Can you turn with me this evening, please, to the Gospel of John, and chapter 19. John chapter 19, and we shall read some verses, beginning at verse 17. 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 ran 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, 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 rend 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 they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. Now they 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. Well, friends, we again this evening would make our return to Calvary. And we know that really we should never be far away from this place, far away from this scene, of all scenes, the Savior suffering for sinners. And I wonder if at the outset this evening I could ask you, what bearing does Calvary have upon your life? What bearing does Calvary have upon your life? When you behold the Lord Jesus Christ there upon the cross, suffering and dying, afflicted of God in the place of sinners, what does that mean to you? What does it mean in your heart and in your soul? What effect has that had upon your heart and upon your life? Oh, it ought to have an effect upon every single one of us. And if we can come coldly to Calvary, oh, what mercy we need of the Lord, what grace we require, what revival of heart and of soul. And as we come to Calvary again tonight, I ask you, is this the place where your burden of sin rolled away? Is this the place where you began to live? Live unto the Lord. Well, as we come to this scene together this evening, it's important to note that at every moment of his earthly life, the all-sufficient Savior was ever surrounded by need. needy people with needy hearts and with needy lives. We sang Psalm 138 just now, and verse six of that psalm says, though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly. And he came into the world so full of need to save a people out of such a poor and pitiful state. He met with so many needs in his ministry. He met with the needs of the sick, the needs of the grieving, the needs of the bereaved. He met with the needs of the poor, with the needs of the shunned and the despised, the outcasts of society. He saw the needs of parents and the needs of children, the needs of adults and the needs of the elderly. He saw the needs of the stranger and the Gentile and the Jew, the penitent and the self-righteous. He beheld so much need and beholding in every case the helplessness of man to improve his position, to improve upon his dire situation. And not only did he behold such need all around him, but he was moved with compassion for all whom he saw. His heart was not cold to that need, but he had regard, respect unto the lowly. He sincerely desired their relief, their eternal good. Never do we find him turning away a single heart. In fact, we rather find him lamenting over those who would not come to him. And still, in the hours of his death upon the cross, the Savior finds himself surrounded still by immense need. Still, through the agony of his sufferings, shines his heart of compassion to that need. He saw the needs of his murderers, the needs of his enemies, the needs of the most blasphemous of sinners, as he prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He saw the need of the penitent thief, and he opened heaven to him. Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. And as we come now to our Lord's third saying upon the cross, we behold how he saw the need of his own mother Mary. 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 it's remarkable, friends, to see how that Jesus' life here on this earth was, as it were, bookended by his perfect observance of the fifth commandment, to honour thy father and thy mother. We no doubt remember that moment when, as a 12-year-old, His parents sought for him, sorrowing, and after several days found him in the temple about his father's business. And there at such a tender age, we read that he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. He was subject unto them. He honored them as his earthly mother and father. And here he is, right at the very end of his life, still keeping this command, still making provision for his mother's needs. Friends, what a strong command that is. And it is a command that we need, a command that really, I think, perhaps needs to be revived in these days. We read in the scriptures, let them first learn to show piety at home and to requite their parents, for that is good and acceptable before God. And I ask myself as I ask you this evening, is this a command that we have and that we are keeping? Do we honor our father and our mother? And I think we fall into a trap when we think that this commandment is meant only for young children, that it's a good text for the Sunday school. But oh, it is applied to every single one of us. We never grow up past the need of this command. You see, the command is to honor thy father and mother, and that goes far further than just obeying them when you are under their roof. To honor them involves reverence for them. It involves deep respect for them. It involves undying love for them. It involves tender and constant care of them. It involves a heart to meet their needs and to provide for them. How is it that we in our nation are so dealing with our mothers and our fathers that we hear people say that they would rather end their lives than be a burden to their children? Oh, we have failed in