Why did Jesus entrust Mary to the apostle John instead of to His brothers?

WHEN the aged Simeon held the infant Jesus in his arms, he said unto Mary, "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 thine own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." We have italicised the words which referred especially to Mary, and which surely found their fulfilment in the scene contained in this scripture. Whether she had followed Jesus to the cross is not said, nor whether she had witnessed the mocking insults and buffetings He had received when before His judges. A veil, as far as Mary is concerned, is drawn over her feelings, her suspense and agony, during the dark night of His betrayal. Although the sword must have pierced through her inmost heart during the night and day that succeeded the Passover, it is with the Lord Himself, and not with Mary, that the Spirit of God is concerned. It is His attitude, His demeanour, His meekness, His patience and humility, His words that we are called upon to contemplate. But now that His sorrows and sufferings are drawing to a close, the veil is lifted for one brief minute, that we may behold Mary at the cross, or rather, let it be said, that we may behold the perfection of Jesus in His care for Mary, now that the will of God has been accomplished in His service on the earth. Others are with Mary, her sister, Mary, the [wife] of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene; but it is to Mary and to the beloved disciple who was "standing by" that the Lord's words are addressed. We may not conjecture where the word of God is silent; still we may surely repeat that Mary could not gaze upon the crucifixion of her holy Son without unutterable agony — without having her heart rent by the harrowing spectacle. She had watched Him for more than thirty years; she could not but have been sensible of much of the moral fragrance and beauty of His devoted life, and she must have had some glimpses, at least, of the glory of His person. And now it was her lot to behold Him rejected, insulted, outraged, and crucified! That divine support was ministered to her, while passing through such a fiery trial, we may be assured; but none the less, it must have been with a bursting heart, that she watched Him upon the cross, and saw the fiendish delight of His enemies in the realisation of their wicked ends.

We may not, however, linger upon reflections such as these, neither would we have ventured to make them, except to enhance our appreciation of the tenderness and care of Jesus for Mary in her sorrow. His cup had now been drained, for we read immediately that "Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished;" and hence, knowing also what was passing in Mary's heart, He was at leisure to turn to her with words of solace and consolation. Was she in the darkness of desolation in these moments of her supreme trial? The light was at hand to dispel the gloom, and to assure her that the One on whom she had been looking with such unspeakable sorrow understood her grief; for He opened His lips and said, when He saw His mother, and the disciple standing by whom He loved, "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."

In meditating on these words, attention may be called to the fact that the evangelist is led to write the word "mother," while Jesus addresses her as "woman." Mary was the mother of Jesus, and this favour from God led Gabriel to salute her as blessed among women. But, as we have seen, natural ties could not be acknowledged as constituting any claim upon a life of devoted and perfect Nazariteship. And now that the Lord's death was at hand, even this tender and intimate tie would be ended, ended by His departure from the scene in which He (in incarnation) was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death; and yet it is at this moment that the Holy Spirit reminds us that she was the mother of Jesus. It teaches, beyond all contradiction, that the honour which God bestowed upon Mary shall never, in its own sphere, be taken away. The error, and the deadly error, has been to transfer the honour from earth to heaven, and thus in effect to exalt her even above God's beloved Son.

There are two things in these words of our Lord which may be plainly apprehended. In the first place, He gives to Mary in her bereavement consolation and an object. The beloved disciple who knew the Lord's mind as none other could have done (for he had laid his head upon the Lord's breast) was henceforth to be as Mary's son; and Mary might take him to her heart in a new way as given to her by the Lord Himself. In fact, it was a precious legacy of His heart's affection — the greatest solace He could minister to her in the circumstances. Secondly, He transferred His own earthly relationship to John when He said, Behold thy mother; and He thus singled out the disciple whom He loved for the fulfilment of all the loving responsibilities which such a relationship involved. Mary, in a word, was committed by the Lord to John's care, who henceforward was to tend her, and provide for her with filial affection. The Lord knew what was in the heart of each, and it was according to His knowledge of, and love for each, that He committed them. thus to one another, and thus bound their hearts together for the remainder of their earthly pilgrimage.

