Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 19:25

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the [wife] of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

25. Now there stood ] Or, But there were standing. By two small particles ( men in Joh 19:23 and de here), scarcely translatable in English, S. John indicates the contrast between the two groups. On the one hand, the four plundering soldiers with the centurion; on the other, the four ministering women with the beloved disciple.

his mother’s sister, Mary ] The Greek, like the English, leaves us in doubt whether we here have two women or one, whether altogether there are four women or three. The former is much the more probable alternative. (1) It avoids the very improbable supposition of two sisters having the same name. (2) S. John is fond of parallel expressions; ‘His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary of Clopas and Mary Magdalene’ are two pairs set one against the other. (3) S. Mark (Mar 15:40) mentions Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less, and Salome. Mary Magdalene is common to both narratives, ‘Mary the mother of James the Less’ is the same as ‘Mary of Clopas:’ the natural inference is that Salome is the same as ‘His mother’s sister.’ If this is correct, (4) S. John’s silence about the name of ‘His mother’s sister’ is explained: she was his own mother, and he is habitually reserved about all closely connected with himself. We have seen already that he never mentions either his own name, or his brother’s, or the Virgin’s. (5) The very ancient Peshito or Syriac Version adopts this view by inserting ‘and’ before ‘Mary the (wife) of Clopas.’

the wife of Cleophas ] Rather, the wife of Clopas. The Greek is simply ‘the of Clopas,’ and ‘the daughter of Clopas’ may be right, or ‘the mother,’ or even ‘the sister: ’ but ‘wife’ is more probably to be supplied. There is no reason for identifying Clopas here with Cleopas in Luk 24:18: Clopas is Aramaic, Cleopas is Greek. The spelling Cleop h as is a mistake derived from Latin MSS. All Greek authorities have Cleopas. If ‘wife’ is rightly inserted, and she is the mother of James the Less, Clopas is the same as Alphaeus (Mat 10:3; comp. Mat 27:56). It is said that Clopas and Alphaeus may be different forms of the same Aramaic name.

Mary Magdalene ] Introduced, like the Twelve (Joh 6:67) and Pilate (Joh 18:29) abruptly and without explanation, as being quite familiar to the readers of the Gospel. See on Mat 27:56 and Luk 8:2.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Joh 19:25-27

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother

Manifold revelation of love

We have here a revelation in love of

I.

MORAL HEROISM–the presence of the woman and John. Scarcely could they have placed themselves in a more perilous position. Love is the soul of courage. There is no power for magnanimous endurance and fearless achievements equal to womanly affection. Such love you can trust. It clings to its object as ivy to the castle: holds on to it midst the scorchings of summer and the blastings of winter; survives even the ruin of its object, and spreads a beauty over its grave.

II. PARENTAL DISTRESS.

1. What must have been the feelings of Mary. Now was fulfilled the prophecy, a sword shall pierce thy soul also. There are no trials more poignant than those of a mother in the death throes of her child. Rachels, the world over, weep for their children and refuse to be comforted.

2. But there are circumstances which sometimes mitigate the distress when death occurs in unconscious infancy, or when a child is one of a large number, or when death occurs in maturity among friends Marys Son was in the prime of life, and died among malignant foes, and at their hands: and moreover was perhaps her only Son, and she probably a widow.

III. FILIAL COMPASSION. Woman, behold thy Son–a gleam of unearthly sunshine.

1. No sufferings, however great, can quench love. Christs sufferings surpassed all conception, yet they did not drown the memory of His mother. He seemed to forget His agonies m her tears. Children learn a lesson from this l Plead no personal inconvenience as a reason for neglecting your parents.

2. No engagements, however vast, can justify the neglect of domestic duties. How vast were Christs engagements! Here was a crisis in the history of the universe–yet Christ attended to the needs of His aged mother. Let none plead–statesmen, ministers, or reformers–their engagements as a justification for neglecting home duties.

3. No legacy, however precious, is equal to the Legacy of Love. Christ could have made His mother the mistress of an empire; but He bequeathed her what was better–the affection of a noble soul. What is equal to this?

4. No argument, however plausible, can justify us in regarding Mary as an object of worship. The mothers of great men are to be held in high veneration. Albeit, ought we to regard this poor desolate woman whom Jesus commended to the care of John as Queen of Heaven I

IV. CHRISTIAN OBEDIENCE. From that hour, &c. Tradition says that John never forsook his trust, and remained in Palestine till the mother of his Lord was dead. His obedience was prompt and full. There are only three admissible reasons supposable for not attending at once and fully to Christs commands.

