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If you've ever seen home movies, videos now I guess, digital videos, often those who are front and center are the babies. Brothers and sisters want to be near them. They want to soak up some of the attention that used to come their way. Grandparents, aunts, uncles want to see them, hold them. Babies get presents, blankets, clothes, diapers, etc. But normally, nobody gives the baby more attention than the mother. Mothers love them, care for them, hold them, pray for them, worry about them, cook meals for them, provide clothes for them. I remember my mother made me a William Tell outfit. Now those of you who don't know, William Tell was supposedly a liberator in Switzerland. When I was growing up in Detroit, we saw these two programs. They were back-to-back Robin Hood and then William Tell. William Tell had his sheepskin vest. That's all he wore so he could show off his guns, meaning his biceps. Because my name was William, I sort of gravitated to that show more than Robin Hood, although I like Robin Hood. So my mom made me a vest like that. I remember when Sam was little, he and his friend KJ wore superhero costumes. Sam was Superman, KJ was an incredible, I don't remember which one. Now most of us now shop for our kids' clothing. For centuries, mothers made the clothing that their families wore. Having talked to enough mothers to know, being married to a mother of six doesn't stop when they grow up. They may not exactly be your baby anymore, but he's still your boy, she's still your girl. And if anything, there's joy for success, heartache for problems, and it may even get more difficult in some ways because the older they get, the less you can do about it. And our oldest son is now 39. If he has problems, they're his problem. Mostly. Mary the mother of Jesus knew from the beginning that her boy Jesus was extraordinary. She knew, well first there was the virgin birth. But then when they took into the temple to make their sacrifice for the first born son, while they were there, a righteous and devout man named Simeon took Jesus into his arms and Luke 2.29 says, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory for your people Israel. And it says his father and mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the rise of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul also. So that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. Now Mary must have wondered all those years must have pondered exactly what Simeon meant by a sword shall pierce your own soul. But now standing there with her sister and her two friends as they watched together, Jesus be crucified. She knew. She knew what it meant. The soldiers drove the nails, the spikes really into Jesus feet and wrist. And as the nails pierced the flesh of her boy, she knew what Simeon meant. And that long ago promised sword, a sword of agony and grief pierced her own soul. See the soldiers had stripped the men, Jesus and the two being crucified alongside of him. They'd stripped him of their clothing and the Romans did this especially to increase the humiliation as if being crucified publicly wasn't enough. They did it without clothing. Philippians two said, Jesus made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Now because we're Presbyterian, we often use the Westminster shorter confession, which says in shorter catechism, excuse me, which says in number 27, Christ's humiliation consistent in his being born that in a low condition made under the law undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God and the cursed death of the cross and being buried and continuing under the power of death for some time. Not only was he stripped of his clothes in front of his mother and aunt and their friends so that his crucifixion was more brutal and more humiliating, the soldiers who were killing him divided his clothing. But there was one garment that caught their attention in particular, the seamless tunic. It was woven in one piece from top to bottom, so it was pretty valuable. And they decided it was too valuable to destroy it, so instead of tearing it apart and dividing it between the four like they had done with all the other clothing, they decided to cast lots for it. And I can't help but wonder, I don't have any specific evidence of this, but I can't help but wonder, did Mary weave that garment for Jesus? Did she take great care in the making of it? Did she think about the words that Simeon had said as she wove it? It's a horrible thing to experience the death of a child. Everyone knows that grandma and grandpa are going to die, and yet when they do it's still sad. Everyone knows that mom and dad will die, but when they do it's very sad. And though we don't like to think about it, husband and wives know that unless they die in the same accident or they're in the movie notebook, one of them will die before the other, but nobody expects to bury a child. It's an unimaginable grief. Now to have this son being tortured and brutalized and killed before your very eyes, when there's absolutely nothing that she could do about it, and then watch as these dogs take the very garment that she perhaps so carefully made for him and cast lots for it, not a shred of sympathy. Maybe she would want it, something to hold onto, something that was his that could be hers. Heard a story one time about a woman after the death of her grandmother. Kept different items