John 19:25-27. Amidst all the sorrows of the cross, the human tenderness of the Lord shines out. The fact that, at the beginning of His pathway, He would brook no interference from His mother in His heavenly mission (John 2:3-4) does not stop the Lord from caring for her earthly needs. So now He commends her to the care of one who, above all others, was trusting in the love of Jesus — the disciple who could lean on Jesus' bosom and who five times describes himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. From that hour John took her to his own home.

After that, we find One who has completed His blessed course; it is the Son of God. During His service here below, He did not recognise His mother. In reality His human relationships were not in question; He was the bearer of the divine word in this world, the expression of this word in His Person, and nothing else; separated from everything for this. Now that His divine ministry is ended, He recognises this relationship, not as a link with the Jews, this was over, but as human affection. He commits her to John, the disciple He loved. To have always repelled her was not a lack of natural affection, but faithfulness, whether in His position outside the Jews (Matt. 12:46), or in absolute devotedness. Now that His service is finished, His affection is free, and He shews it.

But faith and love gathered near the dying Saviour some of very different mind. "Now by the cross of Jesus stood His mother, and the sister of His mother, Mary the (wife) of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.351 Jesus, therefore, seeing His mother and the disciple standing by whom He loved, saith to His mother, Woman, behold thy Son. Next He saith to the disciple, Behold thy mother; and from that hour the disciple took her unto his own (home)" (verses 25-27). These were among the women who had followed Him in His ministry and had ministered to Him in life. There they stood in His rejection by the cross, where the Lord shows how little asceticism rises to the truth. He had been absorbed in the work for which He was sent by the Father; no honey mingled with the offering, any more than leaven: salt was never absent, nor the unction of the Holy Ghost. All had been in the consecrating power of the word and Spirit of God, and to God. But perfect human affections were there, though the work undertaken in communion with the Father had filled heart and lips and hands with the higher object to the glory of God. Yet eternal interests, when thus taken up, do not efface or dishonour Nature or its relationships according to God; and the Lord here marks this by commending in the most solemn and touching way John to His mother as son, and Mary to John as mother: a loving trust honoured from that hour. How sweet for the loved disciple to remember and record! And how strong the contrast with superstition, no less than as we have seen with asceticism! And what a testimony in all to His own entire superiority to overwhelming circumstances!

In Luke 23:49 we read of His followers who “stood afar off, beholding these things.” But here we see standing by the cross “His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” Warmth of love toward Him is that which overcomes fear. John, the writer of this book, is nearby also. It would seem that there were three Mary's present besides His mother's sister, who is not named.

The Lord speaks from the cross in tender consideration for His mother, indicating to her that now John was to be her son; and to John, telling him, “Behold your mother!” (vv. 26-27). We know that she did have other sons by natural birth (Mark 6:3; Ps. 69:8), but John 7:5 tells us, “Neither did His brethren believe on Him.” How much more strong is the spiritual relationship than the natural! John took her after this to his own home. Her other sons had deprived themselves of such a privilege through unbelief. Yet after His resurrection His brothers were found in the upper room with the disciples. Apparently through His death and resurrection they were converted to God. Yet they had lost the dignity of caring for their mother.

The disciple whom Jesus loved we may say surely fervently loved the Lord. Evidencing that, he entered, as we have already remarked, the palace of the high priest on the night of His apprehension, able to do it as personally known to Annas (John 18:15). Very probably he was present in the Praetorium, when Pilate questioned Christ. Then he was standing by the cross during the solemn hours of the Crucifixion. He was the only Apostle not ashamed to show his interest in Christ in the pontifical palace, and also in the Praetorium; nor afraid to confirm it publicly at the cross with the women. Relationship might be suggested to account for this. But if so, where was his brother James? He was neither at the palace that night, nor at the cross the next day. But how fully was John rewarded for his faithfulness, seeing that he was entrusted by the Lord with the care of Mary His mother. To her ever after John gave a home. Confidence was reposed in him, who evidently was not destitute of means. He led away, we may suppose in company with Salome, that widowed and sorrowing mother from Golgotha, to find a place in his house, and to be cared for to the end of her mortal life. Old Simeon's prediction came true (Luke 2:35). A sword did pierce through her soul; but the loving care of John must have soothed her, and comforted her.

