Stations of the Cross, Pt. 7: "The Best of Our Love"

THE BEST OF OUR LOVE (JOHN 19:25-27)
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," 27 and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (John 19:25-27)

One of the most compelling stories lost to the world in its excitement over the invention of the telephone was the urgency of the great inventor Alexander Graham Bell to make a breakthrough in communications for the sake of a loved one. No one had more vested interest than Bell, whose mother was deaf. It’s been said that “the telephone, which the deaf could never use, owed its genesis to Bell’s unique understanding of the physiology of hearing.” Unfortunately, the phone as a product had overshadowed Bell’s ongoing commitment to the deaf and his many products he invented or designed to improve their lives.

Bell’s parents were educated people and both his father and grandfather were speech experts. However, his mother, Eliza Grace Symonds, a portrait painter and an accomplished musician, started to lose her hearing when her son was twelve.

In 1861, a double misfortune occurred. Mabel Hubbard, Bell's future wife, developed scarlet fever and also lost her hearing. Before his invention, Bell had taught single-mindedly at Sarah Fuller's Boston Day School for the Deaf and had established both a school for teachers of the deaf and a private school for deaf students in Boston, Massachusetts. It was another 15 years later before Bell began working with his wife on her speech and invented the phone the same year. Someone noted, “Alexander Graham Bell began by seeking to help the deaf, and he ended up with the telephone.”
http://campus.northpark.edu/history//WebChron/Technology/AGBell.html

Before Jesus died at the cross, He offered the best of a child's love to his mother, who had come to behold, comfort and mourn him before He breathed his last. Mary visited and contacted Jesus as much as any mother could her child. Before his departure, Jesus chose his most affectionate disciple, John, to take care of the person who had bore, raised and understood Him – his mother. The apostle John was the perfect candidate for the task. John, though often overshadowed by Peter, was an imposing figure in the New Testament. A prolific writer, he was one of Jesus’ three closest apostles (Mk 5:37) and often called himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:23-25, 21:7, 21:20).

What did Jesus see and admire in a person like John? Do responsibilities weaken us or strengthen us, help us or hinder us? How can we rise up to life’s challenges and crises?

A Disciple Has Courage to Combat Fear
During his years as premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev denounced many of the policies and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once, as he censured Stalin in a public meeting, Khrushchev was interrupted by a shout from a heckler in the audience. “You were one of Stalin's colleagues. Why didn't you stop him?”

“Who said that?” roared Khrushchev. An agonizing silence followed as nobody in the room dared move a muscle. Then Khrushchev replied quietly, “Now you know why.” (Today in the Word, July 13, 1993)
http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/c/courage.htm

The first admirable quality that Jesus saw in John the beloved disciple was his courage, the ability to stand up to fear and not shut down with fright.

Someone once said, “Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the mastery of it.” Another said, “Courage is doing what you are afraid to do.” (Eddie Rickenbacker) Or in the words of John Wayne: “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.”

John was a witness of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. While all the disciples abandoned Jesus at his arrest, the apostle John was the courageous leader who remained steadfast though he had fled like the other disciples. Not only did he return to face his fears, he went with Jesus all the way to the high priest’s courtyard after the soldiers had arrested Jesus (John 18:15).

On the resurrection morning, after Mary Magdalene told Peter and John that Jesus was risen, John was the first apostle to reach the tomb, the first to believe (John 20:8) and the one who pointed Peter to Christ by the sea of Tiberias (John 21:1, 7). He was the true disciple who braved the courtyard, the cross and the cave.

In fact, John was the rightful leader of the apostles before Peter was restored and even though Peter was God’s mouthpiece at Pentecost, John’s name consistently appeared together with Peter in Acts as the two leaders of the early church (Acts 3:1, 4:1, 8:17).

Later, in Acts 4 when the rulers, elders and teachers, along with Annas the high priest, persecuted the church for the first time, their first targets were Peter and John, but they were shocked at, impressed with and deterred by with the courage of Peter and John (Acts 4:13). When they commanded Peter and John not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus, they replied with these famous words that anchored the whole book, defined the early church and echoed by Christians ever since: “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20).

A Disciple Has Compassion for the Helpless
An elderly lady who made up her mind to visit President Lincoln waited patiently for an audience with the president. When the opportunity came, some men eventually ushered her into the busy president's private office.

