He won't leave me alone

King James Version (Chapter 19)

25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! 27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

Background

We have Jesus now hanging on the cross. He’s in complete agony. He’s gasping every time he tries to breath. He is suffering for the sake and the sins of the whole world, past, present, and future. Isaiah 53: 4 say “Surely he hath borne our griefs, And carried our sorrows: Yet we did esteem him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.” He’s going through this moment that he knew was coming, he already knew that this was his assignment. Yet as he was on that Old Rugged Cross completing the assignment, he looks down and takes notice at the Disciple, whom he loved, and his mother.

It’s important to understand that it is believed that Joseph, the husband of Mary, had died by this moment. As a matter of fact, most believe that he died before Jesus even had come into his ministry. That being so it was his job as the eldest son to take care of his mother. So now he is dying and he’s looking at this woman who he loves with all his heart. She was the vessel of which he came through to enter into this World. She is his mother. He sees his mother, the one who comforted him through all of childhood's cuts and bruises, teases and taunts. When he was a boy he would run home to mother and instantly be wrapped in her protective, comforting mother-love.

But now as he sees her at the foot of the cross, heartbroken, weeping, inconsolable, his heart goes out to her. Rather than being consumed by an understandable concern for his own welfare, he is touched by hers.

Then there is someone else there of importance to this saying. There is that Beloved Disciple. The one that stayed. There are different reasons that people believed he stayed. Someone said that he stayed because of his Love for HIS mother, Salome, which could very well had been the sister of Mary. Some say that he stayed because of his dedication to Jesus. Whatever his reason for staying, the fact of the matter is that he was there when no one else was. All the other Disciples had put themselves in hiding, worried their own welfare. But the fact of the matter is John was there.

That leads me to my short thoughts in the matter of what I see from the text.

Body

He see about their pain

We can only imagine the pain that Mary was feeling when she had to witness what was happening to her son. Her son is in trouble --  arrested, tried, condemned, and now dying. Surely, Mary's place is close to her son. And so Simeon's prophecy given at Jesus' dedication comes to pass:

"And a sword will pierce your own soul too." (Luke 2:35b)

She is near him now, but her heart is broken.

Yet I have to take thought to how John was feeling. He is called the “the Beloved Disciple.” and I am sure that he is not just called this for nothing. You know how we do, we’ll call everybody bro, sis, cuz, unc, aunty, mama, and daddy, and then go and talk about them like a dog. You know they smiliing in your face and all the time want to take your place… But John has been there, he’s part of the inner circle of Jesus. John were privileged to be with Jesus when He healed Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37), and at the Transfiguration of Christ (Mark 9:2). They were the audience at the Olivet Discourse (Mark 13:3) and were with Jesus during His time of agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37). I’m sure that he had a special love for Jesus. For sure he knew that Jesus was the son of God. He had to feel some type of pain watching Jesus go through this agony. It was he that record our Lord’s saying in John 15:13 that there is No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends.

So now Jesus watches is mother and his beloved disciple in anguish and he’s touched by their concern. He cared about how they felt.

Can I pause and tell someone, you may be wondering do Jesus see what you are going through. But I stopped this way to tell someone that Jesus sees and cares. I don’t care how bad it is, Jesus got his eyes on you. He’s watching what your going through. The old church would say that he “sits high and looks low.” He got his eyes on you.

He won’t leave you alone

Next and last thing that I noticed, is that he after he saw their pain, the bible says he opened his mouth and declared his third word. He said Mother behold thy son, and John behold thy mother. In other words, he said, I got to go, I can’t stay here but mama, I’m not going to leave you alone, but I’m so glad, he didn’t stop at his mother, he looked at John and said joh