Utterances from the cross: Woman, behold thy son

I want to look with you in John chapter 19. For those of you who weren't around yesterday, we're trying to look at the utterances of the Lord on the cross. And yesterday we looked at the first one, Father forgive them for they know not what they do, as well as the second one, to the repentant thief, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Tonight we want to look at what I'm assuming is the third one, and that is spoken to his mother and to the disciple, John. Let's start reading from verse 23, just to get the connection. John chapter 19 and verse 23.

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts to every soldier apart, and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be.

That the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, they parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots, these things therefore the soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son.

Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. After this Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.

Now, of all of the utterances of the Lord, this one is going to involve the most technical little points, and so I hope it won't be too technical tonight, because I want it to also be warming to your heart, and a help to think about the attitude of the Lord to those around him, his own mother, the care for his mother, the issues relating to the relationship of Mary, the mother of Jesus, to him, as to his spiritual work and his natural relationship. And this is one of the issues which strike home to many people, even many Christians today. Now, just to give you, again, the pattern of the way we want to look at these, is just to think first of all of the time of the utterance, and then to whom it was spoken, and what it would mean to that person or persons, and then the spiritual truths and applications to ourselves that we can draw from this particular part of it.

And I've been in two conference Bible readings where this has been taken up, and there was quite a bit of discussion about whether this belongs as the third utterance or the second. And I was almost persuaded that it should be switched to the second from the third, and then I've sort of changed my mind again, and I'll give you the reasons for it. So I'll present some of the ideas that are associated with this, and maybe we'll be able to come to some conclusions.

Now to start with, the assumption is made that this was before the darkness came. The Lord was put on the cross about nine o'clock in the morning. About noon, a supernatural darkness, an unnatural darkness, came over the land until about three o'clock in the afternoon.

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, just as the darkness is lifting, the Lord uttered that great cry of abandonment, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's what I hope to take up tomorrow night, Lord willing. And then when we, tomorrow night we'll notice that the last four utterances are very much intertwined one with another. Each is immediately followed by the other.

The great cry of abandonment, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, caused some of them to think that he was calling for Elias. And so as they are talking about that, someone also must have heard him say, I thirst. And even as some of them are saying he's calling for Elias, someone's running to get some vinegar and putting upon his up and giving it to him to drink.

As soon as he takes the drink of vinegar, then he cries, it's finished. And then he bows his head and he says, Father, into thy hands, I commit my spirit. And he releases his spirit.

And so the last four are very much intertwined, almost immediately following one another. And so it's sort of an assumption that this event must be before that. And I'm going to suggest it must have been before the darkness fell, just from the little detail when it mentions when Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved.

Again, the incident, the detail in verse 25, they're stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother. Here they're standing close to the cross. After his death and the earthquake, the darkness, his death, the earthquake, and all that has happened, there's reference made to the women standing afar off.

So they remove from the closest of the cross and they're standing at a distance. So all of those details seem to make it seem reasonable that this little detail is preceding the time of darkness on the cross. Now again, there's a lot of little details here that are somewhat technical, but I hope they'll be helpful to think about.

The detail given in verse 27, from that hour, that disciple took her unto his own home. The word home is in italics. It's actually the same expression that we have in John chapter 1, speaking of the Lord Jesus coming into the world, and it says he came unto his own.

He came unto his own. And so the expression literally means to his own things, to what belongs to him in a peculiar way, his own special possession. And so that's why to his own home is sort of a natural translation.

It doesn't necessarily literally mean that John took her to his house at that moment. It could mean that John took her to himself to take care of her, to belong to him as taking the role of being the son taking care of a mother. So that's just another little detail that adds to the uncertainty as to what actually happened in this situation.

Now, again, because of the assumption from the language of it that John took her away from the cross and took her to his home, it has been suggested that it must have been very early in the time of the crucifixion, and so some have thought that it must have happened even before he spoke to the repentant thief. I read some of the details here before this, and if you go to Luke chapter 23 where you have his words to the thief, there's a parallel there of some of the events that took place. And so it's very, it could be before or after that second one.