After the Lord had gone through His trials and crucifixion and just as He was on the brink of saying, “It is finished”, we find John again very close to his Lord. In another Gospel we are told that all the disciples forsook Him and fled (Mark 14:50). John was among them. Their fear was so great that all, fearing for their own lives, fled from the place where the Lord was. But some way or other John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was moved to return to the place on Calvary’s hill to be near his Lord. At that moment, just before the Lord finished His work, He saw His own mother, Mary, among the women, and referring to John He said to her, “Woman, behold thy son”, and then He said to John, “Behold thy mother”. How wonderful that the Lord entrusted His mother to the care of John,the disciple of whom He was sure that being so close to Him he would take good care of her. We read nothing more of this as we read very little about John in later times, but we can be sure that Mary was taken care of in a wonderful manner by John who was so close to the heart of the Lord.

Only seven words were spoken — four to Mary, and three to John; but their significance was plain, and they struck a chord of love which met with a ready response. Jesus entrusted His mother to the disciple whom He loved, and who in the knowledge of His love, loved in return. Love can be trusted, especially when it is not mere human affection but divine in its source, as springing from the appreciation of the love of Jesus.

I have said that the garments of the Lord for which the soldiers gambled were His only possession, but there was Mary, His mother. Even though He had had to put the relationship into the background at the beginning of His ministry, it was there, and now at the end of His life it came into view again; she was "His mother." Four times John uses the word "His mother." The tenderness of His love flowed out to her and He committed her to John. He could have cared for her miraculously, but there was a more excellent way. John stood by the cross with Mary and some other women, "The disciple whom Jesus loved, " probably a youth of twenty years and who had leaned his head upon His bosom at the Supper, was not His disciple only but His friend; he could be trusted, and to him Jesus committed this precious legacy, and he proved himself true to the trust.

This committal of His mother to John was His last act before yielding up His life in sacrifice for us, and it calls for our earnest consideration. Was the Lord in that hour caring only for His mother and His loved disciples? has not this act something in it to teach us? No two persons on earth loved that Lord more than His mother and John, and none were more truly the objects of His tender solicitude. His last word to them was a command that they should dwell together in love and mutual help; He bound them together for this in a new relationship. But He has done this for all His own and everyone of them is loved with the same love wherewith He loved these favoured two, and His command is that they love one another and dwell together in peace in the new relationship that He has placed them in. He died "that He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad" (John 11:52). And He has given them a commandment: "This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you" and "Ye are My friends if you do whatsoever I command you" (John 15). Alas, the seamless robe has been rent by hard and legal hands, and the new relationship that Jesus died to form has had little hold upon the hearts of those who have been brought into it, and family quarrels have dishonoured the Lord, and grieved the Holy Ghost and proved how small is our claim to be the friends of Jesus. Ah, we need to be drawn afresh to the Cross, and to stand there with "His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene, and the disciple whom Jesus loved, " and to hear afresh His words, "Woman, behold thy Son!" and "Behold thy mother!" and again, "I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep… There shall be one flock and one shepherd." "Feed My sheep."

Providing for His Mother. — The soldiers were at the cross in the path of duty. To another group are we now introduced, drawn there by affection, mourners indeed. Just five composed it, and all standing by the cross — viz. the Lord's mother, her sister Salome, Mary the wife of Cleophas or rather Clopas, Mary Magdalene, and John, Salome's son, and so the nephew of the Virgin. The Lord's mother was, it would seem, a widow, and probably had been that for some time. Fresh sorrow now befell her. Her Son was crucified. Old Simeon's words were coming true, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul" (Luke 2:35). Had she wondered what they could mean, when that aged saint uttered them? All was plain now. He was foretelling her sorrow at the crucifixion of her Son. She spoke not a word to her Son at the cross that we read of. But her Son spoke to her, a lasting comfort for that mother's heart, till she should be with Him in the other world. We quote the Evangelist's account. "When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He says to His mother, Woman, behold, thy son! Then says He to the disciple, Behold, thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home" (John 19:25-27). This Gospel, which tells us of the rebuke administered to her at Cana, tells us of the Lord's thought for her when dying on the cross. Natural ties had no claim on Him to guide Him in His service. Natural ties were not meant to be disowned, or considered as beneath recognition. He, about to leave the world, provided a home for her for the rest of her life.