this, haven't we? If that is the case, if our fathers and mothers are made to feel like they are nothing to us but a burden, Oh, it ought not to be. We never grow past that need. Moving are the words of Genesis 47 and verse 12, when we read of Joseph, and there he was, second in command in Egypt. And when his family came, we read that Joseph nourished his father and his brethren and all his father's household with bread, according to their families. He didn't see the aged patriarch as a burden to him. He saw it as his duty to nourish his father in his elder age. Oh, we have a need to keep this command. And I think knowing a bit more about the commandment, we ask ourselves again, have we kept it? Have we always done this? Are we now doing this? I don't think there's any one of us here who can say that we have fully kept this law. Well, friends, here then is a Savior that we need, because here is a Savior who did keep this commandment to its full. Here is a Savior who honored his mother all the days of his life. Here is a Savior who gave her that due regard and reverence and love and provision of her need. And he did so on behalf of all who will trust in him. He kept this command. Oh, he is a Savior we need. And as we see him taking this tender care of his mother, I want us to look at this word of the Savior on the cross under three headings. I'd like us to see, firstly, the consideration of Christ. I'd like us to see, secondly, the compassion of Christ. And I'd like us to see, thirdly, the care of Christ. the consideration of Christ, the compassion of Christ, and the care of Christ. Firstly then, friends, the consideration of Christ. How we ought to dwell for a while upon those words, Jesus therefore saw his mother. He saw his mother. Consider the scene. Here is Jesus Christ. He has been made to bear his own cross, to carry it upon the lacerated back that had been whipped with the scourge. He is led out of the city in shame to the place of Golgotha. There the nails are driven through his hands and through his feet as he is pierced to the wood of his cross. There he is lifted up as a transgressor. There he is lifted up to die. And there he is on the cross, and every breath that he takes is done in intense agony. And not only that, the Father is here pouring out upon him the punishment due to sinners like you and like me. He is the man of sorrows at the climax of his sufferings. Here he is at the fever pitch of his sacrifice for sinners, and still he is not too overcome with his agony that he cannot behold and consider Mary's need. Jesus saw his mother. What a heart of love is this, that while making atonement for sinners, he considers the lowly condition of the mother of his flesh. And note further that there were crowds that surrounded him. Sometimes I shudder to imagine what a dreadful sight and sound there was at Calvary. a awful cacophony of noise, as there were those who cried to Pilate for his crucifixion, as there were those who parted his raiment and cast lots for it, as there were those who mocked him and jeered at him, who taunted him, who called upon him to save himself. This was their hour and the power of darkness. And yet, through the blasphemous crowd, past the sound of the railing and the scorn, Jesus saw his mother. He saw her. He perhaps heard her silent sobs as she beheld her son upon the cross. And all my friends, what do we learn from this? But that the Saviour considers his people's needs. Psalm 34 and verse 15 says, The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. And though the world around us might seem to clamour with all its noise and with all its distraction, the Saviour looks past it all, to see His people in their need. He looks past it all to consider their case in their pitiful condition. And if, even on the cross, Jesus beheld the needs of those around Him, do you think that now He has ascended into glory, now that He is seated at the right hand of the Father, that your cares can possibly pass Him by? He knows your condition this evening, dear Christian. What did he behold when he saw his mother? Well, I say what he didn't behold. He didn't behold a venerated saint. He beheld a poor and a needy soul. He saw Mary in her sorrow. True it was that it was a blessing to Mary to be the mother of Jesus in the flesh. The angels said to her, thou art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. Although we must carefully note that the scripture never speaks in such a way as we could give overdue honour to Mary. They said that she was blessed among women, not above them. But do not be quick, although she had the blessing, do not be quick to envy her for it, because she had her hardships too. And this point of her standing at the cross of Jesus was the fulfillment of Simeon's prophecy some thirty or so years earlier, when he had said to Mary in the temple, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also. There she was beholding as her son in the flesh was pierced through his hands and feet, and as she saw it, a sword pierced through her own soul. What grief she knew, what sorrow was upon her heart. She was the earthly mother of the man of sorrows, and she knew her share of that grief. and who can tell of the heart of a mother to her children. It is the deepest love of all human relations, and that is why the Lord often uses it to illustrate his own love for his people. Isaiah 49, 