1. If the command is inconsistent with the eternal principles of right.

2. If the difficulties are such that only time can remove them.

3. If there is ground to suppose that help not now obtainable will be granted in the future. Such reasons, though admissible, do not exist, and therefore, like John, we should at once obey. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The cross of Jesus

I purpose to consider the text with reference to

I. THE INDIVIDUALS spoken of in it. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all take particular notice of the women who ministered unto Jesus, and followed Him to Calvary, but St. John is the only one who mentions three of them by name. He does so, perhaps, as writing subsequently to the others, and as having himself stood with the Marys by the cross and observed them there. They were, moreover, persons peculiarly characterized, and therefore also worthy to be specifically mentioned. Mary, the mother of Jesus, would naturally feel a deep and solemn interest in all that befell her Divine Son. It is not determined in the original whether the second Mary was the wife, the mother, or the daughter of Cleophas: but it is generally believed she was his wife, and that he was also called Alpheus, and therefore the mother of James, and Joses, and Simon, and Mat 12:46; Mar 6:3). Be this, however, as it may, she was ardently and devoutly attached to her Lord. The other Mary, Magdalene, was a woman of Magdala, a large and populous town, near the lake Tiberias, in Galilee, and out of her Jesus cast seven devils. There, might Mary the mother of Jesus say, dies my Son. There, might the wife of Cleophas say, dies my Friend. There, might the Magdalene say, dies my Saviour.

II. OURSELVES. And first observe, that the cross, which the Marys beheld with their bodily eyes, we must behold by faith. Others personal witness does not supersede the necessity of our belief.

1. Would we have our sins forgiven? Let us stand by the cross of Jesus. Though by wicked hands He was crucified and slain, yet in His death was the meritorious means of our forgiveness.

2. Would we have our iniquities subdued? Let us stand by the cross of Jesus. There is with Him a power whereby He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Our will, our affections, our memory, and imagination, He can bring into sweet and entire subserviency to the law of the Spirit of Life.

3. Would we be softened? Let us stand by the cross of Jesus. How were the pious sensibilities of the Marys moved as they stood and mourned for Him! When we can most feelingly enter into the condescending kindness, and the dying love of Christ, then shall we ourselves be most truly kind and conciliating.

4. Would we preserve serenity and peacefulness of spirit? Let us stand by the cross of Jesus. Nothing will so effectually quell mental strife as meditation on the death of Christ. Wild may be the tumult of conflicting opinions, and contrariety may pervade all human schemes and devisings; but, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, &c.

5. Would we be crucified unto the world? Let us stand by the cross of Jesus. What was the world, either in its prosperous or adverse circumstances, to the Marys. When any feel it to be hard to give up some carnal pleasure or worldly advantage, let them inquire whether they recollect their Saviours cross?

6. And as Jesus our Lord endured the cross, despising the shame, would we take up our daily cross with cheerfulness? Let us stand by the cross of Jesus. Let us quell every complaining of our heart with the question, Did not Jesus suffer? Therefore let us both labour and suffer reproach; and esteem, like Moses, the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt, or all the wealth of worlds.

7. Would we truly love the Lord and Saviour of our souls? Let us stand by His cross. Boundless is the love we owe Him.

8. Would we descend ourselves into the grave resignedly? Let us stand by the cross of Jesus. If we go down into Hades from Calvary, we need entertain no distressing fear: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. (W. Mudge, B. A.)

Nearness to the cross

I. THE SITUATION OF THE MOTHER. I admire in her the efficacy of Divine grace. She is able to stand near the cross; she does not faint away. Here are no outrageous exclamations, no bitter complaints flung at heaven. She feels as a mother, but endures as a Christian. The people of God know not what they can bear till they are tried: When the time of need comes, then comes sufficient grace to help. I shall never despair of the support of a Christian, in any situation, after beholding Mary here. Ye bereaved mothers, remember, religion allows you to feel, but forbids you to faint. Think of Mary, for who can adequately imagine her anguish! To see her Son enduring such a death! And such a Son! And to crown all she was now a widow.

II. THE ADDRESS OF THE SAVIOUR. He speaks in a manner suited to her trying circumstances. Though I die, there is one who will discharge the filial office. Then saith He to the disciple–Behold thy mother! Receive her–not as a pauper. Note

1. The indigence of our Lord. Many talk of poverty, but He was poor. When He came to die, all He had to bequeath was His wearing-apparel; and even this never came to His mother. What becomes then of riches? Foxes have holes, &c.

yet He was the brightness of the Fathers glory. But, alas! all this will not keep numbers from thinking money the essence of all excellency.

