Here is Your Son… Here is Your Mother - John 19:25-30; Luke 8:19-21

As we come to the cross this morning, we recognize some of the people gathered there to mourn Jesus’ execution, to show him their love for him, and to witness the death of the man they loved and who they believe in as the promised Messiah. There’s Jesus’ mother and his aunt, with Mary the mother of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene, and Jesus’ dearest disciple, John. Seeing Mary at the foot of the cross, I hear an echo back to Jesus’ birth when Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple to be consecrated to the Lord as their oldest child, as they’re instructed to do in Exodus 13:1–2, “The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.” This command’s given to Israel right after the Lord led them into freedom from slavery to Egypt, and after the Lord had killed the firstborn child of every Egyptian to force them to free the Lord’s people. 

While Joseph and Mary are in the temple court with Jesus, they meet Simeon who had been told to go to the temple court where he would see the Lord’s Christ before his death. Led by the Holy Spirit, Simeon encounters Joseph and Mary, and taking Jesus into his arms he praises God, Luke 2:29–32, “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” Simeon then blesses Jesus’ parents, but tells Mary, Luke 2:34–35, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” This prophecy that a sword will pierce Mary’s soul is fulfilled here at the cross!  

As Jesus hangs on the cross, and as death draws close, he notices his mother standing there with tears pouring down her face as she watches her firstborn suffer, and there’s nothing she can do to ease his suffering. Even when Jesus mentions that he’s thirsty, Mary’s unable to ease his thirst, it’s a soldier who offers Jesus vinegar to drink. Jesus then sees his beloved disciple John also standing nearby. As the oldest son, Jesus is responsible to take care of and provide for his mother after his father Joseph died. Jesus has shown a deep concern for others while on the cross, asking for forgiveness for all those who have been part of placing him there, assuring a criminal that he will go to paradise with Jesus, and now Jesus shows his love and concern for others, but this time it’s more personal as it’s his mother. He says to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and then turns to John and tells him, “Here is your mother.”   

Warren Wiersbe writing on this encounter between Jesus and Mary says, “He established a new relationship between Mary and John. It was as though he said to Mary, “I’m returning to my Father in heaven. Because of this, you and I must have a whole new relationship. but in order to give peace to your heart, in order to heal your wounded heart, I’m giving you John as a beloved son.” He assured her of his love as he took his choice disciple and made him Mary’s adopted son. The Lord Jesus felt her sorrow, he knew her loneliness, and he rewarded her by giving her the disciple whom he loved so dearly.” Jesus shows himself to be a faithful son to his mother. John accepts this new responsibility and takes Mary into his own home as her new son.  

Jesus also gives us a bigger picture of what family is. This interaction between Jesus, Mary, and John echoes back to a time in Jesus’ ministry when Mary and Jesus’ brothers come to see Jesus, but aren’t able to even get close to him because of how popular Jesus is due to his teaching, his miraculous healings, and his ability to connect with the people and their circumstances; Jesus understands people. Yet even with everything Jesus has done, all the miracles he’s performed, his brothers still doubted Jesus, as John mentions in John 7:5, “For even his own brothers did not believe in him.” Yet Mary and his brothers are probably concerned for his health, and even his safety; being so popular can put a target on a person’s back. Many popular Jewish leaders found themselves in the harsh hands of Roman justice, as we see here with Jesus on a cross. 

When Jesus is told about that his mother and brothers are there to see him, Jesus responds in a surprising way, Luke 8:21, “He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” Jesus expands family from a group of people connected to each other biologically into something larger, connected by more than biological ties. The Jews practiced adoption and even fostering, think of Samuel and Eli, but Jesus takes it further here, creating a family of people connected through their relationship with God, a covenant community rooted in obedience and worship of God. Family’s the foundation of a strong, healthy society. God’s own relationship within the trinity is also described as family: Father and Son, along with the Holy Spirit, each pouring into each other, and blessing each other. Jesus’ call to be family with each other is rooted in promises made to God and each other, as we’ve been reminded of with the recent baptisms, along with those beautiful covenant promises made by God to us. This is family that takes responsibility for each other, doing life together, helping each other to raise our children in the faith whether you’re blood related or church related. We’re all family together with responsibility and obligations to each other in Jesus.