So and here's where you get a division between men and women. I've always assumed that the Lord arranged for his mother to be removed from the scene as an expression of his protective care so that she wouldn't have to see him die. And that has always made sense to me, appealed to me.

But in giving ministry on this and understanding some of the details that I'm going to give you shortly, it is very, and I would suggest, more likely that she stayed at the cross and was there at his death and also went to the sepulcher. And after I mentioned that in ministry, a couple of sisters spoke to me after and they said, we've always believed that. They said you wouldn't get a mother to leave.

You couldn't have taken her from that experience. And I expect that's true. So I've changed my opinion a little bit about this and maybe you will too.

So significance of the words that he spoke. He speaks to his mother and I just did a little quick mental check of my memory of the Gospel of John and I think, I couldn't be dogmatic about this, but I think that John always refers to Mary as the mother of Jesus or his mother. I don't think she's ever named as Mary in the Gospel of John.

The other Gospels do. It's an interesting thing that John, if he is truly the disciple whom Jesus loved, that he would focus upon this relationship, the mother of Jesus, his mother, being the one who did take care of her afterwards and took on that role to her. So why would Jesus transfer to a disciple, John, the responsibility of taking care of his mother? When he had brothers, there's at least three brothers mentioned, who would still be living.

Why would he commit his mother to someone outside of his own immediate family? Well, this touches on some very delicate issues when it comes to natural relationships and spiritual relationships. Up to this point, the brothers of Jesus did not believe on him. There was a divided family and they were divided because of him.

There are certain occasions in the Gospel accounts where his mother and his brothers come to see him, and on one occasion, the implication is that they thought that he was going crazy and they had to come and rescue him. In John chapter 7, there's another mention, neither did his brethren believe on him. So the Lord Jesus, in seeking to provide for the care of his mother, considered that she would be better taken care of by a fellow Christian, I'm just using our language as we would know it today, than by an unsaved relative.

You might say, well, why did Jesus take this position of even doing this? Isn't that interfering in the family? Well, he was the firstborn, and as the firstborn, he accepted the responsibility of taking care of his mother, providing for her when he would no longer be able to. And so he is fulfilling his firstborn son responsibility of caring for his mother, but he gives priority to spiritual relationships, and that causes problems. It does today, it always has, but it's something that is clearly in the New Testament in relation to Christ and his relationship to his mother and his brothers, and I'll have to look at that a little bit more later in regards to some of the other examples in the Gospels.

What would this mean to John? The Lord Jesus, he's on a cross, he's nailed to the cross, in the midst of all his anguish and pain and suffering, he looks at his mother and he says, behold your son. Now, if that's all that we saw, if that's all that was given to us, we might think he was asking her to look at him, but by looking at the disciple and saying, behold your mother, he's making a connection that they would understand, and it's obvious from the result that that disciple took her to his own home and took the responsibility of taking care of her. What do you think that meant to John? I think he would accept that as a sacred trust, and all his commitment, all his appreciation of the Lord Jesus, all the closeness that he felt toward him, he would take this as a responsibility, as a trust committed to him that he would never, never relinquish or abandon, and so it would be an expression of confidence and closeness and trust in him as someone that he could rely on to take care of someone so precious to him.

Now, I'm going to have to run through some more technical stuff, and I don't know if I want you to spend the rest of the night thumbing through the four gospel accounts. I could just read them to you, but I want to take you first of all to Matthew 13. Matthew 13 and verse 55.

Now, the Lord Jesus has been teaching, maybe we should start at verse 53 just for some connection. It came to pass that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed the fence, and when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue in so much that they were astonished and said, whence or from where has this man this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? So there's four brothers. And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then has this man all these things? And they were offended or stumbled in him.

But Jesus said unto them, a prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. Now Mark chapter six is almost identical. Mark chapter six and verse three.

I'll just read verse three, which gives basically the same statement. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and of Judah and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. Now, what I'm particularly drawing attention to is just this simple connection that there are two brothers specified, James and Joseph, James and Joseph.

