Happy Mother’s Day!
We have been listening to John’s gospel through our Easter season. This week, Jesus is again at the Last Supper with his disciples and is talking to them about the oneness between God the Father, Jesus and us.
In John’s gospel, Jesus is in charge. We do not have to worry about him nor do we have to worry about those he leaves behind. He makes grand promises about us. However, on this Mother’s Day, we might wonder about his mom. What happens to his mother? In those days, a mother’s children were her Medicare, her social security, and her pension.
Do you remember the scene at the cross in the gospel of John? Mary is not alone at the cross. Her sister is there with Mary Magdalene and Mary the wife of Clopas. The beloved disciple is also with her – a man who is never named in John’s gospel. That is his only identity: that Jesus loves him.
Perhaps it is his loyalty and courage, since he is the only male disciple standing there. The women are not in nearly as much danger as he is. Since a woman’s testimony won’t hold up in court, they are not likely to be stopped and questioned, but he is, especially if he looks and sounds like a Galilean.
Jesus speaks to them from the cross. First, he looks at his mother. “Woman, here is your son.” Then he looks at the disciple standing beside her and says to him, “Here is your mother.” Since Jesus’ hands are not free, I imagine he has to do a lot of work with his eyes, indicating which woman and which man. When he is through, the adoption is final. From that hour, John says, the beloved disciple took Jesus’ mother into his home.
It is a gesture of tender love, and yet I wonder which way it went. Was Jesus looking out for his mother or for his disciple? Who needed whom more? Jesus placing his mother in the care of his disciple is our clue that she is a widow and that she does not have any other children. When Jesus dies, she will belong to no one. She will be responsible for herself. It is likely that she will eat other people’s leftovers for the rest of her life, with no father, no husband or son to protect her. So, it is merciful for Jesus to give her a new son. But it is also merciful of him to give that son a new mother, especially this one.
The tradition tells us that Mary was with John for the rest of her life. Those who were with us on the pilgrimage in the Footsteps of St. Paul last year will recall visiting the House of Mary in Ephesus. Mary must have played an important role in the early church. For when the other disciples come crawling out from their hiding places, they find themselves in the presence of someone whose contact with the Holy Spirit has been far more intimate than theirs. She has seen things they have only heard about. She has felt things inside of her they cannot even imagine. Perhaps that is why she stayed put by her son while they fled. Perhaps that is what gave her the courage to look at her crucified son.
While the political powers believe they are tearing his family apart, Jesus is quietly putting it together again: this mother with this son, this past with this future. Although his enemies will succeed in killing him, he leaves no orphans behind. At the foot of the cross, the mother of the crucified one becomes the mother of the church. The beloved disciple becomes her new beloved son.
As Jesus tells us in the gospel today, there is a oneness between Jesus and us. Because Christ is one and we are one in Christ, and since Mary is Mother of Jesus, Mary is thus our Mother. It is not some mere sentimental thing. It is a real motherhood. We are the beloved disciple at the cross. We are to take her into our home and let her teach us the way of radical love.
To Mary and to all Moms, Happy Mother’s Day.
Fr. Damian