By John 19:25-27
Standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple He loved standing there, He said to His mother, “ Woman, here is your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
Jesus has been forsaken by all except his closest family members and his friend John who is “closer to him than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). How much this must have grieved his dear mother to see her promised Son nailed to that cross.
I’ve heard it said that you can’t spill dirty water from a clean glass with clean water inside. Also, that our hearts spill what we are full of when we are bumped. How many of us would set aside our pain and agony in order to see that the needs of our loved ones were met? Jesus did. He looked down at his Mother, then down at his friend John, and made a new relationship. Jesus’ father must have died sometime earlier. Jesus was the one who had been providing for her up until this moment. Now he was not going to be around to do this and wanted to make sure that Mary was going to be taken care of. So he appoints John to take her into his own house and care for her until death.
Jesus shows us here that it is the duty of children to care for the needs of their parents.
John was a faithful friend to Jesus till the end. The blessing he received from this is one that no other person will ever have. It would have probably been hard at times. It probably would have been a bit of a financial burden. But John had the blessing of caring for Mary the mother of Jesus till her dying day. John had the blessing of being untrusted by Jesus the Son of God to do this task. What an honor!
But Jesus tells us that if we give a cup of cold water to a child in his name, then we are actually doing it for Jesus; wouldn’t that also count for caring for our aging parents as well?
- This is a good time for us as parents to think about our future plan of caring for our parents. After we do this, we should share this with our children.
- Jesus shows us that he is very concerned with families. He wants the needs of the elderly to be met by the children. This shows us not only the importance of caring for our parents; but also, that you as children should have a goal of being married and raising children of your own. It is they who will provide for your needs in your dying days.
Leading Family Devotions 