I appreciate how Jesus knows our hearts, often better than we know our own. Most of us here come from good families that are close and support each other well. Some of us come from families that are less close and we may look with a sense of longing for more closeness in our own bio-families. Some of us come from really broken families and may never have known what family could feel like. Some of us come from blended families, have families who have adopted into our families, or been adopted, and we have been given a glimpse of the potential and possibilities family holds. Yet, deep inside, the need to belong to something that family points to, the commitment, the knowing of each other, the oddities that come from being constantly close to a small group of people who get to know things about you that you often don’t even realise you’ve revealed about yourself and still they love and accept you for who you are, and show up when you need them.

It's about being family through the good times, but especially through the dark times. There are many things the church family has had a hard time talking about or acknowledging in the past: domestic violence, addiction, mental health issues, the struggles of loneliness, poverty, senior abuse, racism, and more. Unfortunately, during times when we need our church family the most, we can easily fail to see each other, fail to support and be there during the harder times. Fear can keep many of us away from those who are going through dark times, fear of saying the wrong thing, or of not knowing what to say. Fear that whatever the other person is going through might happen to you, or fear that getting involved will take more than you believe you’re able to give. We see this when the disciples abandon Jesus in his darkest hour. It’s not that they don’t love Jesus, but their fear is stronger.

This is the strength in what Jesus does in creating family rooted in our relationship with God as our Father, rather than simply blood. I’ve learned that when family goes through dark times, it’s somehow easier to just show up, be awkward, mourn, offer strength and hope simply by being there and loving them, even if you don’t always get along. It’s about identity; identifying ourselves as family that we belong to and who belong to us, recognizing our bonds together in Jesus, because we’re connected through the love and work of Jesus. This is what Paul’s getting at in Ephesians 2:19–22, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” 

My prayer for us as a church is that we continue to grow together as family with God as our Father and Jesus the cornerstone who defines who we are through the presence and work of the Holy Spirit, loving and caring for one another, whoever the brother or sister in Christ may be. 

Today, You Will Be With Me in Paradise - Luke 23:39-43; Romans 8:1-4; 33-39

Over Lent we’re staying with Jesus at the cross, listening to Jesus’ last words and the circumstances around each spoken event. Last week we reflected on Jesus offering forgiveness to those who had been part of Jesus’ journey to the cross, including each one of us. This morning we’re reflecting on Jesus’ brief conversation and the words of reassurance he offers to one of the two criminals hanging on crosses next to his. It’s amazing that even when we may be in the same kind of trouble and suffering, how some people can still find the energy to mock others and make their suffering even worse. One of the criminals being executed beside Jesus actually mocks him, joining with the soldiers in insulting Jesus, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

The second criminal rebukes the first criminal, “Don’t you fear God since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” This man confesses he’s done wrong and deserves what he’s getting, but he recognizes Jesus is more than he appears. Jesus’ demeanor and words reveal a person who’s closely connected to God. How else could Jesus ask his Father to forgive those who have placed him on the cross? What kind of a man would even consider asking for forgiveness for such evil while suffering so deeply? He chooses Jesus over his fellow criminal and all the others who’ve unjustly placed Jesus on a cross instead of a throne. 

Now the second criminal turns to Jesus and shows he believes Jesus is anointed by God, asking, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” The criminal could see the sign Pilate placed over Jesus’ head, “This is the King of the Jews.” The man is hoping to hear more grace, to be given hope in a hopeless situation. The criminal hopes to enter Jesus’ kingdom, likely having heard Jesus talk and teach about the kingdom of heaven during the past 3 years. He’s not disappointed, Jesus responds with grace, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” I love the image here of paradise that echoes back to Old Testament images, we’ll look at this is a few moments. 

