Happy Easter!!

For Good Friday one of the ways my church reflects is through meditations on the seven last words of Christ

I was asked to do a reflection and thought I'd share it here....

Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there; so he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that time the disciple took her to live in his home. (John 19:26-27)

The presence of Jesus’ mother here reminds us of the fleshy-ness of the Incarnation. His experience of family adds to the humanity of his experience on earth. We are reminded that Jesus was a real human being, a man who had once been a boy who had once been carried in the womb of his mother. The Light of the world took on the darkness of the womb. The Word become flesh was mute for nine months. The humble love that drove Christ to empty himself and enter the world as a child is the same love that sends him to the cross.

The presence of Mary also reminds us of the immense grief that Mary and John must have experienced. I cannot imagine the horror of watching one’s son in that immense pain. Once again I’m reminded of Christ’s birth, as shepherds spread the word of the birth of the King, angels sang, and Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” I wonder if she was remembering those days in this moment, continuing to ponder these things in her heart as she looked at Jesus upon the cross. And Jesus, in the midst of His pain, chooses to step into their grief. Out of his love for them He provides a new family. He acknowledges their pain & grief and provides for them. In the kingdom of the crucified one, the lonely are not left to suffer alone. Amidst Christ working out the redemption of the whole of creation, He also acknowledges the grief of John and Mary. It’s because of his humble, fleshy love that he is able to step into that grief, for He too once wept for a friend’s death. When Jesus wept for his friend, Lazarus, in so many ways those tears were a waste. He knew his capacity to raise his friend from the dead, and it goes against reason and rationality for Jesus to have sat and wept. Those tears were extravagant. It’s that same kind of extravagance that we see here. As Christ is at work providing salvation for the entire world, He provides for and steps into the grief of these two people. It is a waste for Him to pour such love out for these two individuals. It’s extravagant for Him to see them—to look at them with love and see their pain.

This radical, humble, extravagant love is what so shapes John‘s identity—the disciple Jesus loves. Out of the twelve disciples, John is the only one we see with Jesus at the cross. While the other disciples have run away in fear, the disciple Jesus loves is sitting at the foot of the cross. There for Jesus to say to him, “Here is your mother.” These words stir something in me, a deep desire to be the faithful disciple that Jesus sees standing at the cross. To so identify as Jamie—the disciple Jesus loves that I would trust Him and allow His perfect love to drive out fear. For it’s that perfect love that drove Him to enter into our world, live the life of a servant, and submit to death, even death on a cross.

In Jesus’ provision and words to Mary and John I find an invitation. There’s an invitation for me, for us, to trust deeply in the extravagant, humble love of Christ. It’s a risk to believe that the Lord’s love is so mysteriously wasteful that He steps into my grief, my pain, and my hurt. That just as He redeemed the entire creation, He has redeemed me. As I sit with that love, and identify myself as the disciple Jesus loves, I believe that love will motivate us, to be the disciple that pursues rugged faithfulness rather than running away in fear. “Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there,” and so he spoke to them. Jesus’ love on Calvary sees us, whispers to us, beckons us to trust, and says that His love is capable of transforming our broken hearts. Our hearts can be swept away in a deep trust and knowledge that we are the one Jesus loves.