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January 31, 2010—Fourth Sunday After Epiphany

Lectionary Texts: Jeremiah 4:1-10; Psalm 71:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30

Sermon Text: John 19:25-27

Women at the Foot of the Cross: The Concern of Priorities

“Woman Behold Your Son”

Introduction

1. Of the seven last sayings of Jesus, three of them focus on the needs of others:

• Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23: 34).

• I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43).
And today’s:

• Dear woman, here is your son . . .here is your mother (John 19:26-27).

2. Having had the privilege of sitting with my dad over the course of the last ten days before his death, I am more keenly aware of the brief statements made by the one who knows his death is imminent.

• Sometime during those ten days I remember my dad saying to me: “Are you OK Sheryl?”

• I’m not sure I was fully aware of what exactly he was asking.

• But as I’ve been looking at these last words of Jesus to His mother, I realize now that even as my dad was coming down to the end of his earthly life, he was still doing what he had always done best: having and showing concern for the welfare of others!

Consider the Scripture and the context from which this message comes:

The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic;

Now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece.

They said therefore to one another,

“Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”

That the Scripture might be fulfilled, “They divided
My outer garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

Therefore the soldiers did these things.

But there were standing by the cross of Jesus His mother,

And His mother’s sister,

Mary the wife of Clopas,

And Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”

Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”

And from that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

John 19:23-27 (NASB)

I. Women at the Foot of the Cross

A. Mary, the mother.

1. As painful as it must have been to be there, Mary, His mother, could not but find herself at the foot of the Cross.

2. What must have been going through her mind and heart?

3. Did she remember the words spoken to her by the angel on that long ago day: “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.” (Luke 1:30-31, NASB)

• We often hear in religious circles about “finding favor” with God

• How excruciatingly painful is it to contemplate that the favor of God upon our lives may mean standing at the foot of a cross and watching our nearest and dearest crucified?

4. Do you remember what Mary said to the angel when he explained how she, a virgin, would be with child? “Behold the handmaid of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38 NKJV).

• A handmaid is not in charge of her own life. A handmaid is at someone else’s disposal, to be used according to someone else’s wish. A handmaid belongs to someone else without reserve. Total surrender, in this case to God, to be used as it pleased Him, to be His handmaid, to belong to Him. (“A Life for God,” The Mother Teresa Reader, p. 104)

• The angel had said to Mary on that long ago day, after explaining how she would conceive the Savior of the world: “ . . . Nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37, NASB).

• How painful was it to think back to “being favored of God” while watching her nearest and dearest being crucified.

• Was this perhaps one of the impossibilities that God would have her live through?

• As a mother, have you ever contemplated how you would survive the death of a child? Impossible!

• Is this one of the impossibilities that God makes possible?

5. At the foot of the Cross, Mary--the mother--remembers her testimony to Elizabeth: “My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For he has had regard for the humble state of His bond slave; for behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed . . .” (Luke 1:46-49, NASB)

• Usually when we ask God to bless us, what we mean is: “God will you approve our plans?”

• But when the Bible speaks of being “blessed of God” it means that we are allowing God to interfere in our lives (Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, NASB, commentary on Luke 1:48, p. 1345).

6. Becoming the mother of the Messiah was an interference in Mary’s life--she could no longer “just be” a good Jewish wife and raise good Jewish children!

7. Mary stands at the foot of the cross and helps us consider our priorities:

• Let me put at the top of my list of priorities the desire to be favored--does this mean that God might favor me to be used in excruciatingly impossible circumstances? It did for Mary!

• Let me put at the top of my list of priorities the desire to see God’s impossibilities become possible. Does this mean that what I may think of as something impossible to live through may in fact become possible with God’s grace and help? It did for Mary!

• Let me put at the top of my list of priorities the desire to be blessed of God. Does this mean that to be blessed is to be totally and fully at His disposal--which may mean giving up everything I hold near and dear? It did for Mary!

B. Mary’s sister.

1. This woman was the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Matthew 20:20-21)

• Two of the first three of Christ’s disciples (John 1:19-20)

• Peter, James and John were favorites of Jesus

• As you read the Gospel story you discover that these three, Peter, James and John, though favorites of Jesus, were the ones most often reproved by Him

2. She was the one who requested that Jesus give her two sons the places of honor of sitting at His right and left in His kingdom (see Matthew 20:20-21)

• Are there things as mothers we just can’t refuse when it comes to our children?

3. What conversations did this woman have with her sister after making this request of Jesus?

• What conversations did she have with her two sons after making this request?

• Did she remember the words Jesus spoke after she made this request: “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:27-28, NKJV, Italics authors)

• Did this mother ponder the reality that her sons had kidnapped her love and used it for their own ends? Did she conclude that she needed to be ransomed from this type of thinking and behavior!?

4. Now we see this woman, also a mother, standing at the foot of the cross with her sister, the mother of the One who was being crucified.

5. As the mother of two of Jesus’ favorite disciples, her priority at one time would have been to ensure that her boys were given the places of honor

• Now she stands next to her sister--suffering alongside of her

• And remembers Christ’s top priority: “to serve and to give His life a ransom for many”

C. Mary--the wife of Clopas.

1. What an amazing experience to stand at the foot of the Cross, alongside three other women.

2. This is the only time Clopas is mentioned in the New Testament

• We know nothing about him

• We know nothing about his wife, except that she was also a Mary--a common name at that time, and that she is one of four women mentioned by John who are together at the foot of the Cross.

3. Though we know nothing about this woman, we can surmise that she had been a follower of Christ throughout His ministry, and no doubt a close friend of the other three women.

