SAYING #3
John 19:26
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
In time, when we look back on this virus and the damage it has caused, as frustrating and even sorrowful as it may be, it ultimately will be a bind that ties us together. We’ll be able to tell stories and remember together what it was like.
In an infinitely more profound and empowering way, Jesus death did this for his mother and John, one of his best friends. We can’t even imagine the desperation they were both in when Jesus, in horrendous pain as he hung moments away from his death, offered hope and love to them. This is one of the many gifts of the cross; it has formed a new community, a new family. His death has knit us together as a “band of brothers” – not in sorrow and death but, because of the resurrection, in joy and life.
Think about it like this. We surround ourselves with different forms of community knit together by certain threads. Our families, knit together by our DNA; our adopted children, knit together by sacrificial promises; our spouse, knit together by humble commitment; our friends, knit together by different forms of mutual interests; our neighbors, knit together by geography. The list goes on and on.
So how much stronger is the knitting of the people of God who are knit together by the sacrifice of Jesus and the empowering indwelling of the Spirit, making all of God’s children a unified family for His glory and our mutual growth and satisfaction. Reality is that we are a spiritually dysfunctional family where we don’t act like we are adopted. But we are learning and growing. Here’s two ways to do that:
1) Lean on each other. We are not alone. Allow yourself to be loved.
Don’t be afraid or ashamed. We all need each other.
2) Love on each other. Love the way we’ve been loved.
What does your Gospel-sibling need today?
The even better news is on the way, and is already here. As we’ll see tomorrow in Mark 15:34, we not only have a broader and tighter circle of brothers and sisters, we have a higher and more glorious Father.