Now I want to take you to the lists that are given to us of the women at the cross. And maybe I'll read at least Matthew, Matthew chapter 27. Matthew 27 and we'll read verse 56.

Well, verse 55, many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him, among which was Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of Zebedee's children. Now I'm going to try to help you see two things in these lists and I'll just read the rest of them here. I have them listed on the page in front of me.

There are three women that are mentioned over and over again as being at the cross and at least two of them are mentioned as being at the sepulchre when Jesus was buried and then going on the Sunday morning to the sepulchre when they found that he'd been raised from the dead. Mary Magdalene is always mentioned. She is mentioned in all four of the Gospels.

But let me give you the other ones. As we have it in Matthew, now let me just read, I should have read with you also. Down in verse 61, when he's taken to the grave and Joseph lays the body in the tomb, rolls the stone to the door and leaves, verse 61 says, and there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre.

So here you have two women who are keeping a vigil at the tomb of the Savior. Chapter 28, verse 1, in the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. So here we have, we don't know who this other Mary is in Matthew's Gospel, but we find out in Mark's Gospel.

And I'll just read how it goes in Mark's Gospel. There's actually three times the list is given in Mark 15 and 16. In Mark 15 and 40, it mentions the women at the cross, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, the lass, and of Joses, and another woman named Salome.

Again at the sepulchre after he was buried, Mark 15 and 47, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid. And then on the Sunday morning again after the Sabbath, Mark 16 and 1, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome. So if you can see the connection here, Mary the mother of James and Joses, or Mary the mother of James, or Mary the mother of Joses, those designations are all talking about the same Mary.

Luke chapter 23 just mentions the women that followed him from Galilee, but in the resurrection account, Luke 24 and 10, it says Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and other women. When we come to our passage, what do we have? John 19, they're stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, and Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. So I'm going to make the suggestion to you that Mary, who is called his mother in the Gospel of John and is called the mother of James and Joses according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is the same one.

That's the way she is described in those Gospels, and if that is correct, then Mary was there at his death. She followed the body out to the sepulcher. She kept watch at the sepulcher, and she was there first, along with Mary Magdalene, to see the resurrected Lord.

And so, at least I'm content to think that that is accurate. And the other connection that I want to draw attention to, and this one isn't maybe quite as clear or obvious, in Matthew we have the mother of Zebedee's children. Now, who can tell me who Zebedee's children are of the disciples? Do you remember who they are? Two brothers, James and John.

John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, and that's the description in Matthew 27, the mother of Zebedee's children. Here, in this one, we see the sister of Mary. In Mark, there's someone called Salome, and again, I'm going to make this connection, assuming these lists are parallel, that not only was John there at the cross, but John's mother was there at the cross.

And if the mother of Zebedee's children is the same as Salome, then John is a first cousin of the Lord Jesus. So, that gives another sensible connection to why John was selected to take care of Mary. I could suggest that John was probably the closest believing relative that the Lord Jesus could commit his mother to.

So, he wasn't just a disciple, he also had a natural connection, and it also gives some light on Matthew chapter 20, and there's a corresponding passage in Mark chapter 10, where these two brothers, James and John, come to the Lord with this request, and their mums along with them, and I don't know who initiated it, whether Ambitious Mama or the two cousins, with this special request to be given top jobs in the kingdom. The two senior posts in the administration to sit on the right hand and on the left of the Lord in his kingdom. That was their petition, and the Lord refused it.

You wonder why? Well, it may be because he always distanced himself from natural relationships in spiritual service, spiritual responsibility. And so, someone couldn't come to him on the basis of being special favorites because of being related and be given top posts in the kingdom. Natural relationships do not give spiritual place with God.

You know what that means for us today? If you're in a Christian family, it doesn't mean you're saved, and it doesn't mean that you will have a special favor. Of course, the Scriptures also present the balance that there is a spiritual sphere of influence that we are blessed with when we are connected to someone who is a Christian. In a husband and wife relationship, it says the wife is sanctified by the husband.

