etcetera:

John 19:26-27

26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “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.

The Son of God was born of a Virgin. The transcendent, Holy God who brought all things into being out of nothing — the God “who stretched out the heavens like a tent, who rides on the wings of the wind, who makes springs gush forth in the valleys and gives drink to every beast of the field” — who sustains the life of every human being made in his image — the infinite God, out of the abundance of his compassion and love, clothed himself in the finite mortality of our flesh.

And in the midst of that life, there was His mother. His mother, who watched her Son walk His first steps, take His first bites of solid food, wake in the night calling for her, fall and skin His knee. She walked with him through the awkward teenage years — laughed with him, cried with him. She wrestled with the implications of the angel’s words, worried for Him when He traveled with his disciples, marveled to see the power of God made manifest in His works. She walked with him through praise and palm branches and followed him to the very foot of the cross. 

In that moment of inconceivable pain and despair, he saw her. As He hung on the cross, ready to strike a fatal blow to death itself, the Son beheld His mother. He knew the outcome of the battle — the Son was poised to crush the serpent’s head. He knew that all generations would call her blessed. But in that moment, He was a human being in anguish. The suffering God beheld her suffering. He saw a mother who had cradled and nursed, dreamed and worried, laughed and cried. He saw a woman hovering between the already and not yet — living the life we all live today — hoping in God’s promises, but enduring the brokenness of sin and death. 

In that moment, the Christ, both man and God, remembered his mother and showed us the Way. “Behold your mother. . . Behold your son.” From that moment, John took Mary into his own house. This is a culminating moment in Christ’s ministry. In this moment, Christ is building His Church. He is inviting us to behold our mother, our brother, our sister, our friend. We endure because he has entered into our suffering and forged a way of love — inviting us who glimpse ahead to the day when the stone is rolled away and the teeth of death are broken to endure the pain of waiting together — with compassion and hope.  

Author, Ryan Dixon Holy Week, 2024