For Good Friday, I had the pleasure of being part of a preaching team for a joint service between two congregations in Montreal, Québec. Each preacher spoke on one of the seven last words of Jesus while on the cross. I had the honour of preaching on John 19:26-27:
26 When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the only person in Scripture who was present for the whole life and ministry of Jesus. At the beginning of the Gospel of John, Mary is present for the launch of His ministry at the wedding of Cana, and she is present at his death, when his hour has finally come. She is the character that bookends his life, ministry and death.
The disciple whom Jesus loved is understood to be John, the author of his gospel. This was considered a humble way for the author to identify themselves in their writing. He is the only disciple present at the death, all others have run away in their fear. Mary, Jesus’ mom, and her sister, another Mary, whose husband is Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene are all present, while no other disciples besides John, nor any of Jesus’ brothers are anywhere to be found. The women, who have been present throughout and all along, are there by Jesus’ side.
Mary became Jesus’ mother through somewhat traumatic events: an unwed teenager becomes pregnant in a world that would stone her for such things. And then she loses her firstborn through traumatic events, witnessing His violent execution. Mary knows vulnerability and grief. Widowed (the reader understands that Joseph has since passed), and now losing her firstborn, Jesus invokes a community of care for her, first through John, the beloved disciple. A community of care to sit with her in her grief. “Woman, behold, your son!” This horrific scene reminds us that if anyone understands what it is like to lose a child to state violence, it’s Mary.
Just as John sits with Mary grieving the loss of her son, we can sit with grieving mothers who have lost their children to state and systemic violence. Let us name some of these mothers:
Diane Dubé, mother of Joyce Echaquan; Sabryna Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin; Lilian Maribel Madrid Villanueva, mother of Fredy Alberto Villenueva; Tamika Palmer, mother of Breonna Taylor; Claudette Beals-Clayton, mother of Regis Korchinski-Paquet; Fahima Rezayi, mother of Nooran Rezayi; Donna Ganger, mother of Renee Nicole Macklin Good; the mothers who have lost their children in Gaza.
Jesus, while on the cross, moments from death, is still ministering, first to Mary, then to John: “Behold, your mother!” Jesus is redefining family. Family that is not determined by blood, but by kinship. Indigenous activist and theologian Randy Woodley, says: “A sense of kinship often expands in crisis. If we are all kin, that truth might be sufficient to transform our lives.”1 Kinship that understands trauma. Kinship that understands grief. Kinship that understands solidarity. Kinship that understands resistance. Kinship that understands care.
Jesus, on the cross, abandoned by his blood relatives, except for his mom, and abandoned by his male disciples except John, sees the women, sees his mother, sees his beloved disciple, and reestablishes family, right then and there. “Behold, your mother!” Moments from death, He continues the ministry that ultimately led to his crucifixion: a ministry that challenged the powers at play. Powers that exclude based on bloodline; powers that violently eliminate; powers that subjugate women. Powers that are still very much at play today.
And so here is Jesus’ final radical act: in the face of this power, through his words “behold your son, behold your mother”. He establishes Mary as the theological authority to the gospel. By joining John’s household, she will be his source for the gospel he will eventually write. She was the only one present for it all, her memory, experience and story will be the ink to John’s pen (so to speak). Paraphrasing theologian Jurgen Moltmann, “without Mary, and without women, we would have no knowledge of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.”2 They were always present, despite fear, social norms, despite risk of violence. Their faithfulness means we are here today, ministering in the power of the resurrection.
This is Jesus’ final act of honouring his mother. In her resilience and grief, He assures she will be cared for, and her voice will be honoured and listened to.
- Woodley, Randy, “”The Harmony Way:” Integrating Indigenous Values Within Native North American Theology and Mission” (2010). Faculty Publications – Portland Seminary. 72. https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/gfes/72 ↩︎
- Moltmann, J. (1996). The coming of God: Christian eschatology (M. Kohl, Trans.). Fortress Press. ↩︎
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