The children are sanctified by the husband if he's a Christian or if the wife is a Christian. And all that emphasizes is that you're drawn close to where God is working, and the influence of the gospel is able to be experienced. So, if we think of all of this together, I guess there's one last thing that I want to just try to suggest as to why Mary would be designated in the other gospel accounts as the mother of James or the mother of Joseph.

Again, I think it has something to do with the carefulness that was maintained that a natural relationship would not give someone an undue prominence or place among the saints. Even James, in his short little epistle, the epistle of James, who was an unbeliever at this time, but became a believer after the resurrection of Christ, and became prominent in the church, he was called one of the pillars. How does he call himself in the epistle of James, a servant of Jesus Christ? He refers to the Lord as the Lord of glory, and he doesn't claim a natural relationship right to speak on his behalf, but as being spiritually connected to the Lord.

And so, I'm just going to give this suggestion that Mary, and again here's another thing, when these gospel accounts would be written down and recorded, possibly 30 years later after the crucifixion, James would have been a well-known person among the Christians by that time, so it would be a very logical designation to identify Mary as being the mother of James. That's how she would be known, as the mother of James. And so, at least that seems to make sense to me.

So, so much for the technical stuff. What about the spiritual truth that is brought to focus in what is touched on in this short little passage? Well, first of all, 1 Timothy chapter 5 emphasizes one of the requirements for godliness is to prove it at home by taking care of those that are your natural family. And so, children or grandchildren are given a responsibility to take care of their parents or their ancestors.

And so, that's 1 Timothy 5 and 4. The expression is to requite one's parents. Now, that's recognized just naturally, isn't it? Sadly, it's being lost in our culture, a loss of this sense of obligation, of respect and honor. But this is reinforced in the gospel, in Christianity, that a fundamental reality is you can't claim to be in touch with God if you won't even take care of your own relatives.

Basically, that's what he's saying. If anyone won't take care of his own family, his own household, he's denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. That's how strongly it's put in 1 Timothy 5. And yet, we're also confronted with what seems to be a contradiction in that the Lord Jesus himself, once he was in public ministry, every time it's recorded that his mother approaches him, it seems like he rebuffs her.

It seems like he keeps her at a distance. And this has been a stumbling block to some people. In fact, not too long ago, I was listening to a radio program that was Sunday afternoon on the CBC in Canada, and it's all about some kind of, I forget what it's called even, but it's some kind of spiritual, spiritual as spiritual is today, which could be anything.

But it so happened this one time, it was a professor at a university somewhere down here in the States, I forget just exactly where he was, but he had become, I don't know if you would call him an atheist, but an agnostic at least, because in studying, and he's a professor of New Testament, whatever, at the university, he came to the conclusion that Jesus wasn't a very nice man because he didn't treat his mother very well. And he wanted to make sure everybody saw that. How are we to understand it? Three times it's recorded in the Gospels, in the different Gospel accounts, and they could be all parallel times, all referring to the same incident, but not necessarily, where the Lord Jesus is teaching and, you know, the mother and the brothers are trying to get in to get at him, and they say, your mother and your brothers are outside wanting to speak to you.

And the Lord answers, who's my mother? Who are my brothers? Those who hear my word. Whoever hears the word of God is my mother, and my brother, and my sister. What does that tell us? Something very, very important.

In relation to God, it's only a spiritual relationship that counts. I remember as a little boy thinking that when the Lord comes, I'm going to grab onto my mother's hand, or my mother's skirt, and I'm not going to be left behind. You know, that wouldn't have done one thing.

Natural relationship does not bring us safety in relation to God. It does not give us relationship with God. We must personally receive the gospel.

We must personally accept the Lord Jesus before we can claim relationship with God. And so we are confronted with this tension between natural love, natural responsibilities, and the spiritual relationship to Christ and to God. It's brought out also very strongly in Luke chapter 9, where the Lord calls someone to follow him.

And he says, yes, Lord, I'll come. I'll follow you. But first, first let me go and bury my father.

