Real Hope: The Passion - Week 3Shembull

Jesus Speaks To His Mother And Brothers

This event happens at the very end of Jesus’ traumatic period of betrayal, trial, torture, humiliation, and crucifixion. It is literally the last practical engagement that Jesus has with society and His earthly family before He sips a drink, bows His head, and gives up His spirit. It shows again His humanity in suffering but also His care and responsibility for His mother.

The inclusion of this passage is not designed to take away from the most dramatic event in history, whereby the eternal living God, having come as God-in-the-flesh [incarnate], now voluntarily lays down His life for the sins of the earth before, eventually, picking His life up again in resurrection power.

The presence of Mary, her sister, and the other women at the cross is not just a family gathering or a mourning party. These, in their own way, are true believers and faithful followers, and like all the believers at that time, they are just about to begin another arc of their own faith journey.

However, Jesus’ entrustment of His mother’s wellbeing into the care of John, the disciple, somehow completes the circle of His original virgin birth to Mary some 33 years before. It joins and completes the plan, and, seemingly, Jesus faithfully provides for His mother’s wellbeing after He dies.

Written by JOHN SCOTT