Jesus Cares For You John 19:26-27

Does Jesus care for you?

Every woman in the church has been called by God to walk somewhere on the road of motherhood. Some of you are longing to be mothers-praying, waiting, hoping, fighting for the opportunity to love a child of your own while you vicariously love the children God has put in your life, especially in the church. Others are overwhelmed mothers-praying, waiting, hoping, fighting for the courage to lead your children to the kingdom of God while you serve your church. community, and home. Some of you are single mothers-praying, waiting, hoping, fighting for the strength to keep it together one more day, while you keep it together today. Others of you are grandmothers-praying, waiting, hoping, fighting for wisdom to on the one hand continue discipling your children, and on the other hand, love and enjoy your grandchildren.

Being called to walk on this road is in every respect, unpredictable, exhausting, and emotionally exhilarating to your heart. Some of you are questioning your calling of motherhood. Some of you cry yourself to sleep wondering why God has not given you the child you so longed to have. While others of you cry yourself to sleep wondering how your child went off the deep end, if you’ve failed as a mother, and you are anxious if they will ever come to the Lord. Others cry yourself to sleep weary from having to raise your grandchildren in the golden years where you are supposed to spoil them. The bottom line is, the calling of motherhood, wherever you are on this road, is a call to suffer. Sisters, you are not alone. There have been many women, good faithful women in the scriptures, who have walked on the same road, and offer you some encouragement. One of those women was Mary, the mother of Jesus.

As a young teenager, God called her to mother the Savior of the world. Joseph, her husband to be, was not made aware of this until after she was pregnant. An angel appeared to him in a dream as he was deciding to divorce Mary quietly. Her friends and family, her neighbors, likely thought she stepped out on Joseph and was carrying an illegitimate child. Can you imagine how Mary felt telling the story of her pregnancy, and the subtle and not so subtle attitudes of skepticism, even rejection?

Mary raised Jesus into adulthood. She knew he was special, but not sure what that all entailed. She saw his ministry. She felt the tension with the religious leaders and some of her skeptical neighbors, the same ones who did not buy her story. You can sense the cynical hearts of her community, especially her rabbi’s and spiritual leaders comments,

Mark 6:3 ESV

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

Mary’s road was not easy. Like a good mothers, she supported her son all the way to the end. This morning, we find Mary at the foot of Jesus’ cross, watching her son be crucified as a criminal.

John 19:25 ESV

but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Mary could not have imagined the kind of road God called her to walk for His kingdom sake, especially one that led her to John 19:25. The Bible never records Mary doubting in her darkest moments. The closest we see her feeling the weight of her calling is when Jesus , as young boy, is absent three days in the temple being about His Father’s business. As Mary is riding the emotional roller coaster of loosing her son, finding her son, and then somewhat getting rebuked by her son, she ponders these things in her heart, that is she takes note of Jesus being about his Father’s business (Luke 2:51). I don’t know if she realized the Father’s business for her Son would lead to her watching her Son be crucified on a cross. That being said, you have to wonder if there was a time in Mary’s lack of understanding, if she wondered about her calling? In my experience, it would not be outside the lines to feel the wight of discouragement and wonder, does God still care for me?

In the moments when your calling as a mother: long waiting mother, overwhelmed mother, single mother, grandmother, when its unstable, neurotically breathe taking, emotionally exhausting, you might be tempted wonder, “does he care for you? Does he care that you cry so much your eyes go on strike? Does he care that your children take you to places where you might loose your reputation as a self-controlled godly woman? Does he care that you have to be both mother and father all the time? Does he care that you feel guilty for wanting a break from your grandchildren, or that you feel guilty for not being able to see your grandchildren? I can tell you Jesus cares for you. The cross is proof Jesus cares for you, but, if you want to see a wonderful example for how Jesus cares for you, watch how he cares for his mother just before he dies on the cross.

Be encouraged, Jesus cares for you.

As we gaze into one scene of Jesus’ crucifixion, you will notice that Jesus, moments before he would give up his Spirit, looked at his mother and cared for her. She was one of the last people he would see before he died. She was one of the last people on his heart before he breathed his last breathe. What can you gain this morning by Jesus’ final words to his mother? There are three encouragements to take note of that show His care for His mother Mary gives encourages you to see how he cares for you.

Jesus cares for your soul (John 19:26-27; 30).