15, can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Isaiah 66, 13, as one whom his mother comforted, so will I comfort you. And there she was in sorrow because of this her son. Even as a boy, she had that sorrow. She sought him sorrowing, she said, when a child. And then through the years of his life, how often did she have to look on and see him come to his own and his own receive him not. How often did she have to see her own kinsmen, her own people of tribe and nation reject the son of her womb, the son of her love. And how here she saw him hated of the Pharisees. She sees him now at the cross despised and rejected of men. A.W. Pink said, here we see displayed the mother heart. She is the dying man's mother. The one who agonizes there on the cross is her child. She it was who first planted kisses on that brow that is now crowned with thorns. She it was who guided those hands and feet in their first infantile movements. No mother ever suffered as she did. His disciples may desert him, his friends may forsake him, his nation may despise him, but his mother stands there at the foot of his cross. Oh, who can fathom or analyze the mother heart? And so it was, a sword piercing through her own soul also. And when Jesus saw his mother, he saw her in her quiet sorrow. And dear believer, The Savior likewise sees you in your sorrow. He is considerate of your heart's grief. He stretched forth his hands toward his disciples at one point and said, behold my mother and my brethren. And if he counts you as his family in grace, will he not look upon you in all of your sorrow as he looked upon Mary at the foot of the cross? And what did the Lord say of his people in their Egyptian bondage? He said to Moses, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And as he looked and saw Mary, he knew her sorrow. And as he looks and sees you, he knows your sorrow. Whatever the sorrow of your inmost heart is, your Redeemer sees it, he marks it, he considers it, and he puts your tears into his bottle. He saw her in her sorrow, but further, he saw her in her need. He saw her as she was, a poor and a needy widow. We have every reason to believe that Joseph had died some considerable time before this. In fact, he is not mentioned after that time that they sought for him in the temple. We do not read of him as being present at the marriage in Cana of Galilee, where was Jesus and his mother when he performed his first public miracle. No, here Mary is left alone. She is desolate, she is isolated, she has no one to take up her case, no one to meet her needs, no one to provide for her. How was she from this day forth to fend for herself in her desperate need? In the need of a widow that Jesus saw I say, friends, is a need so very strikingly similar to the need of a sinner. You see, if you are without Christ tonight, this is your case. You are as though you were in a family with no head. What can you do by yourself? How can you provide for the great needs that you have? the need of the forgiveness of sin, the need of a hope of heaven. You are not in a fit state to do that. You can't by your own works provide that righteousness that you need. No, you are like Mary here. You are isolated and you are alone. You are far off from God. Who is there that will speak for you? Who is there that will take up your case? Who is there that will act and move to meet the deepest needs of your soul? You are a spiritual widow, isolated and alone. Will the world do this for you? It will not. And sinner, then I say to you, the just as Mary, so you are in need of one to take up your case. You are in need of one to meet your needs and to provide for your soul, to provide the forgiveness of sin, the peace with God, the hope of heaven. You are a poor and a needy soul, and yet what do I say? I say tonight that Christ saw his mother, And Christ sees you in that desperate need. Christ beholds your case as having none to speak for you, none to vouch for you on that day of judgment. Is there anyone who's more considerate to the needs of the sinner than the Son of God? And note, friends, that he here calls her woman and not mother. In fact, we never read that Jesus called her mother. And that might, on the face of it, seem disrespectful. And maybe we ask, well, why was that? Well, I think perhaps there are several reasons to that. Maybe the Lord was careful in how he spoke to her so as to give no occasion to venerate her for who she was, as the Roman church has so wickedly done. But perhaps he also calls her woman here because he would teach her that she cannot rely upon her fleshly relationship to him. She cannot depend upon the blood relation she had to his humanity. No, she needed him in a different relationship. She needed him not just as a son, but as a savior. She couldn't depend upon him in that way and must depend upon him in another way. Woman, woman, you must look to me, not as your son in the flesh, but as your savior in grace. And so he says to you also tonight, dear lost sinner, you must look to him in grace. You must look to him in the relationship only of grace. You need him as savior to be the one to speak for you and to meet the need of your soul. and sinner Christ considers your case. Indeed, he was there upon the cross for cases such as yours. And as he said to Mary, behold thy son, so he says to you, behold the Savior. Behold the Savior. You need someone to pity you in your case, and I will take up your cause. I am the