Behold Your Mother

Any Christian worth their salt has at one time or another asked himself how he can not just be a disciple of Jesus, but a good and faithful servant, God’s friend like Moses or even a person after God’s own heart like David.

Or if we are to use the language of the Gospel of John we too might wonder how we can become beloved disciples. But have we considered the reality that perhaps we have actually already been shown how?

Think about this, do you remember it, the words spoken to Mary and the beloved disciple at the foot of the cross?

“Woman, Jesus says, behold your son, and son behold your mother.”

And then he took her into his home.

What if that is the key?

What if the secret to becoming a great lover of God in the wake of the New Testament is actually intimately connected to our willingness to invite Jesus’ own mother into our homes?

Or look at it from the other direction.

What if bringing Mary into one’s life doesn’t make us beloved disciples, rather bringing Mary into our homes is what beloved disciples do?

In either case we can see a great link, Mary is to be mother of all beloved disciples.

But is that possible, can one woman be mother of us all?

Of course Eve was called the mother of all the living;

…and the Queen Mother in ancient Israel was also considered mother to all of the people;

…and let us not forget that the mother of the Messiah himself would be crowned in John’s vision with 12 stars (a symbol no doubt for the twelve tribes and apostles which more or less means all of God’s people).

Yes, in the precious moments found beneath the cross this holy week you can be assured that our Lord is directing His mother to you as well.

And only one things remains: Will you take her in?

Will you too care for the one that cared for Jesus, when very few in the world knew that he was Lord.

In Christ,

patrick