Behold your mother

“Woman, behold, your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." (John 19:26-27)

The Third Word or Saying of Christ on the Cross is from the Gospel of John. To begin, perhaps it is a bit prudent to share some background and exegetical information about the four Gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels. This is because these three Gospels are very similar to one another. Mark is thought to be written first and perhaps was written as a catechetical tool to welcome new members into Christianity. Luke and Matthew were written a little later and both incorporate Mark’s Gospel as well as other possible sources (such as the Q Source which is theorized to be a list of Jesus’ sayings). Luke is writing to a Gentile audience while Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience (thus his emphases on the Law and fulfillment of the Law, etc).

But what about John’s Gospel? This Gospel account is completely different than the other three. But why? The three Synoptic Gospels were thought to have been written between 70 A.D and 80 A.D., while John was most likely written around 90 A.D. Therefore, by the time John wrote his Gospel account, the other three were already well known so there would not have been a need to simply tell the same story again. So, he tells a different story.

Some people say that John’s Gospel is the Gospel of Love. Probably one of the most quoted scripture passages is John 3:16, “For God so loved the World that He gave His only Begotten Son.” It could also be viewed as the Gospel of the Holy Spirit.

However, a very significant characteristic about John’s Gospel is his decision to not properly name two key people: Mary and one of the Twelve Apostles. Mary is only known as the Mother of Jesus and the apostle is only known as the Disciple whom Jesus loved. These are the two people Jesus is speaking to in today’s saying.

And this brings me to the question of who is the ‘Beloved Disciple.’ The Gospel Writer wrote this disciple as faceless and unnamed so that we can ask and ponder over this question.

All the references tell us that the Disciple whom Jesus loved wais unswervingly loyal to Jesus, he loved him absolutely and he was devoted as was the only disciple who was with Christ and His Mother at Calvary.

So why call him the Beloved Disciple? Why leave him faceless and unnamed? Why leave him as an empty silhouette of an abstract personality?

Just as we are all responsible for Christ’s crucifixion as I pointed out in my first reflection, we have all been forgiven and as Luke7:37-50 points out, the more we are forgiven, the more we have to be thankful for. How much more can be forgiven than every sin, what greater ransom for our sins than that which can grant us eternal life?

So where does that leave us? If you owed so much money that you could never pay it and someone came a long and settled that debt for you, would you not be eternally grateful? Would you not be unswervingly loyal? Love that person absolutely and remain steadfastly devoted, even in the face of death? But the key here is love. Christ loves us and He asks us to love him. The message in John’s Gospel, regarding the Beloved Disciple, is that if we accept Christ’s love and love Him with all our hearts, mind and souls, we, too, are the Beloved Disciple, the one whom Jesus Loves.

It is interesting to note that the Beloved Disciple is mentioned by this title about five times in the Gospel (John 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7, 21:20). Now, what I found to be most significant was that John did not refer to this disciple as the one whom Jesus loved until John 13:23 immediately after Jesus announced that one among them would betray him. The very next seen depicts the Beloved Disciple as reclining on Jesus’ breast.

I could not help but wonder and reflect upon the juxtaposition of these two passages? We are guilty of Christ’s death through our own sinfulness but we also love Him and He loves us, so could we perhaps be both the betrayer and the beloved, sitting together at the table of Christ? On one hand, leaning against his breast in fullness of love, but on the other plotting against him for our own worldly desires?

We betray him with every sin, but when we accept His forgiveness and Love and truly allow His love to transform us into the disciple that would stand next to His Mother at the Foot of the Cross, we become the Beloved Disciple – betrayer and beloved in one person.

So looking at the third saying again, let us read it with the understanding that we are the Disciple whom Jesus Loved: “Woman, behold your child,” then looking at you, He said, “child, behold your Mother.”

So now we must turn to the second person in the Third Saying of Christ and that is the Woman. John loves symbolism. Aside from the Passion and Death of Christ, the Wedding at Cana is the only time we see Mary in John’s Gospel. And while John refers to her as the Mother of Jesus; Jesus, Himself, refers to her as ‘Woman.’ This is an allusion to the woman in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." By calling her ‘Woman,’ John is showing us that Jesus is the offspring who will strike the head of the serpent.[1]

So, now we know who the woman is but why is she important to us now? Her Offspring has done His job, what more is there for her to do?

Jesus gave us so much more than we deserve when He gave up His life for us but yet he still wants to give us more and so He gives us His mother to take as our Mother. Mary, the woman that God chose among all women to be the Mother of His Son. Mary, the new Arc of the Covenant, the new Eve, the most Blessed of all Women, surely the most glorified creature of all creatures in the universe, the Queen of Heaven and Mother of God – this woman, Mary the Immaculate, has been given to us to be our Mother too.

There is another important consideration in John’s Gospel. According to Father George Montague, SM, a Marianist Priest and Founder of the Brothers of the Beloved Disciple, Mary conceived Jesus through the Power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave Mary to the Beloved Disciple before He died. However, as the Synoptic Gospels recount His Death, they say that he “breathed his last” (Mark 15:37, Luke 23:46). However, John says that he “handed over His Spirit” (John 19:30) [2]. And so Father Montague combines the elements of Virgin Birth, Spirit and Jesus’ exhortation on being born again of Water and Spirit (John 3:5) into one thought – “As Jesus was born of Mary by the Power of the Holy Spirit, so the disciples are born again, becoming brothers and sisters of Jesus, children of the Father and children of Mary through the Power of the Holy Spirit”[3]

Jesus gave us many things, salvation, forgiveness, love, the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit and His Mother. If we are the Beloved Disciple than the Third Saying represents one of the ways we are invited to receive all that Jesus has to give, which is to accept the gift of Mary as our Mother”[4]

Just as we are called to have a personal relationship with Christ, we also can have a personal relationship with Christ’s Mother, through Christ. And just as she wept at the Foot of the Cross for her Son, whom she loves more than life itself, she also weeps for us, her children, whom she also loves as a mother loves her child.

For some people it may be difficult to see Mary as mother, perhaps because we did not have a strong maternal presence in our lives, perhaps for any number of reasons. If this is the case, maybe this reflection can be an invitation or an opportunity to get to know Mary, the woman God choose among all women, to be your Mother too.

Behold your Mother.

Lord Jesus we gather in spirit at the foot of the cross
with your Mother and the disciple whom you loved.

We ask your pardon for our sins which are the cause of your death.

We thank you for remembering us in that hour of salvation
and for giving us Mary as our Mother.

Holy Virgin take us under your protection
and open us to the action of the Holy Spirit.

St. John, obtain for us the grace of taking Mary into our life
as you did and of assisting her in her mission.

May the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit be glorified
in all places through the Immaculate Virgin Mary.

Amen.

[1] George Montague, The Visions of the Beloved Disciple: Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of John, (Staten Island, New York: St Pauls, 2000), 73
[2] Ibid.,78
[3] Ibid.,79
[4] Ibid.,80