Title Before My Mother/John 19:25-27
25 - And stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, his aunt, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 - When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."
27 - And he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." From that time on, the disciple took him to his house.
▽ ≪ Sermon ≫
⇒ Happiness is the wish of human beings while living on earth. Every human being has a desire to be happy. People work to be happy. However, as to what happiness is, it is vaguely pleasant and good, but it cannot be said clearly. People think that it is not happiness to earn money, to get a certain degree, and to rise to a certain position. Some people think that having a beautiful body and being good at something is happiness. But these things can be means to happiness, but they are not happiness. The first condition for human happiness is love. Happy to have love
. God loves people who have sinned and become enemies. So, as you make love to die on the cross to save humans, you gain happiness. Even in the world where people live on this earth, happiness is love. A man and a woman fall in love, and a friend loves each other. But the greatest love is the love of father and mother. A father's love is strict. That love makes children right. A mother's love is kind. A mother's love makes children's hearts soft and warm.
. Jesus came into the world to be the atoning sacrifice for human sin. It was the work and life of Jesus to reconcile the relationship that humans sinned and became enemies with God. To do that, he had to leave the place of God and become a human being, and he was born as a human Jesus by borrowing the body of a virgin Mary. Until the age of 30, Jesus had to take care of his mother and care for his brothers and sisters. From the age of 30, in order to save all mankind from sin, he began evangelism to let people believe in Jesus and be saved. And in the end, you go the way of the cross where you die as the price for human sins.
. Jesus called God his Father and told the people he met, what kind of life God wants and pleases. At the time of Jesus, the leaders of Judaism believed in Jehovah, the God, as King and Master. They thought that the only way to please God was to strictly observe the law given through Moses. So there was this doctrinal conflict of interest between Jesus and the leaders of Judaism. Also, Jesus pointed out and rebuked the formal faith and unclean lives that the Jewish people made wrong before God. The Pharisees and scribes, led by the high priest, tried to remove Jesus as a cult of Nazarene, calling him crazy. The Jewish people tried to stop Jesus from doing what Jesus' family was doing.
. Jesus' brothers did not believe in Jesus, and even his mother, Mary, did not understand the way Jesus was going and what God was about to do. So, thinking that Jesus was possessed by a demon, his mother and his brothers came to arrest him and take him home (Mark 3:21). Jesus made it clear and firm what His will and life were from the standpoint of doing God's work. 'Who is my mother and my brothers? Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother' (Mark 3:33-35). The disciple Peter blocked Jesus from going up to Jerusalem to die on the cross to save mankind. The Lord said to him, 'Get behind me, Satan, for you are a stumbling block to me, for you do not consider the things of God, but the things of men' (Matthew 16:23). This is not because I hate my mother and my younger brothers. It's not that I hate Peter. I love my mother and my brothers and sisters are precious, but that doesn't stop God's work.
. The work of God and the love of the mother must be clearly separated. Parents and friends who do not believe in Jesus and do God's work and do not believe in the way of living and receiving blessings do not understand. So they persecute and block the work of God. Those who believe in Jesus on this must make their position clear in front of everyone. Parents and siblings are precious, and their love and heart never change. However, we cannot give up our faith in Jesus or the work of God even if we die. That is why we must save our parents, brothers, and all our friends so that they can believe in Jesus, love in Him, and enjoy blessings together.
. Jesus, who died on the cross and was resurrected three days later, has a request to the people as he goes to Heavenly Father. In the last request, there are the requests that I commanded all the saints and the requests that I made to individuals. 'Go ye and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you' (Matthew 28:19, 20). These words are a request to all who believe in Jesus. And there is something Jesus personally asked the two of them to do. One of them is, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me? Feed my lambs' (John 21:15-17). This is the Lord's request to Peter. Another is today's request to John, the disciple whom the Lord loved as He died on the cross, 'Take Mary your mother.'
. Jesus was dying on the cross, pouring out all his blood and water, according to God's will. Mother Mary does not understand God's work of Jesus dying on the cross. What is clear is that now, in front of his mother, his beloved son, Jesus, is suffering and dying at a young age. While being ridiculed and ridiculed by people without guilt, his son dies in a miserable state along with a heinous robber. Who knows the despair of a mother whose young son dies right before her eyes? How would you say, 'When a parent dies, it is buried in the mountain, and when a child dies, it is buried in the heart of the parent'? There is a prophecy that a prophet named Simeon gave to his mother Mary when Jesus was a newborn child. 'This child is set for many, and like a sword will pierce your heart' (Luke 2:34,35).
