A new relationship at the Cross.

Reading: John 19:25-27.

“Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother … When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”

The suffering of Christ Jesus on the Cross at Calvary has been spoken about many times. But tonight I want to add another that suffered at the Cross at Calvary. Her name was Mary, for she was the mother of Jesus. A mother is expected to spend most of her life loving and bringing up her children. Oh! How she must have suffered that day.

Mary was told something about her life around 30 years before the Cross, which said “Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed”
Luke 2:34-35.

There at the Cross, Mary was suffering great pain watching her son dying. But, the Cross was a place of reward and a new relationship for Mary. For Jesus knew what Mary was going through.

We also suffer in many ways, yet, God cares for us as much as He did for His own mother. Because Jesus knows our own struggles and will reward our faithfulness when we come to Him at the Cross.

Jesus knows our trials and our needs. He knows your sorrows and pain, the lonely nights, the emptiness within. It is never God’s plan to hurt you, only to help you by His love, to reward you with a new relationship through Him. What relationship comes by way of the Cross of Calvary.

1^ST POINT: For Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Cross was a place of reward and relationship.

Mary was Jesus’ earthly mother and He did not overlook her while He was on the cross. Jesus saw her and had compassion on her and assured her of His love for her. The Lord rewarded her suffering with a new relationship, by offering His disciple John as her new son, “Woman, here is your son.” 

What was He doing? Jesus did not have any possessions to give to anybody, not even to His mother. The soldiers had gambled for His clothes. What could He give? So He gave His mother a new son.

Why did Jesus reward His mother? What was the cost for Mary at the death of her son?

What suffering did she endure?

1.     Mary suffered shame and reproach and gossip when she is found to be with child before her marriage to Joseph.

2.     Mary suffered when she bought her first child into this world in a stable.

3.     Mary fled to Egypt to save her young child from Herod, but countless innocent children died because of her child, what grief she must have borne.

4.     How do you think she felt about this suffering? She would have suffered emotionally most of her life over Jesus.

5.     There was a growing separation between her and Jesus when He declared to her one day, “You do not know that I must be about my Fathers business?”

Yes, a sword did pierce Mary’s heart.

1.     Countless times over the years she had held the hands that now were held in place with nails.  

2.     She had bathed and caressed the skin that now hangs in ribbons. 

3.     She would remove every splinter He got in the carpenter's shop, and now large thorns have been driven into His skull. 

4.     She would do her best to protect her child from bulling, yet she had seen the cruel blows of sadistic men upon her son.

5.     For years she gazed into the eyes of her son, now, the Son of God gazes down on her from a cross.

It is never God’s plan to hurt you, only to help you by His love, to reward you with a new relationship through Him. What relationship came by way of the Cross.

Conclusion:

“Near the Cross” that is where the Lord wants us to be. If you have never been born again, then you might as well be one of the soldiers hammering the nails. For it was our sins that fastened Him there! 

There's Room at the Cross for you. Come to the Cross of Jesus today! Come today and make Jesus your friend and Saviour. How you may ask? “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” Romans 10:9.