Lent reflection

The words from the cross

Major John Waters continues his series for Lent, emphasising ‘the word of relationship’ and the need to care for one another

‘D EAR woman, here is your son... Here is your mother’ (John 19:26 and 27 New International Reader’s Version). The accurate reading of the text by most translators appears rather stark to us, but the simple ‘woman’ is a correct rendering of the Greek word, which carried no such abrasiveness for the Greek reader. It occurs elsewhere in the Gospel of John in the story of the wedding at Cana (see 2:4) and in the meeting with the woman at the well of Sychar (see 4:21). Some versions – for example the Good News Translation and The Living Bible – avoid the supposed difficulty by omitting ‘woman’ and the New International Reader’s Version seeks to address any modern sensitivities by adding ‘Dear’. The nativity story gives a hint of Mary’s suffering to come – ‘A sword will pierce your own soul too’ (Luke 2:35) – and it is a sign of the humanity and selflessness of Jesus that in his own agony he thought of the agony shared by his mother, and made provision for her future by entrusting her to ‘the disciple whom he loved’ (John 19:26). Commentators have tried to explain why it was that in commending his mother to the care of this disciple Jesus ignored the claims and responsibilities of his natural brothers. They suggest it might have been because ‘even his own brothers did not believe in him’ (John 7:5). How could he be sure that they

would exercise the proper care once he was out of the way? But, of course, their lack of faith in no way annulled their legal responsibility.

A better way of looking at this saying is to remember that, of all the evangelists, John is the one who spells out the spiritual implications of the narrative. Characteristically, events are used as pegs on which to hang extended expositions of the teaching he had heard during Jesus’ ministry – so that may be the explanation in this instance.

John is neither concerned with the historical probability of whether Mary’s immediate family should discharge their legal rights, nor with the physical relationships that had previously existed. His concern is with spiritual realities, and for him the unnamed beloved disciple stands for the new family of God brought into being by Christ’s ministry, death and resurrection. It is in this newly fashioned fellowship that divine care is to be exercised by and towards all its members. This is an idea that Paul, in his letters, is at pains to develop, and this saying from the cross can profitably be studied alongside Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 12, where the Church is the body of Christ in which ‘its parts should have equal concern for each other’ (v25).

The saying is also a commentary on the apparently harsh teaching of Luke 14:26: ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, even their own life – such a person cannot be my disciple.’ As with ‘woman’, the word ‘hate’ in this text does not carry the same interpretation as we would expect. The meaning is rather that in the Kingdom of God all relationships are superseded by and subsumed in the fellowship of believers – a fellowship of mutual love and care in which to love our neighbour as ourselves is only possible when love for God is paramount. In truth, of course, the quality of love is indivisible.

William Law, an 18th-century theologian, wrote perceptively on this Christian responsibility: ‘Though we are to treat all mankind as neighbours and brethren… we can only live in the actual society of a few… so when our intercession is made an exercise of love and care for those amongst whom our lot is fallen… it then becomes the greatest benefit to ourselves.’

Of course, in many ways the world has shrunk since William Law wrote, but there is much truth in the thought that essentially our love of neighbour will be demonstrated most obviously among those with whom we constantly mix. How can we declare that we love God – and those in distant lands – if we do not love our ‘neighbours and brethren’? ‘For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen’ (1 John 4:20).

Even on the cross Jesus admonishes his disciples to exercise their responsibility to one another as partners in his new creation. We do well to heed his word.

MAJOR WATERS LIVES IN RETIREMENT IN BIDDULPH MOOR