John xix. 26, 21. When Jesus therefore saio his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son ! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother ! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
IN the hour of our Lord's crucifixion, when nearly the whole of his Disciples had forsaken him, his female relatives adhered to him, and, together with John the beloved Disciple, preferred the pain and danger of a continued attendance on him, to the repose and safety of a disgraceful flight. To this kindness of theirs the dying Jesus was not insensible. On the contrary, he took that opportunity to secure to his mother a protector through all her remaining days ; and to confer on John an honour, which even an angel might well have envied. The transaction, being one of the last in which the Saviour was en- gaged, demands particular attention. We propose to consider it, I. As an emblem for our instruction —
Many of our Lord's miracles were certainly in- tended to shadow forth the spiritual blessings which he came to bestow : and some of his actions also were plainly adapted to the same enda. We do not indeed assert, that such was the intention of the fact recorded in our text ; yet we may without impropriety remark, that it is well calculated to shew,
1. The care which Jesus takes of his suffering people —
[The time was now come, when, according to the pre- diction of the aged Simeon, " a sword pierced through the soul" of the virgin mother. But Jesus, though in the very agonies of death himself, was mindful of her, and committed her to one, who should supply his place, and be to her as an affectionate and duteous son. His removal from this lower world has in no wise diminished his concern for his afflicted
2 See John ix. .39. and xiii. 8.