2. An instance of the Divine goodness, which ought to encourage the poor and needy. When one comfort is withdrawn, another is furnished. When Jesus is removed, John is raised up. Let those who are dying, and have nothing to leave, hear God saying, Leave thy fatherless children, &c.

3. We should endeavour to be useful, not only living, but dying. Christ dies as He had lived–doing good! Dr. Rivet said, in his last illness, Let all who come to inquire after my welfare be allowed to see me: I ought to be an example in death as well as in life.

4. A lesson of filial piety. Children are under an obligation to succour their parents, not out of charity, but in common justice. David, when wandering from place to place, seemed regardless of himself, if he could provide for his father and mother; and Davids Son and Lord, even in the agony of crucifixion, commends His poor mother to the beloved disciple. Why did He this? Could not He, who could feed a whole multitude, have furnished means for His destitute mother? The answer is that He does not needlessly work miracles. He generally fulfils His kind designs in the established course of things: The poor are as much consigned by Providence to the care of the affluent as Mary was charged upon John.

III. THE OBEDIENCE OF THE DISCIPLE. John does not stand weighing things; Can I afford the expense, trouble, reproach and suspicion? True obedience is prompt, and will lead us to do all things without murmuring and disputing. This is peculiarly the ease with regard to charity. While we stop to investigate, and take great pains not to be deceived, the opportunity is gone. Therefore, says Solomon, Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, &c. (W. Jay.)

Silences at the cross

Is it not a striking fact that our Lord was allowed to die under such conditions of cruelty and wrong-doing without a single protest, so far as we can find from the record, from the lips of aa apostle, disciple, or well-wisher? This is a fact which we ought honestly to consider. Catching a new inspiration, the apostles became eloquent in the proclamation of that Cross whose mystery, while it was uplifted, had silenced them. Let us consider

I. The silence of some IN THE PRESENCE OF A STRANGE AND PAINFUL SURPRISE, In order to understand this better, let us recall some of our Lords preceding utterances to His disciples: See how repeatedly He discourages the possible suggestion of resistance. He had also said, No man taketh it [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. He further intimated, when danger seemed to threaten Him prematurely, that there were twelve hours in the day, and that His hour had not yet come. Throughout it was not resistance, but passive endurance, that Christ taught.

II. The silence of the majority of the disciples arose also from FEAR OF THE APPARENT TRIUMPH OF EVIL, AND THE SUCCESSFUL CONSPIRACY OF WICKED MEN. Their fears weakened their grasp of Christ, and when that was done there was nothing left for them but flight. Not an apostles voice was heard at the cross. They alone of all men were those who had nothing to say! In the face of that silence the question comes to us, How could these men ever speak again in the name of that Christ? And with what a high sense of privilege the commission came to those who had so recently been silent when they might have spoken–Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature! It came to them as the restoration of a forfeited right ever to speak again for Jesus, since that gift had been neglected in the supreme moment of need.

III. The silence of HELPLESSNESS IN THE PRESENCE OF TYRANNICAL FORCE–a silence that would largely pertain to the women.

IV. The silence of LOVE IN THE PRESENCE OF INSCRUTABLE MYSTERY. This would above all apply to Mary. The cries of blasphemy which now rent the air, and pierced her ears, but ill accorded with the harmonies of the angels song which still lingered in her memory. There are times when our only safety is to be quiet, to bear passively the burden of mystery, and to look conflicting providences in the face and answer them nothing.

V. The silence of INTENSE GRIEF THAT COULD ONLY SPEAK–if it spoke at all–in tears, since words were too weak.

VI. The silence of FAITH THAT COULD WAIT FOR THE SOLUTION. I believe that Mary and John and the woman at the cross had that faith in a great measure. There might have been other obscure disciples in the crowd who had it. I wonder sometimes that some of the deaf and dumb to whom Christ had given speech and hearing did not use their new-born speech on this occasion; but it may be that in that throng, as well as in the smaller group near the cross, there was at least one here and there who could look the mystery in the face and say, I cannot solve it, but I will wait. He that believeth shall not make haste. Even at the cross of Christ, and among that tumultuous throng, there was a faith to be found in solitary hearts that could leave all with the Crucified One. I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it up again? To some at least who had heard those words, the suggestion would come, What if this be after all but the expression of His power? What if the Cross be but the Gospel in paradox? Conclusion: While, therefore, there is much in the silences at the cross of Christ that fills us with humiliation and shame, we will not indiscriminately condemn all the reticence of that hour. There are times in every true life when silence is the expression of the mightest faith. One man speaks and ejaculates, yet only reveals hysterical weakness; the other man waits, is calm, and utters not a word, because he is strong enough to be quiet. The Cross of Jesus Christ is too sacred, too sublime a thing for us to talk of until we know something about it. He loved me, and gave Himself for me. If you do not know that, the best thing you can do is to be quiet, and look at that Cross in silence. Do not talk flippantly, much less scornfully, about that in which you have no share. In the presence of His Cross the world is now silent for very shame, but we who have trusted in Him are in its presence filled with a joy which shall sustain us in all sorrow, and find its consummation in the rapture of that eternal world, where, Christ shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied, and where we shall face to face behold Him who has washed us from our sins in His own blood. (David Davies.)

