The New Family

John 19:25b-27

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ 27 Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

It is widely assumed that Joseph had died sometime before the events described here, likely even before Jesus began his public ministry. Jesus as the eldest son was then, in that culture, responsible for his mother’s financial support. (Children were the pension plan of that day.) But Jesus was being executed, and so Jesus had to pass on his responsibility for Mary to someone else. That someone else would naturally have been one of his half-brothers – the biological children of both Mary and Joseph. Mark 6:3 says: “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?” So there were at least four brothers to choose from, who could have been given the responsibility to care for their mother. But Jesus turned to none of them, he turned to “the disciple whom he loved” – traditionally understood to be John – and said the famous words that gave the familial responsibility to someone who was not a blood relative of Mary.  

Jesus established a new kind of community – a new kind of family. In Mark 3:33-35 Jesus said absolutely shocking words, “‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’” Jesus on the cross takes those words the next step – on the basis of these words in Mark, John, the disciple, is Jesus’ brother and therefore it is appropriate for Jesus to give him financial responsibility for Mary. The language about the Christian family – the family of the church – is not just words. Here it is acted out, lived out.

A new type of family is lived in the kingdom of God.

PRAYER:

Lord God, your Son, Jesus Christ, created a new family, a family drawn together by obedience to your will. Shape as members of your family to be people who do your will, and teach us to welcome as family everyone who also obeys your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.