Savior you need. I see your condition with pity and compassion, and I reach out to you as the one who can provide your every need, who can be the captain of your salvation. I see you in your deepest need. Oh, what a love he has for lost sinners. But see, secondly, friends, the compassion of Christ. It is one thing to see need, But to be pitiful to that need, to be compassionate to that need, is a very different thing altogether. And Christ goes further than simply seeing the need. He is so moved with compassion upon beholding that need. And what affection is shown in these words. His earthly mother, His beloved disciple, how He loved them. We read in Proverbs 23 and verse 22, despise not thy mother when she is old. And our savior could never be called into question upon that command. Oh, how he loved her still, how he loved her so. And what do we see here in these words, but the realization of John 13 and verse one, having loved his own which were in the world. He loved them unto the end. He loved her unto the end. Here is the saviour who wept at the tomb of Lazarus, as people said, behold, how he loved him. And when the saviour beholds his sorrowful and downcast people, his heart is moved with compassion for them. just as his heart was moved with love when he saw his mother. Living in the flesh himself, he knows our frame and our feeling. And we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. As Isaiah 63 and verse nine says, in all their affliction, he was afflicted. And he was afflicted as he behold Mary in her sorrow. And as he beholds you, dear Christian, in all your sorrow, he is afflicted. He is moved with compassion for you. This is the Savior that you have, dear Christian, the one whose heart is for you, whose infinite love and tender care never abates toward you. the one whose compassions fail not, he is full of tender mercy. And it is with divine compassion that he considers your state. Oh, my friend, do you realize the Savior's love for your soul? Do you flee to him who so compassionately regards your state? And when this world is done, and when the Lord draws his people to himself in his glory, when he leads them onto flowing rivers of water, when he removes every tear from their eye, and when he shows them the place he had prepared for them, will it not be rightly said on that day, behold how he loved them? Behold how he loved them. Oh, my dear heartaching Christian, Jesus sees you in your knee and he sees you with a heart so full of compassion and love. But further see what compassion he has also to the needy sinner, why he is the saviour upon the cross. And this very picture here before us of Calvary is the greatest display of love that there can be. He is the Lord who, when he beheld the rich young ruler we read, that he loved him. Such was his heart to lost and needy sinners. He is the one who wept over Jerusalem and said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Oh, I ask you, are those words of an indifferent Saviour? Are they the words of one who is cold and careless to the needs of the lost? and why he cries the same concerning you. My unbelieving friend, how often would I have gathered you and ye would not. His heart is compassionate to your case. Never will you find him cold and rejecting a sinner that comes to him. What needy soul has he ever turned away? And so I say to you, What hinders you from coming to Him? He alone knows the need of your heart. He alone loves you in that need and can meet that need. Oh, so why will you not run to Him in prayers of faith and repentance, call upon Him to vouch for you, to take up your case, to be the Savior that you need? What stops you from coming to Christ? He sees you with compassion. But see, there's another person here we haven't thought of yet, because he looks also in compassion upon John. He saw a different need when he saw this beloved disciple. Here was John, and just a few moments earlier, he had forsaken Christ. With the other disciples, he had fled. But we see him, the only disciple we read of who came back to this scene. What was it that drew him back? But love for the Saviour. And oh, maybe he was in a low state here. No doubt he felt keenly his fault in leaving his Saviour. No doubt he felt keenly that he had failed the Lord whom he had professed to love. He was backslidden in a poor state. And Christ sees him in that state and has compassion on him too. And if you are in such a state as that, and the Savior sees you with compassion as well. He says, I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from him. The compassion of Christ. But see thirdly and finally, friends, the care of Christ. 