Nearness to the cross

1. Many and dissimilar were the groups gathered round the cross. Some were drawn by hatred, some by curiosity, some by the duties of their office, these Marys by love.

2. Their position suggests the topic of spiritual nearness. All true piety begins in the souls coming to the Cross.: Bunyan was right in keeping the burden on the back of the Pilgrim till he had a sight of the Crucified. But when the soul has gained that position, then begins the conflict of opposing forces. On the one side the Cross with its mighty magnetism; on the other the world with all its witcheries. But the importance of nearness to the Cross is seen if we regard it as the place in which to see

I. OURSELVES. No one has seen himself till he has looked at himself in the light of the Cross. In that light sin is seen in its true colours–as God estimates it.

II. THE WORLD. The man of science has his position and outlook, and the statesman his. But only here is the true view. Here we see that it is a world for which Christ died and to every soul of which redemption is offered. It was this outlook that moved the great heart of Paul to heroic sacrifice and endeavour. The world had but one aspect to Him. Christ had died for it. This was the outlook of Judson and other devoted missionaries. Talk of philanthropy–there is none save that which is kindled at the foot of the cross!

III. THE CHARACTER OF GOD. The heavens declare His glory. God has never been without His witnesses if man would listen. But to fallen man another revelation was necessary, and that revelation just suited to mans deepest need was made by the Cross. It is there we learn how God loved a sin-blasted world. (W. Lamson, D. D.)

The disciple standing by whom He loved

The beloved disciple

Though the rest of the disciples forsook Christ and fled, yet John followed Him into the high priests palace, and was an afflicted spectator of His sufferings upon the cross. This may be ascribed in part to the greatness of his courage, and in part to the strength of his affection. John himself is the narrator of this event; and such was his humility that he does not mention his own name. This resembles the conduct of Paul (2Co 12:1-21). In this way do the sacred writers love to conceal themselves when speaking of their own attainments or enjoyments.

I. THE CHARACTER OF JOHN.

1. He is called a disciple.

(1) This implies that he was teachable. As Christ is qualified to give instruction, so His disciples are prepared to receive it. God has opened their ears, that they are capable of spiritual instruction; and their understandings, that they are capable of spiritual discernment. They receive with meekness the ingrafted Word (Psa 25:9).

(2) He was not only apt to learn, but was actually taught, like the noble Bereans, who received the Word with all readiness of mind. If they are asked, Will ye also go away? their answer will be, Lord, to whom should we go? They have learnt the evil nature of sin; of their own weakness; the world, and its insufficiency; the necessity of a Saviour, and the suitableness of Christ; and the grace of God teaches them, that denying ungodliness, &c. Such a disciple was the beloved John.

2. He was the disciple whom Jesus loved. Jesus loved all the disciples, and considered in His supreme character, He loved them all alike; all the members are alike necessary to the body, and as such are equally beloved. But in the peculiar affection which Christ bare to John, we may remark

(1) That this respects His human nature. Christ as a man had all the sinless affections of that nature which He assumed. Now this disciple being possessed of amiable qualities, it is probable, in a more eminent degree than the rest, Jesus loved him as a friend, as well as a disciple.

(2) That it respects love, not as inherent, but as manifested. If Christ made a difference between one disciple and another in His treatment of them, it is no more than what He continues to do. One is kept, as it were, at a distance, while another is laid in the bosom. All are alike justified by His righteousness, but not equally comforted by His Spirit.

(3) The words of our text being those of the beloved disciple, may denote the high sense he had of the favour of our Lord towards him. It seems natural for a gracious person to think that the love of Christ has been more freely and eminently bestowed on him than on any other, as feeling himself more unworthy of it. Thus Paul says, And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, &c., as if it had exceeded every former example of mercy. John had been distinguished, and was amazed that it should be so. The lower opinion he had of himself, the more exalted thoughts he had of Christs goodness towards him.

