Read John 19:26–27

When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” (John 19:26–27)

What a contrast we have at the cross! God’s perfect sacrifice—His Lamb—hung there in agony, giving His life, shedding His blood for the sins of the world. Heaven stood breathless, as the salvation of the world was being completed. And at the feet of the Lord Jesus, four coarse, sin-hardened soldiers were shooting dice for garments. The contrast is profound.

Also at the foot of that cross, with faithfulness and quiet heroism, stood Jesus’ mother Mary. What a courageous woman this beloved mother was—not a crumpled heap but “standing.”

Imagine what it must have been like for Mary to watch her dear son being brutalized, tortured, and hung on a cross?

As she stood there, Jesus said to her, “Mother, behold, your son.” And then He addressed John the disciple whom He loved. In effect Jesus told John: “I charge you to adopt this woman as your mother. You are to take her into your home and into your life. Love her and care for her as I would, were I to continue to live. She is to become as precious and dear to you as she has been to Me.”

At the closing moment of His life, during His indescribable suffering, Jesus took care of His mother. Though His own pain was unbearable, He had her welfare and protection near His heart to the very last.

At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful mother weeping,
Where he hung, the dying Lord:
for her soul of joy bereaved
Bowed with anguish, deeply grieved,
Felt the sharp and piercing sword
Who, on Christ’s dear mother gazing,
Pierced by anguish so amazing,
Born of woman, would not weep?
Who on Christ’s dear mother thinking,
Such a cup of sorrow drinking,
Would not share her sorrows deep?
—Latin text, 13th century

Adapted by Insight for Living staff from The Darkness and the Dawn by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com