First consider the broader context of Jesus’ conversation with his mother. Mary is suffering terribly. Her eyes are fixed on her first born son being crucified on a cross as a criminal, and possible the most hated Jew in the land at that moment. She knows its an in justice. She knows her son is no criminal, but God’s anointed Messiah, Jesus the Savior, who will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:30-35). The things is, Mary is his people, needed her sins atoned for just like every other Jew and Gentile. She needed Jesus to be on that cross, and Jesus cared for Mary by staying on that cross to atone for her sin.

Jesus came to atone for your sin so that he can care for your soul. You are born into this world dead in your trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-3). Your soul is spiritually bankrupt and un able to seek the Lord, and by nature, Paul says you are an daughter of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). Your faith, by itself, cannot please God because it denies God exists and does works on its own merit. This is treason before God and the wages of your sin is his condemnation (Romans 6:23).

But God, being rich in mercy and because of his great love, makes you alive in Jesus (Ephesians 2:4). He does this in part by atoning for your sin, that is Jesus makes you at-one with God by removing your sin debt and in exchange giving you his righteousness. That exchange happens at the cross. Mary was not simply looking at her son, she was looking at her Savior who would take her sin, nail to his cross, and in turn give her his righteousness. Jesus cared for his mother by giving his life to atone for her sin. Jesus cares for you with the same intensity and intimacy.

Consider what he says to his disciples when his family comes looking for him. At this point, all of his family are unbelievers and think Jesus is crazy. His family could not reach him because of the crowd. When he was told this, Jesus says,

Luke 8:21 ESV

But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

To those who hear his words, that is receive his gospel, and obey it by faith, those people are as close to him as his mother and brothers. Those of you who trust Jesus, who love Jesus, and depend on Jesus, he loves you and cares for you with the same intensity and intimacy as he did for his mother Mary. You no longer have to carry the guilt and condemnation of your sin. All of your failures as a women, or mother, or daughter, are nailed to the cross, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and actually are working for your good (Romans 8:28). Jesus’ cross is proof he cares for your soul.

Jesus however, also cares for her soul by making sure she is spiritually cared for when he ascends into heaven. Notice how Jesus gives his mother over to his beloved disciple John. So would rightly ask, “Why didn’t Jesus give her to his siblings? Jesus had brothers and sister, James the righteous being one of them.

At the time of the crucifixion, none of his siblings were believers. Church tradition has James coming to faith some time after the resurrection. John was Jesus’ closest disciple and would go on to live to old age. Jesus made sure Mary was cared for by a Christ-exalting disciple. Furthermore, he made it clear where love and loyalty belong in the kingdom of God; in the church.

Jesus changes your family loyalty when he saves you. In the kingdom of God, his blood is thicker than your families blood. That is, ties to your spiritual family become stronger than ties to your physical family. Ben Worthington’s commentary is insightful. He says,

“Once again we see Jesus addressing Mary simply as ‘woman’ (gunai) here. Rather than disengaging from her and her authority, as he does in John 2, he exercises his authority to integrate her into the family of faith, turning her over to the Beloved Disciple (who clearly is not a member of Jesus’s physical family) … We need to consider three things: considered his followers his primary family—the family of faith, or those who do the will of God, that the brothers of Jesus were unbelievers during the ministry, and we know that Mary joins the inner circle of followers of Jesus from Acts 1:14, which could’ve happened at Golgatha.”

The point is clear. Jesus cares for your soul by prioritizing your spiritual community, and the care they will bring to you first and foremost. Healthy godly women in Christ have a healthy vibrant relationships in his covenant community, his Church. These woman pray for you, speak truth in love to you. They weep with you when you weep and they rejoice with you then Jesus gives you reason to rejoice.

I know it might be in your nature to be guarded with people. It is hard for anyone to be vulnerable, especially in a culture that is so polarized and judgmental as our culture. I would caution you, ladies, from keeping your sisters at a distance. You are a means of grace to each other. Jesus transferred you out of the kingdom of darkness and put you into his kingdom to have abundant life. One of the ways he cares for your soul is to give you sisters in Christ whom you can bear your soul too. There is no need to carry your massive burdens, burdens of mothering, burdens of longing to mother, burdens of being a wife, burdens of longing to be a wife, or recovering from a broken relationship. Jesus cares for your soul by giving you a spiritual community to help you carry the burdens of your soul.

Jesus cares for your earthly life (John 19:26-27).

In the same vein, Jesus cares for his mother by providing for her life, that is her earthly needs. By the time Jesus reaches adult age and begins his ministry, you never read of Joseph, his earthly daddy. It is likely that Joseph had died and Mary was left a widow. Widows in antiquity did not have a sustainable means of income. If a widow was childless, then she was left to work in someones field or to beg for food. If she did have children, she was dependent on them to care for her needs.

