Jesus is Different

There are many things we could focus on in this passage. We learn that we should care for our own parents and family, just as our Lord cared for his mother with his dying breath. We learn also that we should acre for the poor, just as Christ with his dying breath cares for a widow who would otherwise be homeless, and provides her a home. But I want to focus this evening not on the care we are called to show to others, but on the care Jesus shows us from the cross.

Care for others tends to be one of the first things that we set aside when we are hurting. In fact, we know that we’re supposed to care for those who are hurting. How silly it would be for a boy who just broke his leg to come home from the hospital and tell his mom, “lie down now, and let me get dinner ready for you, and find a pillow for you to put your feet up.” I’m sure every mom would love that, but that’s not what you do. The healthy care for the hurting.

And the reality is, when we are hurting, we don’t naturally think about the needs of others. I remember this Christmas we all got sick at once, and I got to the point where I was incredibly impatient with my children. And it wasn’t their fault. To my shame, it was my fault: I was sick, and I wanted to feel better, and so I didn’t care about their needs. That’s a pretty natural reaction for us when we’re not well.

But Jesus is different.

How unlike us Jesus is in his suffering. Not only is he suffering, not only is he dying, but he is exposed. He is being mocked. As this scene with his mother is playing out, he can see four soldiers laughing as they divvy up his clothes, and play dice for his cloak. Can you imagine as you’re dying people playing a hand of cards for your best jacket, your best dress.

But Jesus, as the curse of sin lies upon him, as the searing pain of the cross bears down upon him, as he has every social courtesy stripped from him, his eyes rest on… his mother. His mom who bore him, suffered social stigmas, and accused of infidelity for bearing the Son of God; His mom who nursed and raised him; who with him mourned the death of his earthly father, who he had cared for and provided for as the oldest child up until now.

He sees her, And his great concern, suffering the pain, suffering the shame, suffering the curse for our sin— his concern is for what will happen to his mom!

         And he cares for her. And he shows the depth of God’s care for us, that on the cross, he cares not for himself, but for his people.

And I want us to see that cares for three things: He cares for our earthly needs, for our family needs, and for our soul’s needs.

Jesus cares for our earthly needs

Here you see Jesus entrusts his mother to the care of “the disciple he loved”. This is the name John, the author of this book, gives himself. Jesus, as the oldest son, was responsible for his mother after the passing of his father Joseph. But now that he’s gone, she will need a home. She’ll need support and care. And Jesus doesn’t consider this care beneath him. Just think of it. Jesus is on the cross. Every one of his basic needs have been stripped away. He will shortly say “I thirst”. The Son of God will thirst for water. He has just lost all his clothes, his last earthly possessions, to a game of dice. What bandwidth does he have to care for her? He has nothing. His existence is pain and curse.

You might imagine Jesus saying, “I’m paying for your sin, and that’s enough.” But no matter how low Jesus is brought, he possesses the strength, the love, the compassion, as he dies, to say, “My mom John! Take care of her!” In his emptiness, he supplies her need.

My friends, do you think Jesus is uncaring? Do you think he doesn’t care for you? At his weakest his heart was burdened for the poor and needy. And it’s not just his earthly family he cares for. Jesus says, “whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:33).

Christian, you are Jesus’ brother, his sister, his mother. You’re his family. He cares for his family. He cares for your deepest needs. It’s the heart of his very being. He is full of grace and truth. His whole life He had compassion on the crowds, because they are sheep without a shepherd. He cared for the hungry. He cared for the sick. He cares about you. About your pain. He cares about your unhealed heartache. You strip everything away from him: comfort, food and drink, his very clothes, and he cares. He cares for all your needs. Including the ones you face every day. The mundane, the chronic, all of them. He cares.

Not only does he care for our earthly needs.

He cares for our Family needs as well.

As Jesus gives his mother a home, he cares for her family needs. It’s interesting, Jesus is giving his mother a new family here. We read from other places in scripture that Jesus had other siblings. But you look around at this crowd, and they’re not there. It’s Passover, if you’re Jewish, you’re in Jerusalem. But they’re not at the cross. Just his mother, and a couple of other women and John, the beloved disciple.

And so Jesus gives his mother to his disciple. Jesus is saying something extraordinary here. He’s saying that he’s come to establish a new family. And Jesus cares for his mother by entrusting her to another member of this new family. Someone who will care for her with something better than the love of a son. John will care for her with the love of Christ. Because all who belong to him are truly a new family. And in this new family, faith runs thicker than blood.

I know a number of you know what this is like. And it’s both a source of joy and pain. It’s a source of pain for many of you, because you wish your family would see what you see. You wish they treasured Christ like you do. You wish they saw it. Whether it’s just one sibling of your whole family who has turned from the Lord, or you’re the only one in your family who follows Jesus, it hurts. To see a child turn away from this savior who cares and loves and died for you, it hurts. To have a child or a sibling, or a parent turn on you and hate you because of your savior – it hurts.

But there’s no better earthly joy than experiencing Christ’s care for you through his family, the this body of Christ, the church. People who love you and care for you. Who will visit you, who care for your soul. Who love your savior too, and know with you that this Christ dying in shame on the cross is worth more to you than worlds of treasure. You can be from other countries and know nothing of each other’s families or favorite pastimes; you may hardly have the same language in common. But if you have this in common: you have Jesus, he’s bought you both with his blood and brought you into a new family, then there’s a bond that is stronger than iron. Because Jesus has cared for you both in this way: he’s brought you into a new family.

This family, the church, it’s so important to Jesus that he makes sure his mom is secure in the body of Christ before he dies. Because this is how he will continue to care for her, after his death and resurrection and ascension. It’s through this family. And this is how he cares for you, through this family.

Do you want this kind of family? A place to belong? Jesus offers such care to you this evening. And lastly,

Jesus cares for our souls deepest needs.

On the cross Jesus doesn’t just care for his mother by giving her an earthly home, or home in the sense of a new family. He cares for her by giving her whole being, body and soul, a home with himself.

You see, without Jesus Christ, we are all spiritually homeless. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each one of us has turned to his own way.” We’re all lost on our own. We all have gone astray. Ever since mankind sinned, and God cast him out of his first home in Eden, we have been homeless. Estranged from God; sinning against him in thought, word, and deed. We’ve incurred a debt we cannot pay, and we’ve been evicted.

But, “Here we have a firm foundation, here the refuge of the lost; Christ’s the Rock of our salvation, his the name of which we boast.” “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” That’s the care Jesus shows for you on the cross.

He bore the burden of your sin. His being stripped, his being wounded, his being beaten and struck and humiliated and pierced and stabbed; his thirsting and dying, it’s all for the care he has for your eternal soul. It’s all so you don’t have to bear it.

Here on the cross he’s not just giving his mother a home. He’s telling evicted sinners, “The debt has been paid! Come home!”

And if you’re wondering how to come home, the way home is by faith and repentance. By daily laying your life down at the foot of the cross, and looking up to the man on the cross and saying, “I trust you. Forgive me. Forgive me for putting you there. I trust you.”

Have you done that? Have you looked to Jesus? Have you trusted this Savior? Please do it. He loves you. He cares for you.