We continue with the series of meditations on Jesus' 'Seven Last Words'. This week we focus on the Lord's gift to us of Mary and we to her; also Jesus' cry of abandonment from the cross.
3. ‘WOMAN BEHOLD THY SON; SON BEHOLD THY MOTHER’
‘Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold thy son’. Then to the disciple he said: ‘Behold your mother’. And from that hour the disciple took her into his home’ (John 19:25-27).
When a person receives the terrible news that they are terminally ill, one of their first priorities is to make arrangements so that those they love and are about to leave behind, are cared for. It is a wonderful witness to love: thinking about others and not themselves. Here with Jesus, we see the same love that he shows so poignantly when he looks down from the cross and seeing his mother and the disciple he loved, entrusts one to the other’s care. Throughout his Gospel, St John consistently refers to the ‘beloved disciple’ who is present at the most significant moments of Jesus’ life. He or she is not given a name but merely called ‘the beloved disciple’. Some scholars of Scripture believe that this person is John himself. However, the majority believe that ‘the beloved disciple’ is none other than you and me or anyone who reads the Gospel and who takes Jesus’ word to heart. If this is true then it is you and I that Jesus entrusts to Mary’s care and it is she who is entrusted to our love too.
If we are entrusted to Mary’s care then she becomes our mother as Jesus asked her to be: ‘Woman behold your son or daughter’. What this means is that each of us have a special place in Mary’s heart. She knows each one of us by name and loves us like only a mother can. For Mary, we were entrusted to her by her Son Jesus so therefore nothing is more important to her than helping us know and love her Son as she came to know and love him with her whole heart. She teaches us how to know him, how to trust him and gently tells us every day: ‘Do whatever he tells you’.
She is also entrusted to our care. She is Jesus’ dying gift to us. The Gospel text tells us that when the Lord said to the beloved disciple: ‘Son behold your mother’, the disciple took Mary into his home. In Biblical times, this was a huge act of trust as Mary would have been considered one of his family from that moment. But that is who Mary is for us: she is one of our family. Taking her into our home is a way of saying that she becomes part of our inner lives, daily lives and is taken into our hearts. Along the path of life, she urges us to persevere in faith as she did and to never lose sight of the promises that God has made to us: ‘Blessed is she who believed that the promises made to her by the Lord would be fulfilled’ (Luke 1:45). From the moment she said ‘yes’ to the angel at the Annunciation, we are told that the angel left her. From then on, the light and clarity of that apparition left her and she was left to trust God as she followed her Son on his way to the cross. As our companion in following her Son Jesus, she urges us not to lose faith but to trust as she did and to rejoice with her in God our Savior.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for the gift of your mother as you died. Give us the grace to welcome her into our lives and our hearts. May we always turn to her as a mother and friend. With her help, may each of us know you better and learn how to love you more. Amen.
4. ‘MY GOD MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?’
‘When the sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani’ which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mark 15: 33-34).
Jesus is now entering his final agony. Bruised, scourged, his hands and feet ripped through with nails and fastened to a cross: the physical pain must have been beyond what anyone could bear. And yet, these words of the Lord that he cried out in agony are not words of physical pain but of mental anguish. Jesus, as he hung on the cross, was lonely. He felt abandoned by God who had been the rock of his whole life. Now, there was darkness and fear as silence reigned when the prayers of his heart received no answer. Then, in solidarity with all of those who would know such torment, Jesus cried out in the words of the Psalm ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ Here is the prayer that conveys the depths of sadness, the anguish of the soul of Christ- forsaken, forgotten even by God himself. But what kind of Savior could Jesus be if he had never gone through this pain? How could he then have spoken to those who know what it is like to feel abandoned by God? God did not come to bring an end to suffering nor to explain it. He came to fill it with his presence. In his love, Jesus endured all this suffering in order to reach the lost and most abandoned so that he might offer them the same hope that led him to Easter Sunday that seemed an eternity away from this dark moment.
Also for us, when all is darkness and emptiness and God seems far away, we must not despair because no matter how far we travel down the road of intense suffering, we will find him there with us and before us: Jesus Christ, crucified and forsaken who seeks only our trusting in him, even when that trust is hard to give. But give it, and the emptiness will be filled, inner wounds healed and peace achieved.
Lord Jesus Christ, because of your agony on the cross, I believe that you understand all my troubles and sorrows. I believe that even in my darkest hour, you are there with me even if I cannot feel your presence. By your passion on the cross you entered into the heart of darkness, evil and sin. By your resurrection, your transformed the darkness into light, evil into mercy and sin into grace and blessing. Come Lord Jesus into my heart and shine your light; come into our Church and come into our world. Be with all those in agony of mind or body and help them to hope beyond their pain and so reach your infinite love. Amen.
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