• Perhaps she was one of the financial supporters of Christ’s ministry mentioned in Luke 8:1-3

• As a follower of Christ, she would have heard His many teachings

4. Did she remember her thoughts when she first heard Jesus say: “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:25-27, NKJV).

• Did these four women talk about this difficult teaching?

• What could Jesus have meant?

• Barclay comments on these verses--those who choose to follow Jesus are not on the way to power and human glory. That they must be ready for a loyalty which would sacrifice the dearest things in life, even though doing so might result in a suffering which would be like the agony of a man dying upon a cross! (The Daily Study Bible Series, “The Gospel of Luke,” Revised Edition, William Barclay p. 196)

Illustration:

Eric Liddell’s story was brought to the world’s attention through the now famous movie, Chariots of Fire. Though he won a gold medal at the 1924 Paris Olympics, he gave up a career as an athlete in order go to China as a missionary, following in his parent’s footsteps.

Liddell died in a Japanese internment camp on February, 21, 1945, five months before liberation. At sometime he wrote:

Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God’s plans, but God is NOT helpless among the ruins. God’s love is still working. He comes in and takes the calamity and uses it victoriously, working out His wonderful plan of love.

5. Mary, the wife of Clopas, a woman we don’t know much about
Was she thinking and asking: “Is God at work here? Is God’s love at work here?”

• She may have thought: “This was not the picture I had in mind when I began following Jesus, the Christ.”

D. Mary Magdalene.

1. Luke’s Gospel introduces us to the group of women who contributed support to Jesus’ ministry, of which Mary Magdalene was one, this way:

And it came about soon afterwards, that He began going about from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God; and the twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means (Luke 8:1-3, NASB).

• The Greek word for evil (as used by Luke, “women who had been healed of evil spirits) is poneros and refers to “evil in a moral or spiritual sense; wicked, malicious, mischievous. From this word is derived poneria--which is “aptness to do shrewd turns, delight in mischief and tragedies, perverseness” (The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, NASB, Lexical Aids to the NT, p. 1869).

• We could conclude from this Scripture, that while Mary had had seven demons cast out of her, she was one of several women who had been healed from “an aptness to do shrewd turns; healed from an aptness to delight in mischief and tragedies and perverseness.”

• That is some healing!

2. Tonja Myles is a recovering crack cocaine addict, who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Set Free Indeed Ministry and Free Indeed Treatment Center, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her fight with addiction, Satanism and prostitution had taken seven years before her grandmother led her to a life-transforming encounter with Christ. After giving her life to Christ she vowed to work toward sobriety and started faith-based recovery treatment facilities in her local area. One day Myles received a call from Jim Towey at the White House. Towey had moved from being Mother Teresa’s aide to becoming the Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under then President Bush. He told Myles that perhaps one of the administration’s new programs Access to Recovery, could help her ministry. “I went from the crack house to the White House in twenty-four years!” Myles laughingly recalls. (Christianity Today, Feb., 2009 edition, “Bush’s Faith Based Legacy,” pp 44-47)

3. Tonja Myles/Mary Magdalene--women in need of healing

• it would appear that circumstances have wrecked their lives

4. But in truth, God is not helpless among the ruins

• God’s love is still working

• In time God will take the calamity and use it victoriously

• He will work out His wonderful plan of transforming love!
II. Dear Woman, here is your son.” (John 19:26)

1. Let’s go back to the conversation the angel Gabriel had with Mary when she first was told she would conceive and bear a son. (from Luke 1:26ff, NASB)

• “Do not be afraid Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.” [the angel]

• “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” [Mary]

• “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God.” (The angel)

• To which Mary responds, “Behold, the bond slave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word.”

2. Now, 33 years later, she is at the foot of the cross, and her son gives her into the care of her nephew.

• that “sounds” wonderfully caring--and it was--don’t get me wrong

• but I don’t think that would’ve been Mary’s first choice of comfort!

3. You and I, when we lose a loved one, are not comforted when people say to us things like

• well you at least have other children, or

• he lived a good long life

• etc.,

4. At the time of the loss, these do not really bring comfort!

5. Perhaps Jesus not saying this first and foremost for her comfort. Could it be that He was reminding her of those other words He had spoken: “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:25-27, NKJV)

• This was Mary’s cross to bear--to be given into the care of someone else, when all she wanted was to be cared for by her Son!

Conclusion:

A priority is the most important thing that must be dealt with first.

1. When it comes to being a follower of Christ, we have to really hear what Jesus was saying when he said: “Woman, behold, your son!”

2. He says the same thing to each one of us who have decided to follow Him

• Our lives are not our own

• Our dreams and visions of how things should be and must unfold are not our own

• Our relationships are not our own to have and to hold onto

3. He may be asking us to relinquish those dearest relationships we have been holding onto in order to be cared for by others

• As Mary was by John, her nephew

4. Perhaps because we know the end of the story--that Jesus was raised from the dead--we want to gloss over how very painful it was for Mary to “give up” her place as mother!

Who or what is Christ asking you to relinquish this morning?

Prayer of commitment

Sources:

The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, NASB. AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, TN 1984 and 1990.

The Wesley Bible, New King James Version. Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1990

The Daily Study Bible Series, The Gospel of Luke, Revised Edition, William Barclay. Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, London, Leiden, 1975.

A Life for God: The Mother Teresa Reader. Compiled by LaVonne Neff. Servant Publications, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1995.

Christianity Today, Feb., 2009 edition, “Bush’s Faith Based Legacy,” pp 44-47.