Past and Future: Becoming His Own

“Past and Future: Becoming His Own”

Quincy Community United Methodist Church (Quincy, Massachusetts)

Good Friday, Seven Last Words Ecumenical Service

Sam Melton, MDiv ‘19

Reading

John 19:26-27 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

"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."

Homily

“Woman, here is your son,” “Here is your mother.”

As his body stands, hanging, bleeding and mangled on the cross, we hear Jesus speak these words to those below him saying these two short phrases. In his very real moments of pain and anguish, he speaks to his mother saying, “Woman, here is your son,” and then turns to his most beloved disciple, saying, “Here is your mother,” and then we hear that this disciple takes Mary and makes her a part of his own family.

In these moments of Jesus’ pain, we are reminded again of the very humanness he posses, as he turns to those who are closest to him and provides these phrases we are also reminded of his very real and very human family. Here, in these two verses, we learn so, so, much about the importance of relationships in his life. As he speaks from the cross, Jesus beautifully and poetically reminds us who our family is.

First, he speaks to his mother, the one who bore him and who has literally walked with him from the beginning of the prophecy to the fulfillment of the prophecy. She, his mom, is the one who is present for his very first and very last breaths. Jesus is speaking to his mother as a reminder of his past, reminding us of his very real body, his very real pain, his very real words, and his very real life that he has lived. And then as he turns to his most beloved disciple, and as he addresses this disciple, he indicates the start of a new kind of life for him. In this way, Jesus connects his past, through his mother, to his future, through his disciple. It is this continuality of his relationships, the past connected to the future, that reminds us of the importance of his relationships with others.

And though these verses often give us an impression of the reinforcement of patriarchy --- as we read of the passing off of the woman to another man, we are, or at least I am, tempted to ignore the words that flow from his mouth in light of this. And yet, it is not what it seems, it is not simply another indicator of this patriarchal society that Jesus lives in, but instead it is quite the opposite. For we know, that Jesus was not the type of person to buy in to what society wanted him to buy into, and this is certainly not the case with patriarchy here either.

In fact, these phrases that he speaks actually destroys that very patriarchy. The beautiful part of this exchange is found in the particular language that he chooses to use during his moments on the cross. Jesus calls on the disciple to make his mother “his own.” This very particular language should remind us of the rejection that Jesus faced in the first chapter of John. In John Chapter 1, verse 11, John tells us that ”He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” This rejection of Jesus that we find in Chapter 1 is intricately tied to those last words of Jesus as he speaks to his disciple saying, “And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.” This language of adoption, stands as a reminder of Jesus’ everlasting promise to ensure that all are his own ー to ensure that all are cared for in this family of Christ.

These two brief phrases remind us that we are tied to the past life of Jesus, through Mary, and yet welcomed into the home and cared for by the family of Christ that comes after his death. As a part of this future family, we get to see the hope that is found in Jesus’ darkest hour, at the foot of that cross we are reminded that we are also taken into his home and made his own.