in public. To cite Warren Wiersbe, pastor and author, “It was such a cosmopolitan crowd that Pilate wrote the declaration for the cross in three different languages! Our Lord,” he continues, “was not crucified in a corner somewhere! Openly, publicly, shamefully he was crucified. And there Mary stood, feeling the sword go through her soul.”

Max Lucado, pastor and author, captures the relationship between mother and son when Jesus began his ministry and would put away his carpenter tools and apron and set his face to the cross. “Mary is older now. The hair at her temples is gray. Wrinkles have replaced her youthful skin. Her hands are calloused. She has raised a houseful of children. And now she beholds the crucifixion of her firstborn. One wonders what memories she conjures up as she witnesses his torture.” She stands with her sister, two other women also named Mary and one man – one disciple – John.

Jesus knew her pain, her agony, her loneliness. The deepest expression of his love was to provide for his mother. “Woman, behold your son” was not Jesus’ cry that Mary look at Him in his grotesque and bloodied condition, but to look next to her to see John – her new son! Her new provider! Her new supporter! Saying “woman” versus “mother” is a respectful address that also speaks of a shift in relationship. Jesus was moving from being her Son to be her Saviour. This is one reason she was told sorrow would pierce her heart. As Jesus prepared to return to his Father in heaven His relationship with his biological mother was changing and Jesus took that into account because His love for his mother was deep.

Author R. Earl Allen shares an interesting thought on the word “Behold” in verse 27 as Jesus addressed John. “Jesus was using the Jewish form of a contract of marriage.” He replaced the standard ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ language for the words ‘mother’ and ‘son’ “making this binding relationship.” Jesus challenges John “My relationship with those to whom I am joined in covenant is to be considered of more value than the relationship with a brother with whom I may have shared the womb." As Jesus, hanging on the cross, enters into covenant relationship with John, he invites John to enter a covenant relationship with Him!
Blood is thicker than water.

Commentator and scholar, William Barclay, captures an important lesson. “There is something infinitely moving in the fact that Jesus in the agony of the Cross, when the salvation of the world hung in the balance, thought of the loneliness of his mother in the days ahead…In the moment of his cosmic battle he did not forget the simple things that lay near home.”

What hope is inspired in our hearts as we consider this! God’s first and last thought is the welfare of his children! The Provision of the Cross is an act of covenant. It is not a half-job effort to fix things. It is a plan that would never turn back!

The idea that Jesus would subscribe to the blood is thicker than water philosophy is simply amazing. That God would say to us, "My relationship with those to whom I am joined in covenant is to be considered of more value than the relationship with a brother with whom I may have shared the womb" is too much to consider and fully understand. Yet this spirit definitely resonated in the heart of the crucified God. The account of Matthew 12 proves the point.
46 As Jesus was speaking