II. THE SITUATION OF JOHN. He stood by the cross.

1. That he might attentively observe the important transactions of that solemn season upon which so much depended. He might well think that so extraordinary a Person would finish His course in an extraordinary way; and he was not mistaken.

2. That he might show his attachment to Christ, and his faith and confidence in Him. He had been told, that if any one would be Christs disciple, he must hate father and mother, &c.: from these terms in this trying season he did not draw back. As the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, so was his soul knit to his indulgent and now suffering Saviour.

3. That he might perform any friendly office, and afford all the assistance in his power. Though he could not prevent the sufferings of his Lord, yet his standing by the cross would tend a little to mitigate them. When Paul made his appearance before Nero, he complained that no man stood by him 2Ti 4:16). David also seemed to take it hard that Mephibosheth went not with him when he left Jerusalem on account of the rebellion of Absalom. No blame, however, lay upon John in this respect. He did more than the rest; and though he could not drink of his bitter cup, yet he would sympathise with Christ.

4. That he might receive of Him His last instructions, or at least, learn of Him how to die. As there had been such an endearing friendship between them, be might think that the dying Saviour would have something to say to him in particular, and in this he was not disappointed. (B. Beddome, M. A.)

Woman, behold thy son

The sympathy of Christ

Among the friends who were gathered round the cross there is one whose presence does not surprise us–the beloved disciple. But who beside? Not Peter the rock, or Thomas once ready to die with Him. A few trembling women who had ministered to Him in life and would not forsake Him in death. Amongst these was His mother who, thirty-three years before, had pressed Him to her bosom a helpless babe, and who heard about that sword which now pierced her soul. Note here

I. THE SELF-FORGETFULNESS OF CHRISTS LOVE.

1. Try to think of what He was suffering–the anguish and shame of the most lingering and bitter of deaths. But bodily torture was His least agony. The worlds sin in its most awful form was there to trouble His last moments–the bitter taunts, &c. But who shall venture to imagine His thoughts as He hung a sacrifice for sin? Is it not wonderful that men should here pretend to explain and analyse. You might as well hope to fathom the sea or compass it. It is better to bow our heads in faith and confess that the Atonement far exceeds our poor logic, and to gratefully accept it. Surely if sorrow be a sacred thing, that of the Divine Sufferer must be far above our sympathy, as above our comprehension.

2. In that awful hour He was alone, but its loneliness did not render His suffering selfish. All His thoughts were for others. Ere He reached the cross He said, Daughters of Jerusalem, &c.: when nailed to it His first words are, Father, forgive them, and His next those of kingly grace to the robber. And now His words are the tender utterance of human love. Jesus forgot the greatest grief that ever fell on human heart that He might minister to the grief of others.

3. Have we learnt this lesson? It is a hard and costly one. In our sorrows we expect sympathy, but have we ever sought their sweetest, holiest alleviation in ministering to others. Learn at the foot of the cross, that whether in sorrow or joy, no Christian man liveth unto himself.

II. HIS FILIAL TENDERNESS.

1. All through His life He had seemed to stand apart from the ties of relationship. He was never only the Son, the Brother, He was always more.

His first recorded act was submission to His parents, but even then with a consciousness of a higher relationship. But no sooner does He enter on His public ministry than He refuses to recognize the tie, What have I to do with thee? Yea, rather blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it. Behold my mother and my brethren. Such conduct is evidence enough to refute the Roman view, and is studiously so framed as if by anticipation to condemn it. He would have us see, too, that He thought far more of spiritual than natural relationship, and so He bids us to hate father, mother, &c.

2. Yet now, upon the cross, He consecrates anew the love of parents and children, and ratifies with His blood the commandment, Honour thy father, &c. What a depth of tenderness does this reveal! He gave His mother His last solemn blessing, and bequeathed to her His best earthly legacy. She could be no more His mother, but He gave her another son, who of all His disciples was most like Himself. Jesus could thus discharge the debt of human love in the hour of His deepest passion. He did not say It is finished till He had said, Woman, behold thy Son.

3. How is it with us, who so often suffer our work for God to be a pretence for the neglect of home duties? He who gave the first table of the law gave the second. Whatever other duty God has given us, it can never excuse the parent in neglecting the child, or vice versa.

