If you’ve ever had to say goodbye to someone, you treasure the last words spoken. You remember what was said. You hold on to those final words. For Lent in 2021, we are focusing on the last words of Jesus from the cross. What did he say? What does it mean for us? How do those words change us? This week, we focus on the word “compassion.” In an act of compassion, Jesus cared for his widowed mother by commending her to his disciple John. Even as he was dying on the cross, he looked down in love and said, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Invitation Prayer
O God, the Psalm says, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.” (Psalm 103:13) So I am quick to run to you. I know you look on me with compassion. So I come to you first. I rush into your arms. I speak into your ear. As my Father in heaven, hear my voice today. In Jesus name, Amen.
Confession
Forgive my sins, O Lord – forgive me the sins of my present and the sins of my past, the sins of my soul and the sins of my body; the sins which I have done to please myself, and the sins which I have done to please others. Forgive me my wasted and idle sins, forgive me my serious and deliberate sins, forgive me those sins which I know and those sins which I know not, the sins which I have labored so to hide from others that I have hid them from my own memory. Forgive them, O Lord, forgive them all.
Word
“Woman, behold, your son!” . . . “Behold, your mother!” (John 19:26–27)
Meditation
This word from the cross is a word of compassion. “Woman, behold, your son! . . . Behold, your mother!” Most everyone else had fled, but there stood his mother, Mary, along with the disciple John. As the oldest son, it was Jesus’ responsibility to provide for his mother, as she was without a husband at this point. Without support, a first century widow would be vulnerable. Jesus had compassion. He took responsibility. He commissioned John to care for his mother. In just a few words, we see Jesus’ love and care for family.
But this exchange has meaning beyond Mary and John. He never names Mary, only calling her “woman” or “mother.” John doesn’t name himself in his gospel, referring only to “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Why? In a sense, Mary and John represent all disciples of Jesus. In Christ we are all placed in a new family, the community of Christ.
His love is not only for his mother, but the family that he created by his sacrifice. You are included in his family. You are called “brother” and “sister.” Praise him for his compassion!
Lord of love, I appeal to your compassion. Care for me by providing Christian brothers and sisters. Build us up in love for each other another, and so demonstrate your love in the world. Amen.
Sending Prayer
Lord of compassion, you have called us into a new family by the blood of your cross. Give us your spirit of compassion that we might love one another as you have loved us. You love me and you send me. I now go in your name. Amen.
*Today’s devotion is taken from It Is Finished by Jeff Cloeter, published by CTA – Christ to All at ctainc.com