. Even Jesus, as a son, has the trouble of showing his mother that he is suffering and dying in a miserable way. At the scene of Jesus' death on the cross, we see the unbreakable love of a mother and a son meet. Jesus thinks as a Son. 'If I, my eldest son, die and pass away, how will my mother, who will be left on this earth, live?' So Jesus does the last filial piety. To the disciple John weeping in front of the cross, 'Take my mother as your mother.' Jesus has four younger brothers. But instead of entrusting her mother to her younger brothers, she entrusts her to the disciple who believes and loves Jesus. Why? This is because true filial piety is done by those who believe in Jesus and love Him.
. There is a cross of death at the place where Jesus asked his beloved disciple John for his mother. What does this mean? Jesus is now a sinner and is dying along with the heinous robbers. Your life is in danger when you come to a place where criminals are executed, whether it be family or friends. So if you don't have true love, you can't come even if you want to. He does not come to the field of the cross just because he is a son. It's not like they're the same brothers. I can't come because I'm afraid of dying without love. Love overcomes the fear of dying. In front of the cross of Jesus, only those who love Jesus without sparing their lives are present.
. love is not greedy So, if you love, you do filial piety to your parents without any cost. True love for one's parents does not change no matter what difficulties and sacrifices they make. Who does filial piety? Who takes good care of their parents? not a child born and raised. Not close relatives. A person who believes in Jesus A person who loves Jesus without sparing himself. If you do not have faith in Jesus, your heart will change. If you don't do it out of the love Jesus did, you become a bully on your parents because of your own greed.
. There are heartless people in the world who, even though they are biological parents, abandon their children or kill them because they are bothersome. Also, there are arrogant people who fight over not taking care of their old parents even though they are real children, or go somewhere and abandon them. In contrast, there are people who treat other people's parents like their own. There are people who took a child abandoned by others and raised them wonderfully with love. Children are a precious gift from God to a husband and wife's family, which is accomplished through love. It is not easy to raise children as precious and wonderful as God wants them to be. It is difficult and difficult for children to respect their parents for the rest of their lives and to serve them with love, thinking about the grace of their parents who gave birth to them and raised them.
. Jesus did the filial piety of serving his mother while doing God's work of dying on the cross. He thought of the mother who was heartbroken as she looked at her son in the midst of the pain of being bled from her body and out of breath. So Jesus makes a mother's son as His disciple. 'Look, mother, from now on this person is your mother's son'. And ask your beloved disciple. ‘John, from now on, this is your mother. If you want to see me, look at my mother; if you love me, do it to my mother.' This is the Lord's love and filial piety. Even to Simon Peter, the Lord said, 'If you love me, do it to those whom I have entrusted to you.'
. Jesus loved his brothers too. Love has the power to change people. Jesus had four brothers, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, as well as sisters (Matthew 13:55,56). After Jesus ascended to Heavenly Father, about 120 people gathered in the upper room of John Mark and prayed earnestly. Among them were Jesus' mother Mary and Jesus' brothers (Acts 1:14). At Pentecost, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. His mother, Mary, changed and believed in Jesus as the Lord of salvation, not the Son. The younger brothers also changed and believed in Jesus as the Lord of salvation, not the older brother.
. James, the brother of Jesus, became president of the Apostolic Society in the church in Jerusalem. Although Judas was Jesus' younger brother, he became a servant and served the Lord all his life. He never boasted that he was the brother of Jesus. He did not wield power arrogantly because he was the brother of Jesus and the chairman of the Apostolic Society of the Jerusalem Church. He was always called James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was called Judas, a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James (James 1:1, Jude 1:1). Humans change only when they believe in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit. Those who believe in Jesus but live in the flesh boast proudly that they are their relatives. They view the office of the church as power and harm others. Only those who receive the Holy Spirit and are humble do what pleases God. Those who have experienced the love of Jesus on the cross love and forgive everyone. He becomes a harmonious person who makes his family comfortable and happy even at home. Amen