When Jesus says,

John 19:26–27 (ESV)

“Woman, behold, your son!” to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”

he is saying that not only will her spiritual needs be met, but her new covenant community, her new family will also help carry the burdens of her earthly needs. God has place you into a new family that loves you through the love of Jesus.

Do you remember when Jesus told the rich man to sell all of his possessions and follow him (Matthew 19:16-29)? In that same context, Peter tells Jesus that the disciples have left everything to follow Him. Jesus says, yes, but you will be given so much more than what you left behind. Jesus says to Peter,

Matthew 19:29 ESV

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

Where will we receive a hundredfold of brothers, sisters, fathers, or mothers? In your new covenant family, the church. John Piper describes the relationship you have with the church when he says,

“One of the gifts Jesus gave to us from the cross was the church: a loving, caring, sustaining, encouraging family beyond family. And it is a great encouragement to our faith that he illustrates the meaning of the church the way he did in the relationship between John and Mary.” (Piper, John. 2007. Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989). Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God.)

Your new loving, caring, sustaining, encouraging family is charged, compelled, and privileged privilege to cary your burdens (Gal 6:2) fulling the law of Christ. You see a picture of this in the churches earliest gatherings;

Acts 2:46–47 ESV

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

By the time you read Acts 6, a daily distribution was in place to support women such as Mary in the church. Jesus ensured his mother’s physical needs were cared for by placing her in his newly established covenant family of believers. John, as well as the church, became an instrument of grace to Mary, a grace wrought by Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. the same care Jesus showed Mary, is also given to you. Jesus cares for your earthly life.

In the words of Ignatius of Antioch, as both an admonishment and encouragement, experience the care Jesus gives you by,

“Making every effort to come together as often as possible to give thanks and to glory to God. For when you gather together frequently, the powers of Satan are destroyed and his destruction is brought to an end by the unanimity of your faith. There is nothing better than peace by which all war in heaven and on earth is abolished.” Ignatius of Antioch

Jesus cares for your eternal life (John 11:25-26).

Jesus does not stay on the cross, nor does he remain in the grave. On the third day, after he gave up his Spirit and died, Jesus walked out of the grave forever alive. He appears first to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18). Then he appears to His disciples (John 20:19-23). Jesus proves himself resurrected to Thomas (John 20:24-29). Jesus eventually restores Peter and explains why he must go to the Father, that they may be empowered with his Spirit to testify to His eternal life. That is the theme of John’s gospel. He says,

John 20:30–31 ESV

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Jesus provided life to Mary. His death atoned for her sins and made her at-one with God, completely justified and made righteous. Now his resurrection would ensure that not only will hear earthly life be cared for, but her eternal life would be secure. All the promises that come with Jesus’ resurrection are yes and amen for Mary.

Mary is fully forgiven.

Romans 4:25 ESV

who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Sister, you, are fully forgiven.

Mary is a new creation

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Sister, you are a new creation.

Mary was given the power of the resurrection to live now and hope in later.

1 Corinthians 6:14 ESV

And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

Sister, you have the power of the resurrection inside of you to live by now and hope in your death.

Mary had a living hope that would never perish.

1 Peter 1:3 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Sister, you have the hope that will never perish!

Mary was and is victorious over death

John 11:25–26 ESV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Sister, you are victorious over death! What shall death say to you? Death where is your Sting?

1 Corinthians 15:56–57 ESV

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus cared for Mary’s eternal life by conquering death giving her eternal life, and promising her a new resurrected glorified body that will hug her son Savior and live sinlessly forever in eternity. Sister, what Jesus did for Mary, he did for you as well. To all who by faith accept his gift of salvation and trust in him he cares for their eternal life by granting them his eternal life; whoever comes to me I will certainly never cast out (John 6:37).

Jesus cares for you

Jesus is not oblivious to you calling as a woman and a mother. You have a Great High Priest who is able to sympathize with you in every way, who was tempted and tried in every way you’ve been tempted and tried, but he did not sin (Hebrews 4:14-15). Because he did not sin, he cared for your soul, your life, your internal life, by providing a way for you to enter the very throne room of God and receive mercy and find grace to help you in your calling as a mother (Hebrews 4:16). Does longing to be a mother wrench your soul at times with envy? Jesus cares for you. Does your heart wrench with grief at times because your children have forsaken everything you hold valuable to your heart? Jesus cares for you. Do you loose sleep at night because your children are not raising your grandchildren in the Lord? Jesus cares for you. Turn to him, by faith, trust him, treasure him, and as Peter exhorts, “cast all your care on Him, because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).