. And he died that we no longer be strangers, but that we be gathered together in his blood as one family of God, and that we would know him, our Savior and Lord. Do you know him that way? There's nothing that he does not know about you in all of your needs. There is no way that you will ever take that he will not provide for you. He will save you even to the end. No one will ever take his family from his hand. Amen. Father, we have come to the Word of God to learn it and to reason it and to receive its truth. It is profound. When we came to the third crossword, we were not expecting that which would be so profound and so true. Apply it to our hearts. We thank thee for him. our perfect Savior. May we truly know faith. In Jesus' name, Amen.