III. THE WISE THOUGHTFULNESS OF OUR SAVIOURS LOVE.

1. He calls her not mother: He never had. He does not acknowledge the parental right, even while He discharges the filial duty. But He does more. He teaches His mother the same lesson as when He said, I will not leave you orphans. He will not leave her childless. He can no more be to her a Son, but she shall have another son. If on earth He refused to call her mother, in heaven the relationship must be at an end for ever. In the selection of John we see wise thoughtfulness. He in a worldly sense could best bear the burden, being in easy circumstances. But it was not only for her earthly wants that Jesus provided. There He might have left her to her natural guardians. But He gave her a heart that could best understand her own. It is not always our relations who understand us best. A friend may be more to you than brother or sister, or father or mother. James, with his common-sense, practical view of religion, would probably be unable to sympathize with the deeper thoughts of her who loved to keep and ponder the mysteries of heaven. For her children after the flesh, she had now a son after the Spirit, St. John, the man of virgin soul, as the early Church loved to call him, for her of virgin mind the best friend. And the friendship was as abiding as it was holy. The friendships of the world are too often hollow, brittle, delusive. Friendships made beneath the Cross of Jesus are the truest and best. Death cannot destroy them.

2. Have we learned this? There is something better and truer than politeness, or even kindness. Politeness is a thing of the day, and changes with the changing customs of society. Kindness may be a matter of mere feeling, is often an evidence of weakness, and only touches the surface of other mens characters. And both may be only forms of selfishness. But wise, thoughtful love can only be learned at the foot of Christs Cross. (Bp. Perrowne.)

The bequest of Jesus

Here we see

1. The fulfilment of the promise: Them that honour Me, I will honour. John honoured Christ most emphatically. Consequently, Jesus applied to him the very name He had, Son, and made him the guardian of the Virgin in His place.

2. The disinterestedness of Christ. Pain and weakness often make people peevish and irritable. Jesus was anxious about others, in spite of agony indescribable. To the very last it was true that He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.

3. In one sense, the words, Behold thy mother, show how intensely human Jesus was. Of whom should a dying son think but of his mother?

4. What shall be said of Mary as she stands at the cross? Surely, if she were as great and as powerful as Popery teaches, Christ would not have committed her to the care of John. He would rather have commended John to her. Stabat Mater–the mother stands by the cross. What an impressive spectacle! She and three other women are there; John is the only man. Four women to one man–quite prophetic of Christianitys future. Behold Marys fortitude! Despite all the horrors, we see her stand, not faint. Mary avowed herself Christs disciple when disciples were few and enemies were many. May we do the same. The text delivers three messages.

I. ATTEND DILIGENTLY TO SECULAR DUTIES. Jesus was expiring as a martyr. But was that all? Nay. He was now offering Himself as a sacrifice for us. Yet, mark! in the midst of all He thinks of His mother, and commends her to the care of His friend. This is very significant. Preaching, singing, &c., are a small part of religion. They are chiefly means to an end–holy conduct in ordinary life. The earth has two motions: she turns onher axis, and she travels round the sun. Can the one be made a substitute for the other? We are to revolve round the Sun of Righteousness, and also on the axis of common, daily duty. Jesus Christ did not say much about theology. He taught that holiness finds itself at home anywhere. Why did He talk about fish, loaves, candles, salt, silver, &c.? To show that, save sin, nothing is common nor unclean. Dr. Arnold said, respecting literature, that what we want is not more books on religion, but more books written in a religious spirit. A distinguished ecclesiastic, whose overwrought brain urgently needed relaxation, was once engaged in a game of chess. His companion suddenly asked, If Christ were to come here now, what would you do? He replied, I would finish the game; I began it to the glory of God. A humble Christian was visited once by his pastor when he was occupied with his ordinary craft at the tan works. Offering an apology to the minister, the latter cut it short by saying, My friend, God grant that I may so be found when the Lord shall come–found doing my duty as you are. The New Testament abounds in exhortations and encouragements to the most commonplace obligations. Husbands love your wives, &c. The world cares little for many of our theological debates. But one thing it never fails to understand and to value, namely, goodness! Let the poor and the suffering find in us ready sympathy and succour; then will men exclaim, No man can do these works that thou dost, except God be with him.

II. TRUST THE APPOINTMENTS OF PROVIDENCE. Why did Jesus say to John, Behold thy mother? It seems strange that He passed over her own sons. Yes, and only seems. First, Marys sons rejected Jesus. Neither did His brethren believe on Him. They were out of sympathy, spiritually, both with Christ and Mary, whereas John was, heart and mind, devoted to Him. Secondly, John was in a better social position than the other apostles, and than the Lords mother. We see, then, that what looks strange was really very wise and kind. All Gods dealings are the same. If He was good at the cross, He must be good here and now. We sorely need this faith. There is much in our experience which is painfully mysterious. Why is might so often allowed to conquer right? Why do the innocent suffer for the guilty, &c.? We fully sympathize with the ancient writer who said: When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. Is there rest anywhere? There is. At the feet of Jesus. Sit there. He will not remove all our perplexities. Nevertheless, be assured of this: Christ tells enough to console us, to take off the edge of our difficulties, and to render us trustful. He reveals a God so good that, if we take Christ at His word, we may be perfectly satisfied that somehow all shall yet be well. Have faith in God, and thus return unto thy rest, O, my soul.