“What can I do for you?” President Lincoln said. Placing a covered basket on the table, she said to the astonished president, “Mr. President, I have come here today not to ask any favor for myself or for anyone. I heard that you were very fond of cookies, and I came here to bring you this basket of cookies!”“

Tears trickled down the face of Lincoln. He stood speechless for a moment, and then said, “My good woman, your thoughtful and unselfish deed greatly moves me. Thousands have come into this office since I became President, but you are the first one to come asking no favor for yourself or somebody else!” (7,700 Illustrations # 4547)

The second admirable quality that Jesus saw in John was his compassion for people, the same quality that brought John to the cross. John was the disciple whom Jesus loved for a reason: John loved people and had compassion for them. Compassion is simply the outpouring of sympathy for those who have suffered loss. It s to feel for others’ loss, struggles and failures. Compassion is the best medicine, the positive cure and the strongest antidote for human suffering.

The needs on that cruel day were many, the list went on and on and the reasons were obvious. No one felt the pain deeper than Mary, the mother of Jesus, who saw his son dying before her eyes. The Chinese characterizes this pain as “people with gray hair sending off people with black hair.” She was speechless, scared and stunned by the chain of events unfolding right before her eyes - the way her son was arrested, beaten and chained. The reality, pain and loss that instance, that day and weekend was too much to bear for any person, any woman and any mother.

Johan Gerhard describes it this way: “She sees Him suspended, but cannot touch Him, she sees Him nailed, and may not loose Him. She sees Him dripping with blood but cannot remove it. She sees Him wounded upon the entire body, but cannot bind up his wounds. She hears Him cry ‘I thirst,’ but may not give Him to drink.”

The beloved disciple had strength and room for more than one person: himself. Also present that day was Jesus’ aunt (v 25), who stood bravely, sympathetically, and closely by her sister, grieving, suffering and experiencing the loss with her, wondering about her sister’s welfare, livelihood and future. Faithful Mary Magdalene, who was not related to the two women, did her part, too. She offered her heart, sacrificed her shoulders and lent her sympathy to the sisters.

John did more than just stand by Jesus; he stood by helpless women, as a true apostle, a real gentleman and a normal person would. He stood with the women not because they were afraid, inferior, or both; he stood by them because Mary had lost her dear son, Jesus’ aunt had lost her young nephew and he his precious friend.

A Disciple is Committed to the Gospel
A hen and a pig had a conversation when they passed a church and noticed the pastor’ sermon title on a sign: “How Can We Help the Poor?” After a moment’s reflection, the hen eagerly said, “I know what we can do. We can give them a ham-and-egg breakfast! I’ll provide the eggs.” The hog protested strongly, “Sure, that’s easy for you to say. The breakfast would only require a contribution from you, but for me it would mean total commitment.” (7,700 Illustrations # 5211)

It’s been said that commitment is doing what you said you would do long after the feeling you had when saying it has passed.

Ironically, John, who once asked Jesus for a priority seat next to Jesus in His heavenly glory (Mk 10:35), found it in doing earthly service for Jesus. Jesus had explained the matter and clarified his position to John, his brother James and the other incensed apostles: “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:41-45)

John had his work cut out for him when he was handed the task of caring for Jesus’ mother, who is not an ordinary person. In fact, she was quite private. She had nothing much to say in the Bible, except to the angel Gabriel, her cousin Elizabeth and her son Jesus (Luke 2:48, John 2:3-5). John’s given assignment was quite unusual. Many scholars and commentators suggested that Mary’s husband Joseph had probably died by that time. I believe the single most important reason Jesus urged John to care for Mary was that the Savior knew his mother would remain in Jerusalem ever since (Acts 1:14). He was right. She did not return home or go away.

John was a model of commitment for the early church, for young believers then, and even you and I today. Not only did he take time to serve and lead the church, he took time to honor and care for Jesus’ mother besides his feisty mother, who was also in Jerusalem, watching Jesus’ death from a distance (Matt 27:56). Commentator Matthew Henry suggested that Mary lived with John at Jerusalem eleven years and then died, while others said that she traveled with him to Ephesus. John was aware of and familiar with the cost of commitment. He paid dearly for his unwavering commitment, watching in horror as his brother James became the first apostle martyred (Acts 12:2) and, according to early church fathers, lived the rest of his days banished to the remote Patmos Island, where he wrote Revelation.

Conclusion: Love for Jesus is a nurtured, worthwhile and ongoing relationship. The first three times John spoke, he was roundly rebuked by Jesus (Lk 9:49-50, 9:54-55, Mt 20:22). Impetuous, impatient and immature followers are often driven by their competitive nature, emotional feelings and carnal desires, but faithful, brave, humble disciples eventually come around to do what the Master asks of them. Like the old John, you and I are not perfect in any way, but just as John’s love for the Master grew, so may our courage for the Lord, compassion for His people and commitment to His work increasingly grow and mature. Have you given your best to Him and be beloved by Him? Do you care merely for yourself or do you care genuinely for others? Do you have the courage and the conviction of a disciple? Are you walking steadfastly and staunchly in the path of discipleship?