WHY JOHN?

WHY JOHN?

“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home” (Jn. 19:25-27).

John’s Gospel refers six times to the “disciple whom Jesus loved”. It was, no doubt, the Apostle John. John who wrote this Gospel, modestly chose not mention himself by name. It is clear that from this time on John took Mary, the mother of Jesus, into his own home.

It is generally accepted that Joseph, the husband of Mary, was dead. He is not mentioned in the Bible after the incident in the temple when Jesus was twelve years old (Lk. 2:41-52). Jesus, as the oldest son in the family, had the responsibility of caring for his mother. Since Jesus was dying, he passed on that responsibility to John. The question is, why John?

Contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church, Mary was not a perpetual virgin. She was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, but He was her “firstborn son”, not her “only begotten” son (Lk. 2:7). After Jesus was born, Mary had four other sons and at least two daughters. Jesus grew up in Nazareth and the people there were familiar with His family. When Jesus spoke in their synagogue Mark wrote: “’Where did this man get these things?’, they asked, ‘What’s this wisdom that has been given unto him, that he even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?’ and they took offense at him” (Mk. 6:23). Hence, after the birth of Jesus, the Scriptures no longer refer to Mary as the “Virgin Mary”, but rather, “Mary the mother of Jesus” (Acts 1:14).

Why, therefore, didn’t Jesus assign the care of His mother to one of his four brothers?

Jesus, as you know, chose twelve apostles. Judas, betrayed Him, but He still had ten other faithful apostles in addition to John. Why didn’t Jesus ask one of them to take care of His mother?

While the Bible does not answer this question specifically, IT IS CLEAR FROM THE TEXT THAT JOHN WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO WAS THERE AT THE TIME! THE ANSWER TO OUR QUESTION THEREFORE MAY BE QUITE SIMPLE! JESUS DID NOT ASSIGN THE CARE OF HIS MOTHER TO ANYONE ELSE BECAUSE THEY WEREN’T THERE!

Jesus once told a parable about a great banquet to which the invited guests were too preoccupied to come (See Lk. 14:15-24). One man had purchased a field and wanted to go see it. Another had purchased five yoke of oxen and wanted to try them out. Still another just got married and wanted to be with his wife. These men may have had great “ability” but they had no “availability”. Standing at the cross with Mary the mother of Jesus would not have been a priority with them!

What about you? Are you so busy with the things of earth that the commands of Christ must be postponed until a more convenient season? (Acts 24:22-27) Another man wanted to follow Jesus, but “first” wanted to go home and bury his father (Lk. 9:59,60). Conventional wisdom is that his father was not even dead at the time. There is something sinister about asking God to wait on us. God uses people who are available regardless of their qualifications. Isaiah may not have been the best or smartest, but he was at least available. He eagerly said to the Lord: “Here am I, send me” (Is. 6:8).

HOW LONG WILL IT BE BEFORE YOU ARE AVAILABLE TO SERVE GOD?