The criminal’s main request is to be remembered and not forgotten. There’s something terrifying about being forgotten, of not being important enough to be remembered, no longer part of someone’s thoughts or memories any more. This is why we build so many memorials, why we name buildings and streets after someone important or whom we cherish and don’t want to forget so that people generations down the road will still remember them or us. The criminal offers this really short prayer, “Remember me.” 

There’s nothing more important than to be remembered by Jesus, this is the heart of salvation, for Jesus knows who are his and he will not lose them. The criminal wants to be one of Jesus’ people. The criminal fears God and wants to be ready to meet God when he dies and he recognizes that Jesus is the way to God. This criminal is likely a Jew and his fear of being forgotten comes from the belief that God writes down the names of those whom he chooses in his Book of Life. If your name’s in the book, you’re remembered and welcomed into heaven at your death. 

We can almost hear him thinking of Psalm 69:27–29, “Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation. May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous. But as for me, afflicted and in pain—may your salvation, God, protect me.” He fears his crimes may cause the Lord to blot out his name from the Book of Life. We hear Jesus saying something similar in Luke 10:17–20 when the seventy-two return from spreading the gospel news of Jesus, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.  However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” There’s nothing worse for a Jew than being forgotten because your name’s not in God’s Book of Life! To be in the Book, the criminal needs the forgiveness Jesus has offered to all the others.

In Isaiah 49:13-17, the Lord gives us a powerful image of God remembering his people, “Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Your children hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.” It may feel as if God forgets us, but here the Lord is saying he doesn’t forget! 

The Lord goes so far as to engrave our names on the palms of his hands. Engraving in our flesh draws blood, reminding us of how Jesus’ hands were pierced for our sins, so that every time Jesus looks at his hands, the scars remind him of those he went to the cross for; for the criminal on the cross, for those who put him on the cross, and as we heard in the invitation to the Lord’s Supper, for each of us who have chosen to love him and trust in him alone for your salvation, and are truly sorry for your sins, sincerely believe in the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, and desire to live in obedience to him as Lord. 

Paul reminds us that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Paul goes on to reassure us that we are in good hands because of God’s commitment to us, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us…. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” These are some of the most reassuring words found in Scripture, reminding us of Jesus’ motive for going to the cross and why he offered the criminal such powerful comfort and grace.

The criminal joins Jesus in paradise that very day! We hear paradise and think heaven. Jesus uses a Persian word here that likely entered into the Jewish vocabulary while they were in exile in Babylon. Paradise refers to a garden with a wall, or a king’s orchard, park, or forest. Jesus is using an image that echoes back to the Garden of Eden and ahead to John’s vision of the City of God coming down at his return, a city that has a river of life flowing from the throne of God in the middle of the city, lined by trees of life that gives twelve kinds of fruit. In Jesus’ teaching and preaching, he gives us glimpses of heaven. Jesus is telling us that in paradise we will be with him; not even death can separate us from his love. 

Heaven is first of all the place where God lives, and all those who serve him. Jesus gives us some beautiful images of heaven, and it’s not angels on clouds playing harps, though John does give us a picture of the throne room of heaven where angels and God’s people continually praise him. A number of times Jesus describes heaven as a banquet or a wedding feast, a place where people gather to celebrate and enjoy the blessings of plenty and beauty and fellowship; a place where we’re invited because we’re valued and wanted. Jesus uses images like vineyards and fields, natural creation kinds of images of natural beauty and plenty and growth, all echoing back to Garden of Eden to give us a picture of what heaven is like. Jesus even gives us a picture of the beggar Lazarus in the arms of Abraham, where heaven is shown to be a place of safety and belonging.  

These images of heaven and paradise fill us with comfort, knowing that when we die, Jesus remembers us, and takes us home to a place of plenty, a place where we can gather around the table with others, a place where our God is. I’m looking forward to it, my prayer is that this gives you peace too.