III. GIVE PROFOUND HEED TO THE COUNSELS OF THE DYING. John did so. The advice of the expiring is almost invariably right and good. Fools men may live, but fools they cannot die. The dying tell us

1. That earthly possessions cannot satisfy us in death. Philip II. of Spain cried, O, would God I had never reigned! O that I had lived alone with God! What doth all my glory profit, but that I have so much the more torment in death? Albert the Good said, I am surrounded with wealth and rank, but if I trusted only to them, I should be a miserable man. Salmasius declared, I have lost a world of time. Oh, sirs! mind the world less and God more. Bunsen exclaimed, My riches and experience is having known Jesus Christ. All the rest is nothing.

2. That Christ, not themselves, is the ground of their hope. Archbishop Whately, a distinguished scholar, thinker, philanthropist, replied to a friend who said to him, You are dying as you lived, great to the last. I am dying, as I lived, in the faith of Jesus. Another remarked, What a blessing that your glorious intellect is unimpaired. Do not call intellect glorious, answered Whately; there is nothing glorious out of Christ. A third observed, The great fortitude of your character now supports you. He said, No, it is not my fortitude that supports me, but my faith in Christ. May such simple but sufficient trust be ours! (T. R. Stevenson.)

The legacy

Notice

I. THE STATION OF MANY. This suggests thought of

1. Her great love. A bird cleaves the storm to reach its nest; a mother walks through levelled lances to clasp her child.

2. Her great anguish. Once she had felt the most exquisite happiness that a mother could know.

3. Her strength. She stood. Here are no violences, no hysterics. Such strength to stand was not from nature. Her nature was timid and retiring. Once, at one word from Jesus that sounded like a check, she vanished for a long time out of the story (Joh 2:4). We see the efficacy of Divine grace. Look around, and you may find many illustrations of this. There is a woman who stands dumb beside her young husbands grave; there is another who stands in tender agony over an empty cradle; there is another who night after night stands listening for the tipsy stumble of a thing that was once a man. Poor heart! she must make what she can of life. It is a real cross, and strength to stand by it must be of the kind that Mary had. Such strength is never given for fancy crosses.

4. Her public profession of faith. It was grand to see Luther take his station in the face of a frowning world; it was grander to see Mary take her station at the cross. It would have been much for man to do; it was more for the shrinking, tremulous delicacy of woman. It is easy to stand by Jesus when others stand.

II. THE SAYING OF JESUS. Note

1. His tender considerateness. Suffering is proverbially selfish. While Jesus is Himself one flame of pain, His first cry is for the crucifiers; His second to sinful humanity; His third of love to His own.

2. Jesus providing for His own, and thus setting us an example. In treating John as if he were of nearer kin to Mary than her natural relatives were, He reminds us of the life which binds together all who axe one in Him. He leaves His people one to another.

3. The Saviours poverty. He made no will but this in relation to what He had in this life, and only the name of John was in it. Looking at the things of this world, the I am, not the I have, is the standard of His valuation. His own choice was the poor mans lot (2Co 8:9). Silver and gold are not named among the things that come to us through the death of Christ. But if we are not down in His will for earthly property, we shall, through His Cross, have the true riches.

4. The sentiments due to the Virgin Mary. Although they are not given in the form of law, they have the force of law. The offer of worship to Mary, on the ground that she is the mother of Jesus, is forbidden by this text.

(1) Attention is called to the text because it is one of the seven memorable sayings on the cross; on account of its publicity, for nothing ever can be so public as the cross; as the last of three recorded sayings spoken to Mary by our Lord in the course of His ministry. Look at this one in the light of the preceding two. In the first (Luk 2:41-50) we trace no regret or excuse; and the plain point of His language being that into the affairs of His Father in heaven, He repudiates her intrusion. In the second (Joh 2:3-4), with an air the most imperative, He gives an indication that in His own high province she, as His mother, has no authority. Here, again, soften the word as you may from seeming hardness, it is remarkable that, in these three instances, He calls her, not Mother, but Woman.

