Family was important to our King. His mother Mary first shared her pregnancy with her cousin, Elizabeth. In the end of His life here on earth her sister was with her. The last assignment that Jesus gave was that John would take Mary into his family and care for her.
Then when all things were fulfilled He gave up His spirit.
It is finished!! Grace, God’s amazing love!
John 17:4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.
Matthew 27:50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
Incredibly, despite knowing many would reject Him, Jesus went willingly to the cross because He knew many would believe, and He offers forgiveness for our wandering hearts. Love compelled Him to pay the penalty for our sins (Isaiah 53:6) so that we could be made right with God. What a tremendous gift! First5
Gratitude grows from seeing with new eyes.
Advent, as with so many markers and celebrations on our spiritual journey, is too easily put in a box of expectations. We have it figured out. And when we begin there, we miss the new and the expanding (and yes, and sometimes unsettling and stretching) places where the sacred is alive and well. It’s just not where we expected it. Say, a manger in a stable…
Let’s take John O’Donohue’s reminder with us this week, “At Christmas, time deepens. The Celtic imagination knew that time is eternity in disguise. They embraced the day as a sacred space. Christmas reminds us to glory in the simplicity and wonder of one day; it unveils the extraordinary that our hurried lives conceal and neglect. We have been given such immense possibilities. We desperately need to make clearances in our entangled lives to let our souls breathe. We must take care of ourselves and especially of our suffering brothers and sisters.” SabbathMoments
John 19:25–30
25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. The New King James Version
Here are some remarkable circumstances of Jesus’ death, more fully related than before. Pilate would not gratify the chief priests by allowing the writing to be altered; which was doubtless owing to a secret power of God upon his heart, that this statement of our Lord’s character and authority might continue. Many things done by the Roman soldiers were fulfilments of the prophecies of the Old Testament. All things therein written shall be fulfilled.
Christ tenderly provided for his mother at his death. Sometimes, when God removes one comfort from us, he raises up another for us, where we looked not for it. Christ’s example teaches all men to honour their parents in life and death; to provide for their wants, and to promote their comfort by every means in their power.
Especially observe the dying word wherewith Jesus breathed out his soul. It is finished; that is, the counsels of the Father concerning his sufferings were now fulfilled. It is finished; all the types and prophecies of the Old Testament, which pointed at the sufferings of the Messiah, were accomplished. It is finished; the ceremonial law is abolished; the substance is now come, and all the shadows are done away. It is finished; an end is made of transgression by bringing in an everlasting righteousness. His sufferings were now finished, both those of his soul, and those of his body. It is finished; the work of man’s redemption and salvation is now completed. His life was not taken from him by force, but freely given up. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Behold you mother suggests that Mary had been following her son during this portion of His ministry and was relying on Him and His disciples for support. Her husband, Joseph, might have died by this time. Because men usually married much younger women (about 15 years younger, on average), Joseph probably had passed away already—especially since he is not present in any Gospel after the visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was 12. Even if Joseph were alive, his age would have inhibited him from caring for Mary, which explains why Jesus asks John to take care of her. Women without husbands or male support were rendered impoverished because they could not earn enough wages to buy food and could not own property.
Sour wine indicates a cheap wine and might allude to Psalm 69:21. Jesus used wine during His last meal with His disciples to symbolize His own blood spilled to atone for their sins, which makes this theologically symbolic. His blood is sprinkled for God’s people while He carries their iniquities. A branch of hyssop was used by Jews to smear the blood of their Passover lamb over their doorposts. This would deter the angel of destruction from taking their firstborn. This is symbolic of Jesus’ role as the Passover Lamb: God will pass over people’s sins because Jesus’ blood is present. As a sacrifice, He carried the weight of their sins in His death.
Jesus knows that God’s plan for Him has reached its completion—He has done what He came to earth to do. Faithlife Study Bible
The disciple whom He loved refers to John, the author of this Gospel. Jesus placed Mary in the care of John.
Everything foretold concerning the earthly life of Jesus had been accomplished.
Sour wine was not the same as the drugged wine that had been offered to Jesus earlier (“wine mingled with myrrh”). Jesus did not take that wine because He wanted to die fully conscious. He did take a sip of this wine; one of the agonies of crucifixion was incredible thirst, added to the terrible pain.
It is finished. Having fulfilled every command of the Father and every prophecy of Scripture, Jesus voluntarily died. This was not a cry of exhaustion, but of completion. Jesus had done what He had agreed to do. The NKJV Study Bible
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