Behold Your Mother.
Chapter 11 from Mary: honor and value.
When you go on an adventure with Jesus you really never know what is going to happen next. Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me. Bonhoeffer put it this way: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him, come and die.” And you know, whenever God is going to take you into something difficult He will take time to prepare you. The first references to the events of 2020 in my prayer journals were in 1987. Mary, on the trip to the Temple after her barnyard birth experience, was confronted by an old prophet and he said, “This child is going to determine the fate of many in Israel, and a sword is going to pierce your heart.” I don’t think Mary lived in dread of the day that Jesus died, but I imagine there were days she thought “I wonder what that meant?” Mary is noticeably absent from the ministry of Jesus. She’s not mentioned in Mark’s gospel at all. Except for Cana, and the event I mentioned already, she is not present. Jesus had heard the Voice of his Father, and he left home. He went to Capernaum, and then seems to have moved his base to Bethany as he approached his fate on the cross. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Mary is at the foot of the cross. Like I said, you never know where your adventure with Jesus will take you. Mary waited for the solution to the problem Eve had caused and that solution was the Cross. I have held in my arms the mother of a young man who was murdered on the streets of Boston. She screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and I held her and I let her. That was the right thing to do. The Bible doesn’t say Mary screamed. But John was there, and he held her. I am sure of it. It wasn’t like the holy cards and the plaster statues in the front of the church from my childhood. No, there was blood, no soft clouds, serene faces, and pastel robes. No. This was a grisly, horrible execution as the King of Kings was enthroned upon the cross. He took upon himself the entire weight of human brokenness, and became the perfect peace offering to restore our relationship to the Father. St. Augustine said that He would have done it for just one of us. The cross is the ultimate expression of your value to God. No man has greater love than this than to lay down his life for his friends. Jesus wants to be your friend, and you are his friend if you listen to the word and do it. I have heard so many forensic explanations of the torture of crucifixion that I am almost numb to them. Normal people go into shock far below the pain threshold that Jesus endured on the cross, and are unconscious. It’s a sort of natural anesthesia. Jesus, at that moment of ultimate suffering, thought of someone other than himself. He was a good son. He was concerned about the welfare of his mother. Honor thy mother and father, that it may go well for thee in the land. He fulfilled it all. And Jesus, so tortured that he lost the appearance of a man, looks to his mother, and says, “Woman, behold your son.” And to John the Beloved, “Son, behold your mother.” When you work for Jesus you are never discarded. When the Father entrusts you with a task, he never forgets you. The Lord is very faithful to his friends. It is all about relationship. And relationship is all about honor, and value. You are not just a task-doer for the clockmaker of the universe. So many toxins from the Enlightenment have poisoned the mind of the church. It is really hard when you work with artists. You have to hear a lot of heartbreaking stories. We live in a culture— and for many, attend churches— that devalues the role of artists. And these folks are the products of a school system that tells you you evolved from nothing for no apparent reason. Therefore, go buy stuff and have lots of sex. Which means, you have to be a jerk to make the most money, and you have to live at the gym so you are sexy. Survival of the fittest is a rotten creed for life. A large portion of my work is helping others overcome the deep sense of worthlessness that they carry. This worthlessness is reinforced by every ad on the internet, television, and radio. It’s supported by movies, TV, and online media. And it says, “You just don’t measure up, and so you need to try harder.” Jesus says, you matter. You matter to me. And if I was thinking of who would take care of my mother, in the most excruciating moment of my life, I was thinking of you too. I would have gone there to death and hell if there was no one else. You are worth everything to me. You don’t have to push your way to the front. You are a part of my family, we are in this together, and I am with you. I promise. And a spear pierced the sacred Heart of Jesus, and a sword pierced Mary’s heart. Blood and water and tears flowed. Just like at the moment Jesus was born. This is the other birth in John’s gospel I mentioned earlier. The Woman stood by the cross of her Son, and received a surrogate son. A new Family was born at the foot of the cross. One born by water and blood, by water and the Holy Spirit, and nourished by water, wine, and bread.
This is a chapter from my book Mary: Honor and Value. If my work encourages you, consider becoming a paid subscriber or buy me a coffee. Thanks.