At some point or another you may have used this familiar phrase - Blood is thicker than water. The context in which we use it is to describe the meaning that blood-related families are more important than anyone else. R’ Richard Pustelniak, congregational leader for the Jewish community called House of Living Stones writes about this phrase. “This phrase has completely lost its original, covenant-related, meaning…The original meaning is, "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb," or, "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."
God moves my heart when I realize He has been in covenant with us from the beginning of time. God made a covenant with Noah never to flood the world as he had this one time (Genesis 9). He made covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15) to give him a certain land to his descendants for generations to come. He heard the cries of slaves in Egypt (Exodus 2) and remembering his covenant to Abraham, set them free and delivered them to the land he promised their forefather.
We continue through the Bible and find covenant after covenant until we get to this most amazing, mind-blowing and humbling experience of the cross – the ultimate covenant; the covenant to which all other covenants in the Bible point! You see, Jesus believed blood is thicker than water! Those with whom he entered into covenant were more important than even those with whom he shared his mother’s womb!
The whole premise of today’s text is a language of covenant. As we consider two very important messages in our second sermon on Jesus’ Last Words, it is an interesting scene that holds cosmic messages which we must not miss. I want us to begin by considering
1. JESUS’ PROVISION AT THE CROSS
There are so many lonely people in the world. There may be a lonely person sitting right next to you and you can’t see it because it’s hiding under the smile and the smart clothes. “A "Ziggy" cartoon recently pictured the small, pudgy man sitting alone in a boat, drifting toward a tunnel with the sign above, "Tunnel of Meaningful Relationships”. A study by the American Council of Life Insurance reported that the most lonely group in America are college students. Next on the list are divorced people, welfare recipients, single mothers, rural students, housewives, and the elderly.
To point out how lonely people can be, Charles Swindoll mentioned an ad in a Kansas newspaper. It read, “I will listen to you talk for 30 minutes without comment for $5.00." Swindoll said, "Sounds like a hoax, doesn’t it? But the person was serious. Did anybody call? You bet. It wasn’t long before this individual was receiving 10 to 20 calls a day. The pain of loneliness was so sharp that some were willing to try anything for a half hour of companionship.”
Mary, Jesus’ mother, was a lonely woman. Her husband, Joseph, had died. Jesus’ half-brothers and sisters did not appreciate her commitment to Jesus, nor his claims of being Messiah, not to mention the disgrace he brought to the family as he died like a criminal. It seems from written accounts that they never showed up for his crucifixion.
Mary suffered – without her children’s support – as Jesus died like a criminal. She suffered as he died in disgrace. She suffered as he died 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 to the crowd, his mother and brothers were outside, wanting to talk with him. 47 Someone told Jesus, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to speak to you." 48 Jesus asked, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" 49 Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "These are my mother and brothers. 50 Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!"
It seems a cold and heartless response to his mother’s and brothers’ searching for him. Yet, when we understand the context of his answer and the meaning behind his words our hearts must shout with excitement and gladness! Can you see how deep his love goes? Blood is thicker than water!
The second and final lesson teaches us about
2. OUR RESPONSIBILITY AT THE CROSS
“When Queen Victoria was a child, she didn’t know she was in line for the throne of England. Her instructors, trying to prepare her for the future, were frustrated because they couldn’t motivate her. She just didn’t take her studies seriously. Finally, her teachers decided to tell her that one day she would become the queen of England. Upon hearing this, Victoria quietly said, "Then I will be good." The realization that she had inherited this high calling gave her a sense of responsibility that profoundly affected her conduct from then on.”
With privilege comes responsibility. Little Victoria understood that, in some respect, and so must we. When Jesus invited John into covenant by caring for his mother Mary, John quickly accepted the responsibility and took Mary home with him to care for her as his own mother. John’s love for Jesus led him to accept responsibility for Mary. John took Jesus’ place in Mary’s life and became a son to her in His place.
19th Century English Pastor, Charles Spurgeon suggests the picture of John and Mary represents a bigger picture than what we see on the surface. It is the message that “those who love Christ best shall have the honor of taking care of His church and His poor.” To the Bible’s indication that “from that hour {John} took her into his own household” Spurgeon says to us, “You expected him to do it, did you not? He loved his Lord so well.”
We in the 21st century church face a dreadful theme of poor discipleship. We want the benefits of the cross but not the discipline or responsibility of the cross. I conducted a national survey in 2008 to evaluate our sense of readiness and sense of calling to share the gospel with other people. Potentially more than half of us in the church, fifty two percent (52%), do not feel any sense of responsibility to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Twenty eight percent (28%) fell we are too busy and it is not my responsibility.
Warren Wiersbe challenges us, “If you and I have come to the cross, we have a big responsibility – the responsibility of loving the Lord Jesus and then living for the Lord Jesus and loving others.”
To quote Allen once more, it is as if Jesus speaks to us through John: “My hands are nailed to this cross. What I cannot do now, you do in my place, for my sake.’.” Now here is the big question that Allen throws our way. “Are the hands of Jesus tied now?...The responsibilities of love can never be shirked. This is a challenge to those who stand in the name of Christ, to those who stand under the protection of the cross of Jesus and say, ‘Lord, I am yours.’ Then Jesus has a right to say to us, ‘Treat the world as I would treat them. Say the words that I would say. Do the things that I would do. If you will not do it for their sake, do it for my sake!’”
The blood of the covenant speaks to me and to you. The call to us is to dive in to the same commitment that Jesus surrendered for us. To borrow Pustelniak’s words, “My relationship with {Him} 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.”
Blood is thicker than water.
WRAP
CHRIST’S PROVISION at the cross is unequalled. His covenant with us is deeper than any relationship God had ever known. It is so deep that his blood paid the price for it. Jesus says 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."
OUR RESPONSIBILITY because of the cross is also unequalled. It is to our shame and judgement should we see the cross as our ticket out of hell with no further calling to love the people God loves and give attention to His priorities, to the church, His body, His Bride. We must pray to see if we don’t already embrace the significance of this statement, “My relationship with {Him} 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.”
The covenant works both ways.
