INTRODUCTION to the SERIES INTRO to SERMON John 19:25-27

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Faces at the Cross – Mary and John Page 1 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, March 24, 2019 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church

Faces at the Cross – Mary and John John 19: 25-27

INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES We are on our way to the cross. It’s the same journey we make every year in the weeks leading up to Easter. Often, we use one of the Gospel writers as our guide and actually follow along with Jesus on His pathway to the cross. This year we are traveling to the cross by a different route – well by several different routes. We are finding our way to the cross by traveling along with those folks who were actually present that day, when God on earth sacrificed Himself for the sake of the people He created and loved. Some were there because they chose to be; some were there because it was required of them and some, well some just happened by.

INTRO TO SERMON Today we explore the pathway of two individuals who were there by choice. It was no accident. These two Faces at the Cross would not – could not – have been anywhere else. Today we stand with Mary the Mother of Jesus, and John the beloved disciple. As we explore their stories, I suspect we might learn something about our own. At least, that’s what I’m hoping. It is the Gospel written by this disciple himself that tells us about their presence.

John 19:25-27 25Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” 27Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

MARY Let’s start with Mary, the Mother of Jesus. What exactly do we know about Mary? The Gospel writer tells us that 3 other women came with Mary that day. That’s not surprising, is it? That’s just the way women work. As awful as it was to be an eyewitness to the cruelty and gruesomeness of a crucifixion, the women closest to Mary would never have let her go alone. And, you know, I’m thankful for that. Seems to me that Mary had to endure far too many things on her own. We first meet Mary in Luke’s Gospel when she is receiving life-changing news from the angel Gabriel. Do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God. Luke 1:30 She is to be the mother of the long-awaited Messiah. That’s extremely heavy news for anyone to receive and process, let alone a young teenager. It’s a little surprising I think, since she was the actual mother of God on earth, but Mary really does not appear all that often in Scripture. Once you get past the birth and childhood bits, we hear very little about Mary. She is mentioned in Matthew (13:55) and Mark (6:3) when Jesus has, as an adult, come to Nazareth to launch His ministry. He is not well received. Let’s check Matthew’s version of that:

Matthew 13:54-56 54He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? 55Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56And are not all his sisters with us?

Though Mary does not actually appear in this event, it does tell us a few facts about her. We know that Mary is still alive when Jesus begins His ministry and she’s still living in Nazareth. And … we know that she and Joseph had several other children after Jesus was born. The next appearance of Mary is recorded only in the Gospel of John, chapter 2. There’s a family wedding in Cana. Mary is there, apparently helping with the reception. Jesus and His disciples attend. Well, there’s a problem. They run out of wine. Mary goes to Jesus with the problem.

John 2:3-5 3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Now before we go any further, let me correct a common misunderstanding. Jesus was not being disrespectful or harsh when He called Mary “woman.” The Greek word there ______Unpublished work ©2019 Julianne Brittain Faces at the Cross – Mary and John Page 3 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, March 24, 2019 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church was used as a title of respect for a woman of marriageable age. It was as though He was a good southern boy saying, “Ma’am.” In fact, I’m pretty sure Jesus used that word as a special sign of affection for Mary. We will see why a little later so hold that thought. Anyway, Mary expects Jesus to handle the problem and He does … that’s when He turns the water into wine. That’s His first miracle and, the way John explains, Jesus beginning His public ministry. Now some people feel that Mary expected Jesus to perform a miracle and that she was actually pushing Him a bit to get on with His ministry. I don’t think so. I think there was a problem and Mary knew that Jesus was a problem solver. I suspect she would have been as surprised as anyone else to discover that Jesus met the family’s need by performing a miracle. There is a seldom noticed verse following the water into wine event that I believe points to the surprise everyone must have felt by Jesus’ action in Cana.

John 2:12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there a few days.

After these few days in Capernaum, John says Jesus headed up to Jerusalem and began His ministry in earnest. So, what was happening between the first miracle – the unexpected display of power at Cana – and the planned entrance into Jerusalem? Jesus was spending time with those most affected by what had just happened and what was yet about to unfold - His mother, His brothers, and His disciples. I believe He was preparing them AND preparing Himself by drawing strength and support from those who loved Him best. From this we know a few more things about Mary. We know she depended upon Jesus. When something needed to be fixed, she turned to Jesus. And, we know something even more important. She was an active part of Jesus’ young adult life and an instrumental part of the launch of His public ministry. But along the way, something happened. The Gospel writers tell us that there came a point in Jesus’ ministry when His family tried to bring Him home. He was angering the authorities and people were saying He was mad. When Mary and His brothers tried to see Him, Jesus was pretty harsh. He refused to see them saying, Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. Mark 3:35 That’s tough on everyone. It’s hard to believe now, but in the early years, my family had a hard time supporting my ministry. There were very few female pastors then, and they just could not get their head around it all. It was tough – on everyone. But it didn’t stay that way. And it didn’t stay that way for Jesus and His family either. The next time we see Mary is ______Unpublished work ©2019 Julianne Brittain Faces at the Cross – Mary and John Page 4 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, March 24, 2019 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church when her face is numbered among the Faces at the Cross. We will come back to that. But there is one more reference to Mary after the cross. It appears after the cross, after the resurrection, and after the ascension.

