Jesus is about to die, but he takes care of one last item of business:

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (John 19.25 – 27, NIV)

How Jesus could continue to think of others, even in a time of unimaginable pain and distress, is worth contemplating. Some in Christian ministry have “given their lives” for the cause but abandoned their families in doing so.

But Jesus had cultivated a relationship with John so much so that John considered himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. (I wrote about this recently.) This relationship made it possible for Jesus to make this request. My friend and Navigator mentor Skip Gray said something like, “Sometimes carrying your cross is costly to other people. This wasn’t John’s cross. It was Jesus’ cross, but John picked up the responsibility to care for Mary, a widow.”

Anyone who neglects to care for family members in need repudiates the faith. That’s worse than refusing to believe in the first place. (1 Timothy 5.8, MSG)

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 923, ESV)