Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other
Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Collect for Maundy Thursday – Anglican Book of Common Prayer)
Genesis 3:15 NRSV
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
Psalm 22:9-10 NRSV
Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Luke 2:34-35 NRSV
This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
John 19:25-27 NRSV
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
Mary is the first and ever-faithful witness to Jesus. Like the Ark of the Covenant in the Old, her womb was the chosen vessel for the centerpiece of the New: God’s own Son. Bishop Ambrose of Milan, while insisting that Mary could add nothing to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, calls her a “royal hall” because she bore God’s Son into the world. When he turned water into wine, she was there. In his teaching and his healing, she was present. She was there when the Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost. And at the cross, she remains. Long before the cross, at the presentation of Jesus [in the Temple], aged Simeon said to Mary that, because of this child, a sword would pierce her heart (Luke 2:35). At the cross, the final blow of that sword is loosed. And she didn’t flinch. She stayed put by the cross of Jesus.
(Justin D. Clemente, “At the Cross,” pp. 115-116)
The Magnificat: Prelude to Faith / Holy is His Name
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