Now, whether he literally just needed to bury him, or whether he meant to take care of dad until dad's buried, and then I'll come and serve you. The Lord uttered something which is very troubling. He says, let the dead bury their own dead.

You go and preach the kingdom. Doesn't that sound harsh, unfeeling, insensitive? You know, I heard just in this past year a Christian mentioning that in the community where the assembly is, that he's in fellowship, a Christian uttered those words concerning a neighbor who had died. And he didn't bother going to the funeral.

He didn't bother showing any interest in that unsafe family. His view was, let the dead bury their dead. The grandchildren still know that story, and they won't come near the gospel hall.

That was a real tragic mistake. That's not what the Lord meant. We are to love our neighbors.

We are to show compassion in their time of sorrow. Why did the Lord say what he did then? I think we can only properly understand it in the urgency of that exact time. This man didn't have three years, or five years, to take care of all these natural responsibilities and then go and preach the kingdom, because the Lord Jesus was only going to be there for that brief time and proclaim the message of the kingdom to Israel.

At the most, three years or three and a half years. It had to be done now. It had to take priority over everything else.

And those that he called to preach this message had to go today. And so this brings us to the same challenge. And this takes wisdom for us today, because we don't know the timeline.

We don't know if we have one year, five years, ten years, thirty years to preach the gospel, to do the service that God wants us to do. And so I think it's a tremendous challenge for us today to know the responsibilities to balance, of taking care of family responsibilities properly, showing due respect and consideration in natural relationships, and yet honor the priority that he claims without any hesitation. He claims the right to our life, our priority, our service.

Another very strong one is given in Luke chapter 14, 25 to 33, where he talks about disciples counting the cost. And I'm just going to read you some of or just remind you of some of the expressions. He says, if anyone comes after me, if anyone comes to follow me as a disciple, and if he doesn't hate his father, his mother, his wife, his children, and even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

I'm awfully glad that he put that last little expression in, his own life also, because that helps us to understand. And I would just say that the word hate that is used there is not an absolute term of hatred, but it literally means to love less. It's this sense again of he claims first place, first loyalty in the heart of a Christian, even ahead of mom and dad, of my loved one, my life partner, my very children, and my very life.

And so these concepts, I don't think are comfortable for any of us. They challenge us constantly, but they bring us to this confrontation. And here's the Lord.

You might say, and this is what touches me about his care for his mother. When he's on the cross, if there's any time when you might say he's got bigger things to do than to take care of mom, his heart is going out to his mother. He knows that her heart is breaking.

He knows that she's in anguish, looking at her son in all the shame and dishonor, in all the suffering that he's experiencing. And in that tenderness of his heart, he thinks of her, and he provides for her in a home that will appreciate and love her and protect her as a follower of Christ, as a Christian. Now, there's something that I want to just draw attention to back in our passage again.

The last important point that I really wanted to draw out is the issue of faithfulness and the challenge of the shame that is associated with Christ crucified. Notice that it says, verse 25, Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. And then it mentions the disciple standing by whom he loved.

When we sang that hymn at the beginning of the meeting, beneath the cross of Jesus, I, Fain, would take my stand. You know, it might mean a lot different to us than it did for them that day. We can look back at the cross, and we can understand the glory of the cross, that their eternal salvation was provided.

Christ died for my sins. When I think of the cross, I think of what was accomplished for me and my salvation. And as the hymn closes, may the only shame I have be my own sinful self, and my glory, the cross.

But you know, the cross on that day was the ultimate expression of shame. Every dignity torn from him. It was the most shameful death that could be for anyone being executed.

There was no honor attached to it. It was a spectacle for people to look at as an object of horror, and shame, and disgrace. And here's this dear woman, and this little band of followers, do they know yet he's going to rise from the dead? I don't think so.

Even though he had tried to explain it to them on the third day, I'm going to rise again. I don't think they understood that yet. So as they are at the cross, it's the most challenging thing for them to see for their faith in what they have believed about him as being sent from God.

But despite all that they must have been going through, the challenge of their own faith, they're still loyal. And they're willing to stand there in the accounts of after he has passed away, after he has died. I shouldn't even use the expression passed away.