Acts 1:13-14 13When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

Mary did not retreat to her hometown of Nazareth after the death and resurrection of her son. Oh no, she was right there with the early believers – praying for what was yet to come. The resurrected Jesus told His followers to go to Jerusalem, to pray, and to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, and that’s exactly what His mother did. She may have had her doubts along the way, but our last glimpse of Mary is praying for those Jesus left to continue His ministry. It’s not the least bit surprising really but we learn here that Mary was a person of prayer.

So, what exactly do we know about Mary? • We know she was chosen by God to be the mother of His son and though surprised, she was willing. • We know that she was living in Nazareth, and involved in Jesus’ ministry. • We know that at some point along the way, she questioned the actions of Jesus and wanted Him to come home. • We know that she was a person of prayer who continued to be part of the Christian community following Jesus’ death and resurrection. Oh …. AND • We know she was at the cross.

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM MARY That’s what we know but what can we read between the lines that will help us learn a little more about ourselves and our path to the cross? First of all, (and I can tell you, this is a huge learning for me) We don’t have to fully understand what God is doing in order to be faithful and to be used by God to accomplish His purposes. Think about it, the young Mary was completely overwhelmed by the message from Gabriel. She could not understand it but she was willing. The older Mary became concerned for her son. He was upsetting the authorities. People thought He was mad. She wanted to protect Him, bring Him home. She didn’t understand what Jesus was doing and why. But ______Unpublished work ©2019 Julianne Brittain Faces at the Cross – Mary and John Page 5 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, March 24, 2019 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church even so, when He needed her most, she showed back up – she found her place at the cross. I suspect even then she did not understand. When I wrote the little monologue for Mary that Ginny delivered so powerfully two weeks ago, I included that bit about Mary expecting the angels to come and deliver her son from the cross because that’s what I would have expected, hoped, prayed for. I have no doubt at all that Mary was bewildered at her son’s death, unable to understand why God would allow such a thing to happen. But still, she was faithful. We won’t always understand what God is doing and how, but we can still be faithful. God can and will still use us. The second thing I think we can learn from Mary is to Lean on others when our burdens are especially heavy. Right after she received that news of the coming birth, Mary headed to see cousin Elizabeth. In Elizabeth, she found someone to lighten the load. At the cross, she was surrounded by three female friends and the disciple that Jesus loved best. Too often we try to carry our burdens all alone. I find church people are often really bad about this. They want to help everyone else but are extremely slow to ask for help for themselves. But folks, we are not meant to travel alone; we are not meant to bear our burdens alone. When will we learn what Mary discovered, that one of the greatest gifts God gives us is – each other? No doubt when Mary looked at her beloved Jesus on that cross, she wondered how she would ever be able to face life without Him. So, Jesus gave her His beloved John, someone to share the load.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT JOHN And I think John has something to teach us, too. I can’t go back and cite all the verses that provide information about this disciple. He was part of it all – one of Jesus’ first two disciples, the only one at the cross, one of the first two at the empty tomb, and the one who lived the longest. Here’s what we know about John: • He was a disciple of John the Baptist before following Jesus. • He was Jesus’ cousin and one of the inner circle. • He had a very special relationship with Jesus, known as ‘the one Jesus loved.’ • After the death and resurrection of Jesus, he became a leader of the early church and the writer of several New Testament books. BUT we also know that John was • Impulsive, intolerant, exclusive, and at times, violent.

When a Samaritan village refused them hospitality, John and his brother James wanted to call fire down upon it and destroy it. (Luke 9:54) When John happened upon someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name, he forbade him to do so because the man was not part of their group. (Luke 9:49) And we can’t really blame John for his mother’s actions but I suspect Salome’s request that her sons have special positions of honor in ______Unpublished work ©2019 Julianne Brittain Faces at the Cross – Mary and John Page 6 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, March 24, 2019 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church

Jesus’ kingdom fit in pretty well with the brothers’ own hopes and plans. Of course, Jesus rebuked all these actions but it’s no wonder He called James and John the sons of thunder. We know a lot about John – some good, some not so good. But we do know that he was at the cross --- the only male disciple recorded as present. But what can we learn from John about our own path to the cross? What can we find when we read between the lines?

