Temple Baptist Church - 2-28-2016
John 19:25-27
Introduction:
A. The sayings of the cross give insight into the duel nature of Christ. In the study of Theology, this is referred to the Hypostatic Union of Christ. Jesus Christ was 100% God and 100% man at the same time. Though this defies human comprehension, it is a Biblical reality.
B. As 100% God, He could die for our sin and fully satisfy the just righteous demands of the Father. As 100% man, He could be touched with the feeling of our infirmities and become our faithful High Priest.
C. Much heresy is refuted in the gospel: the death, burial, and bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here are examples of just a few of them.
1. “Father, forgive them” refutes teachings that the church and the priests can forgive sin. Only God can forgive sin!
2. “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise” refutes both multiple ways of salvation (Christ is the only Way to heaven), the doctrines of Limbo, Purgatory, and soul sleep (today … with me).
3 Our verses for this morning, “Woman, behold thy son … behold thy mother” refutes Mariolatry. Our Lord dispelled the heresy that Mary was the “Mother of God” as is believed by many. God had no mother! There are no verses of Scripture where Jesus ever referred to Mary as mother.
4. The symbols of her so-called “majesty” as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate are imprinted in the Medal of the Immaculate Conception (Miraculous Medal). All three are heretical and clearly refuted by the Word of God!
a) Coredemptrix - John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
b) Mediatrix - 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
c) Advocate - 1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
D. From the cross, our Lord made statements from both the human side and the divine side of His person. Here, in the third saying of the cross, we find our Lord dispensing the care of His earthly mother to John the Beloved. An obligation that He took seriously and set forth an example for us to follow. In the first saying from the cross, our Lord dealt with the forgiveness of sin; in the second saying, He dealt with the salvation of an individual; in this third saying, it is interesting that He dealt with the family unit.
1. Mary’s Devotion! In Mary’s life, we find both devotion to Jesus on the human side as mother and on the spiritual side as her Saviour.
a. Mary’s Selection - Luke 1:26-27, 28 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, (27) To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary … (38) And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. (Mary was pure and highly favored but not divine! Joseph and Mary, after the birth of Christ, had a normal husband/wife relationship and their other sons were named in the Bible.)
b. Mary’s Salvation - Luke 1:46-47 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, (47) And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. (Only Sinners need a Saviour. Mary was just like you and me. A good woman; a godly woman; but not the Mother of God! God has no mother. Jesus Christ never called Mary his mother but referred to her as “woman.”)
c. Mary’s Sorrow - Luke 2:35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) (Mary was a special woman as she was chosen to bear the Son of God’s physical body. Though He was God, she was still a mother! How many times did she “ponder” these things in her heart? Mary, the one who gave Him birth; Mary, the one who nursed Him on her breast; Mary, the one who swaddled and took care of Him; Mary, the one who raised Him during His formative years; Mary, the one who pondered His being while He was growing up; Mary, the one who accompanied Him during His earthly ministry; Mary, the one who stood by Him while other forsook Him.)
d. Mary’s Steadfastness - John 19:25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother … (Mary never left His side! Her love and devotion was to her Saviour, not her just her son! If you are reading my notes, you will notice that “son” is not capitalized in this last statement. Though He was God, He was still her “son” in the flesh. She, of course, sorrowed as everyone else did but she knew who He was, why He came, and what He was doing.)
2. Jesus’ Duty! As the norm was, the transferring of the mother’s care from one to another in the case of death was done within the family. Our Lord could have as easily done so before Calvary but chose to open address it from the cross. In doing so, He showed an important truth openly for us all.
a. His duty. After the death of Joseph, which is not recorded—as the first born—it was our Lord’s duty to care for His earthly mother. It was the responsibility of the eldest son to care for the parents when they got older and our Lord was no different.
b. His desire. As God, all men and women were equal but, as a “son,” his mother was special. As one writer put it, “Christ’s sufferings surpassed all conception, yet they did not drown the memory of His mother.” As any one of us, our Lord had the highest regard for the one who gave Him birth. He never disrespected Mary nor was He ever disobedient to her. We, as God’s children, are admonished to honor and obey our parents.
c. His decision!
1) Our Lord Jesus did not commit His earthly mother to a brother. This would have been both the natural and biblical things to do. The care of mother belonged to the second born son at this time. It shows me a failure within the family structure. Satan has done a job on the American family because God has gone from 1st to 2nd to 3rd to last place in the home. The family structure is the strength of both the church and the nation. As goes the home, so goes all else.
2) Our Lord Jesus did not commit His earthly mother to the church. Mary was not a “widow indeed” and, therefore, was not the responsibility of the congregation to care for. You can argue all you want about the beginning of the church but we can all agree that there was a body of believers to whom the Lord gave the Great Commission and both local church ordinances.
3) Our Lord Jesus chose John the Beloved, a man who could be trusted! The only disciple that remained at His side until the end. None others are mentioned
Conclusion: In the third saying of the cross, we find the importance of family and duty. Family is important to God because He established the family unit in the Garden of Eden.
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