of her clothing associated with them. She said, my plan is to cut them up and make it into a quilt, a grandmother quilt, that I can wrap myself up in it again someday. But no, not these animals. They swarmed around him like a pack of dogs until they cast lots for his tunics. And thus they fulfilled Psalm 22. For dogs have encompassed me, a company of evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. If you have any doubt that this was the plan from the beginning, all you have to do is read Psalm 22, which was written hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus. And it so closely tells us what was to happen as Isaiah 53, which we read earlier, did as well. So the soldiers did these things to Jesus. Yet even one of them, you can see at the end of Mark, when he saw the way Jesus died, he said, surely this man is the Son of God. So Mary, her sister, and her friends watched and they grieved. And there was another one there as well. John the disciple whom Jesus loved. Now the Scriptures tell us at the point of his arrest, all of the disciples deserted him and fled. So here we see that John came back. He had gone into the court with him. Peter as we saw last week followed at a distance and stayed by the fire. Now there he was, John, watching his Lord and his friend be crucified. Jesus the one being pierced through, the one being brutalized, the one being savage, the one being cut off from the living, the one being put outside the camp, the one being numbered among the transgressors. This Jesus at this moment had compassion on them. She is losing her son. He said to her, woman, behold your son. And he said to his disciple, behold your mother. And on those brief but compassionate words, Jesus, even while being crucified, fulfills the law to honor his mother by providing for her a son to care for her. Remember, Jesus had chastised the Pharisees for failing to care for their parents. He said, this people honors me with their lips, with their hearts are far from me, in vain do they worship me, teaching his doctrines the commandments of men. You leave the commandment of God and hold the tradition of men. And he said to him, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition. Moses said, honor your father and mother, who reviles his father and mother must surely die. But you say if a man tells his father and mother whatever you would have gained from me is Corbin that is given to God, then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father and mother. Thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and many such things. You do. Certainly, some of those same Pharisees must have been there, gloating. Now Jesus from the cross, as he is being humiliated, fulfills the very law they sought to circumvent. Did any of them get it? Did any of them notice? Were any of them pierced to their heart? Are you? Am I? As we listen to the story yet again of our Savior being crucified for us and watch as he fulfilled from the cross, the very laws we refuse to keep and thereby cause his suffering is your heart moved. Or have you heard the story so many times it just kind of washes over you. Charles Wesley's hymn says, and can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood, died he for me who caused his pain, for me to him who death pursued. Amazing love, how can it be that thou my God should die for me? As we think about these verses, one question that might occur to you, didn't Jesus have brothers? The answer is yes he did. James, the brother of Jesus for one. So why then is Jesus giving the responsibility for his mother to John? Because Jesus' brothers at this point do not believe and Jesus is hereby teaching the priority of fellow believers as a covenant family over unbelieving family members. Wait, what? But Jesus himself said, whoever acknowledges me before men I will acknowledge him before my father. Whoever disowns me I will disown him before my father in heaven. Do not suppose that I've come to bring peace on the earth, I came not to bring peace but a sword, I have come to turn man against his father, daughter against her mother, daughter in law against her mother in law. I mean as enemies will be members of his own household, anyone who has left father or mother, who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who loves his daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who loves his son more than me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, whoever loses his life for my sake, will find it. I saw a quote just yesterday from John Piper. He said, Christianity, the Christianity that decides whether to go to worship or face death and imprisonment is far, far different than the Christianity which says whether to go to worship or to play soccer on Sunday morning. It's far different. Jesus died for us. He died for us to give him all of our life. Romans 5 says, while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. No one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare to die. But God chose his own love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall it be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. In a moment we'll go to this table, this table which symbolizes the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us. The body and blood of Jesus that was given for us, shed for us, so that we from now and forevermore would belong to him and to live in his presence. Let's pray. Father, thank you.