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM JOHN First (and this is such a hard lesson to learn), Even the most loyal and faithful follower of Jesus can get it wrong. John loved Jesus so much. And Jesus loved John so very much. How hard it must have been for Jesus to rebuke the one He loved and how hard it must have been for John to hear those words. And yet, Jesus loved John too much not to correct him and set his feet on the right path. Allowing ourselves to be corrected is one of the hardest things to do in life – to really learn from our mistakes. But that’s what John did. The one who wanted to exclude and destroy others ended up writing words like: • By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35 • This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15:12 • Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God. I John 4:7 • Beloved since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. I John 4:11 • God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. I John 4:16

Somewhere along the way – impulsive, exclusive, intolerant, and at times violent, John finally got it right. We don’t know exactly what brought about the change. Maybe he just spent enough time with Jesus, listened long enough and closely enough to Jesus. Maybe he felt the power of Jesus’ love for him and the power of Jesus’ love through him. Maybe he just watched the way Jesus treated others. We don’t know exactly what happened to turn the Beloved disciple into the disciple of love, but somewhere along the way, it happened. Jesus never gave up on John. And that’s good news, friends, because it means even when we get it wrong Jesus won’t give up on us either. Reading between the lines of John’s story we can learn something else too. There’s more than one way to serve Jesus. Those who follow Jesus are meant to grow and develop, discovering new ways to serve Jesus along the way. John was one of ______Unpublished work ©2019 Julianne Brittain Faces at the Cross – Mary and John Page 7 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, March 24, 2019 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church the first disciples and was always one of the inner circle. That might seem like enough, but it wasn’t. After the death and resurrection, John stepped up with Peter to be a key leader of the early church. They dominate the early chapters of Acts. In Galatians, Paul describes John, Peter, and the Lord’s brother, James, as the pillars of the church. (Galatians 2:9) That might seem like enough, but it wasn’t. Tradition tells us that John went on to live in the city of Ephesus where he became a great leader of the community of faith. That might seem like enough, but it wasn’t. He became a prolific writer, sharing his own account of and theological understanding of Jesus’ life in his Gospel. The 3 short letters of John are attributed to him as well and the final book of the New Testament, Revelation. Through those writings, John is still serving the followers of Jesus, even you and even me. That might seem like enough, but still, it wasn’t. So then, John served with Jesus, served in the church after Jesus, served by writing a significant portion of the New Testament, AND finally served Jesus as an exile for the faith, dying a martyr’s death. And that might seem like enough, but it wasn’t. John did one more thing for Jesus and this opportunity came to him, in part, because his was one of the Faces at the Cross. Do you remember? When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. And there’s that special word Jesus used for his mother again: woman – ma’am. John tells us he used that title for Mary as he was beginning his ministry on earth and as it was ending it. And finally, John would serve Jesus by caring for His mother. And that well, seems to me, that was enough.

CONCLUSION Mary and John. Two of the Faces at the Cross. They were each brought to the cross because of their great love for the one who was hanging there. Be sure you understand this. They were brought to the cross AND to each other because of love. Seems to me that’s what’s been happening in the church ever since. Maybe that’s what Mary and John, together, have to teach us. When our love for Jesus finally gets us to the cross, it will connect us to others who are there, in new and profound ways. It happens in the church every day. People who would never be together elsewhere actually care about, enjoy one another and work together for Jesus. The elderly and the young. Different backgrounds, different races, different likes, and different dislikes. Different interpretations of Scripture and different political persuasions. Different fears and different failings. Different gifts and different passions. ______Unpublished work ©2019 Julianne Brittain Faces at the Cross – Mary and John Page 8 of 8 Rev. Jan Brittain, March 24, 2019 Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church

At the cross, Jesus gives us … each other. You see, friends, those who make it to the cross today are just as different one from the other as those who were the first Faces at the Cross. And that’s good news indeed, because it means that you and I can find our places at the cross too and – find one another. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Life Application Questions: 1. Did you learn anything new about Mary? If so, did that new knowledge bring new insight?

2. Did you learn anything new about John? If so, did that new knowledge bring new insight?

3. Have there been times when you could not understand what God was doing and how? Were you able to be faithful even without understanding? What happened?

4. Who do you allow to share your burdens? Do you need help? If so, seek out that help within the church. There are support groups like Divorce Care and Grief Share. There are friends in faith like Stephen Ministers. Reach out.

5. John shows us we can still be used by God even when we get it wrong. Have you ever “gotten it wrong”? Have you changed in your understanding, attitude, behavior as you’ve spent time with Jesus?

6. Are you still serving Jesus the way you always have? Is it time to try something new? What might you try?