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. Having seen the need, and out of love for the needy, he now moves to supply the need. He now moves in grace to meet that need. And what does he do but first and foremost, He addresses Mary in the need of her sorrow because he speaks to her. He addresses her from his cross. Woman, woman, behold thy son. He speaks to her. There he was in the intensity of his agony. There she was in the intensity of her sorrow and he is so full of compassion for her in that need, that he would speak to her, a word in season, that he would address her from the cross to show her that he had not forgotten, that he had not passed over her, that he was not unaware of her in that state. He speaks to her. And when his people are similarly in such a great and low state of sorrow, is he not quick to speak to them? Does he not provide a word in season? Does he not speak a promise from his scriptures to cheer the aching heart? Does he not provide from his word, his own word spoken, as it were the balm in Gilead, to bind up that broken heart and to meet that need of the sorrowing? Count it in your own case, dear Christian. How often has the Lord spoken to you a word in season to cheer you in your sorrow, to comfort you in your affliction, to fortify you in your lowest moments? Oh, he is a savior who speaks. But not only that, he moves to provide for the needy. He provides for his mother. He sees her need going forward of one to care for her, of one to protect her, of one to meet her needs and provide for her. And he does so by giving her to John. this disciple whom he could eminently trust, the disciple whom he loved. He commended her to John, and John took her from that hour unto his own home. She became, in all points but in biology, his mother. He cared for her. To the day of her death, he met her need. He was there for her, to look after her. And friends, isn't this a wonderful picture, perhaps, of what God has given to his people in the church? He has given to us a family, not of flesh and of blood, but a family of grace. He has bound believer to believer through the union they share in Christ. He has put widows into families. He has set the solitary in families in his church. He has knit their hearts together in the very cause that they love Christ. He has opened up to them a new household and it is the household of faith. He gives himself to the Christian and he gives one another to the Christian. How precious is the church, dear friends. How wonderful it is to be a part of it, to be a member of the household of faith, to come to the Lord's people, to be joined with them, to be among them, to be among them and to be theirs. And so I ask you tonight, dear friends, do you belong to God's family? Are you in the family of grace? Do you have a part, a place, and a name? among the Lord's people better than of sons and of daughters? Or are you here on the outside? Maybe you have come year upon year since your childhood. Maybe you have the same pew that you sit in week by week. But yet though you are so regular, yet you're not really among the Lord's people. You're not one of them. You don't have a part by grace in this household of faith. Or would then that you should come to Christ? Would then that you should bow the knee to him and find, not only in Christ, but in his church, supply of every need you could have? But see here further, the need met for John. Perhaps he was backslidden when he forsook Christ, and yet his love draws him back. True Christians cannot stay long from the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Savior speaks to him. And what does he do but graciously pass over that fault? He doesn't reprimand him for his failure to be there at Jesus's point of need. He doesn't say, where were you, John, when I needed you most in that garden. No, he forgives it. And he shows the forgiveness of it by passing over it, by moving on from it, and by commissioning him to service. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And oh, my friend, if all is not well in your heart as it should be, if you are not right with the Lord as you should be tonight, if you are cold and far off from the Savior, oh, come back to the one who is full of compassion. Come back to the Christ who loves you and who will forgive you and who will put you to use in his kingdom again. But finally, friends, see what provision he makes for the needy sinner. There is Mary. She has need of one to vouch for her, need of one to speak for her, need of one to provide for her. And he meets that need by giving her John. And oh, my friend, what a need sinners have of one like John, one to provide. one to meet the need, one to speak for us, most particularly on that day of judgment. Who will do that for you? Jesus gives you better than a son. He gives you a savior. He gives you himself. He sets himself before you in the gospel and says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He offers you to come unto him that on that day of judgment, when you are desolate and alone, he will speak for you then. His blood will cry louder for you then than your sins can ever cry against you. He will meet the need of your heart and the need of your soul. Oh, will you not come to Christ? And as we close, friends, see one final thing. Here was this little band before the Lord Jesus, so full of need as they were, what was to happen to them? Where were their needs to be met? Well, they came to the right place. Verse 25, now they're stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother. They stood by the cross of Jesus. They were there at the foot of the Savior's cross, There's so much in those words that it was the cross of Jesus, that it belonged to him. But friend, that is the place to go. Whatever need you have tonight, whether as a Christian or whether as an unbeliever, I tell you, do what they did. Go and stand at the cross of Jesus by faith. Go to him as the crucified one. Go to the Lamb of God, there shedding his blood for sinners. Oh, go to Calvary, go to Christ, and see him there in all his love and in all his pity, as the Christ who considers, as the Christ who is compassionate, and as the Christ who cares. Amen.