Good morning…
“I asked the LORD what I should preach on today,” said the pastor at the funeral. “I was led to a strange scripture – John 19:25.”
Mary, Jesus’ mother, was standing next to his cross, along with Mary’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. So when Jesus looked down and saw the disciple he loved standing with her, he said, “Mother, look—John will be a son to you.” Then he said, “John, look—she will be a mother to you!” From that day on, John accepted Mary into his home as one of his own family (John 19:25-27, TPT).
“Hanging on the cross with a thief on the left and a thief on the right, beaten and broken, Jesus gets a glimpse of his mother,” the minister explained. “He sees her deep pain. He knows his time on earth is over. In his last moments, Jesus performs a spiritual adoption. Mother, John will be your son. John, she will be your mother.”
Preparing for his physical absence on earth, Jesus ignites the ministry of ongoing presence, joining his loved ones as spiritual family members. Pondering them in my heart, the minister’s words hold hands with the tender encouragement spoken earlier in the memorial service by Leon’s dear friend: “When we think about this mother left without her son, this sister left without her brother, these children left without their father, let’s not allow the spiritual nudge to pass. Instead let’s promise to take a moment to text, to call, to visit, to send a note, caring well for this grieving family, three months, six months, a year from now. Forever we are spiritual family.”
Here is the beauty of the spiritual adoption set in motion by Jesus Christ on the cross: we, frail humans empowered by the Spirit, do not need to be physically present at any given moment to take one another into the home of our hearts as we become the living, breathing family of God.
…Sue…