After he has given his life, it describes them as standing afar off. But here they're standing by the cross, close enough that he can have a conversation with them. That takes courage.

That expresses tremendous love and devotion to be willing to be identified with the Lord Jesus in the moment of his supreme rejection and humiliation. What honor do you think the Lord is going to give to those disciples? The highest honor that can ever be imagined. So the challenge that I want to just leave us with tonight, am I ashamed? Are you ashamed of the name of Jesus? Of what the cross means? I don't have much time, but I want to just read a few verses with you that emphasize something to me that is so precious.

Hebrews chapter 2 tells us that he is not ashamed to call us brethren. Hebrews chapter 2, in verse 9, it speaks of him suffering. We see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

For it became him where it was suited for him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one. For which cause? He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren.

In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. This is one of my most favorite passages. Do you realize that if you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are now a child of God? You are born into the family of God, and he is called in other places the firstborn among many brethren.

Let's put that in up-to-date language. He's the oldest son among his brothers. Firstborn is the first one.

Now, firstborn sons always seem to take a little extra honor in the family, right? They qualify. Big brother. And I remember a day back in public school when my big brother took care of things for me.

When I was being humiliated and shamed and cursed by someone who happened to be a cousin, but who had a contempt for Christians. And this had been going on for a few months, and one day it was particularly bad, and we were on the school bus going back home, and my oldest brother had finally heard enough, and he settled it that day on the bus. So, I know what it's like for to have a big brother stand up for me and act on my behalf.

Do you know that in the Christian life, we have someone who is at the right hand of God, who was here at the cross in all its shame and humiliation, and he died for me. Now, he's in heaven, and that's where I'm going. I am going to be one of those sons brought to glory, and I don't even know what I'm going to be like, except the scriptures say I'm going to be like him.

I'm going to be like Christ. So, here's what it says. It was suited for God in bringing us into this sonship to a glorified, perfect condition in the presence of God.

It was suitable to make the captain of our salvation, that's Christ, perfect through sufferings. He was suited for this work through all the sufferings which he experienced. But then it says, he who sanctifies, that's the Lord Jesus who sets us apart for God, they who are sanctified are all of one.

What does that mean? You could either say all of one family or all of one father, and it would give us the sense. And then it says, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers. And even though I have never felt it suitable for me to ever talk about Jesus as my brother, but he calls me his brother.

And I have learned, despite my intellectual reluctance to even think in these terms, my faith has begun to appreciate that all the care, all the protection, all that he does for me today as my great high priest in the presence of God, is in this relationship as the firstborn son in the family of God. I'm his brother. Are you willing to acknowledge that relationship? It should be easy for us to acknowledge, I belong to the Lord.

I belong to Christ. I'm his. He's my savior.

He's my Lord. He's not ashamed to call us brothers. When you come to chapter 11, we find another wonderful declaration that the living God, the eternal God, is not ashamed to be called their God.

To those who put their faith in the promise of God, God associates himself with us, and he says he is not ashamed to be called their God because he has made for them a city. When we come to chapter 12, we have the Lord Jesus showing how he endured through all of that shame. Here's what it says, that as we live our Christian life, we are to be looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

How did he deal with this tremendous shame and dishonor that was being hurled upon him? He looked through it. To despise is to look lightly upon it, to put it in perspective, to realize that it was a false shame that he was experiencing. It didn't belong to him, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.

It's a challenge being a Christian today. There is an animosity, there is a contempt that is building in our culture towards Christ, Christianity, God, and the Bible. It's becoming more and more of a reproach to let yourself be known to be a Christian who actually believes this old book and believes it's the word of God.

Look ahead. Look back to the cross and see what he endured to become our Savior. Look ahead and realize that we are heading for heaven.

Shouldn't be too hard if we keep that in view. So let's appreciate that the Lord Jesus handled this balance that most of us find a challenge of natural relationship, caring for those that we have a responsibility towards, and yet allowing the relationship to God, responsibility for God, being the supreme thing. Shall we pray?