(2) You have heard His final words to her: what were His final words to John? Behold the mother of God? the queen of heaven? the mediatrix? Was John to make a shrine for her? No, but to make a home for her. The grandest honour a woman could have was that of being the medium through whom the Saviour came into the world. Yet I cannot forget that once, when a woman used words to that effect, He said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. Surely it must have put great constraint upon His loving heart to accost her in words so studied, so cautious. I can only account for them on the principle that in His foreknowledge He saw what a handle would be made of even the most ordinary epithet of honour and affection applied by Him to her, and was resolved to leave no datum, no vestige, no shadow of a shadow of excuse for Mariolatry. After all this, millions who wear the Christian name still worship Mary as a goddess. Poor woman! If a sword could pierce the heart of Mary in heaven, it would be this.

III. THE OBEDIENCE OF THE DISCIPLE. What Christ told him to do he did at once. What He tells you to do do it at once. Take your orders from Mary herself; she refers you to Him, and says, Whatsoever He saith to you, do it. He is our Lawgiver. Why wait? (C. Stanford.)

Regard for a parent

A young man who was anxious to devote himself to the work of the ministry among the heathen, and had been recommended to the London Missionary Society, on undergoing the usual examination, stated that he had one difficulty: he had an aged mother entirely dependent upon an elder brother and himself for support; and in case of his brothers death, he should wish to be at liberty to return home, if his mother were still living, to soothe her pathway to the grave. Scarcely had he made this frank statement, when the harsh voice of a cast-iron committee-man exclaimed, If you love your mother more than the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not do for us! Abashed and confounded, the young man was silent. Some murmurs escaped the committee, and he was requested to withdraw for a while, that his proposal might be duly considered. On his being again sent for, Dr. Waugh, the venerable chairman, told him, with unaffected kindness, that the committee did not feel authorized to accept of his services for a period which might be so short and uncertain, but immediately added: We think none the worse of you, my good lad, for your dutiful regard for your aged parent. You are acting in conformity to the example of Him whose gospel you wished to proclaim among the heathen, who, as He hung upon the cross, in dying agonies, beholding His mother and the beloved disciple standing by, said to the one, Woman, behold thy son! and to St. John, Behold thy mother! (J. N.Norton, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 25. Mary the wife of Cleophas] She is said, in Mt 27:56, (see the note there,) and Mr 15:40, to have been the mother of James the Less, and of Joses; and this James her son is said, in Mt 10:3, to have been the son of Alpheus; hence it seems that Alpheus and Cleopas were the same person. To which may be added, that Hegesippus is quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. l. iii. c. 11, as saying that Cleopas was the brother of Joseph, the husband of the virgin. Theophylact says that Cleopas, (brother of Joseph, the husband of the virgin,) having died childless, his brother Joseph married his widow, by whom he had four sons, called by the evangelists the brothers of our Lord, and two daughters, the one named Salome, the other Mary, the daughter of Cleopas, because she was his daughter according to law, though she was the daughter of Joseph according to nature. There are several conjectures equally well founded with this last to be met with in the ancient commentators; but, in many cases, it is very difficult to distinguish the different Marys mentioned by the evangelists.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

These words the wife are not in the Greek, but supplied by our translators; which leaves it doubtful whether that Mary was the wife, or the mother, or the daughter of Cleophas.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

25-27. Now there stood by the crossof Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary, wife ofCleophasThis should be read, as in the Margin,“Clopas,” the same as “Alpheus” (Mt10:3). The “Cleopas” of Lu24:18 was a different person.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus,…. So near as not only to see him, but to hear him speak:

his mother; the mother of Jesus, Mary; which showed her affection to Christ, and her constancy in abiding by him to the last; though it must be a cutting sight, and now was fulfilled Simeon’s prophecy, Lu 2:35 to see her son in such agonies and sorrow, and jeered and insulted by the worst of men; and though she herself was exposed to danger, and liable to be abused by the outrageous multitude; and it also showed that she stood in need, as others, of a crucified Saviour; so far was she from being a co-partner with him in making satisfaction for sin, as the Papists wickedly say:

and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas. The Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions distinguish Mary the wife of Cleophas from his mother’s sister, by placing the copulative and between them, and so make two persons; whereas one and the same is intended, and who was the sister of Mary, the mother of Christ; not her own sister, for it is not likely that two sisters should be of the same name; but her husband Joseph’s sister, and so her’s; or else Cleophas was Joseph’s brother, as Eusebius from Hegesippus says k: and who was also not the daughter of Cleophas, as the Arabic version has here supplied it; much less the mother of him; but his wife, as is rightly put in our translation: for, according to the other evangelists, she was the mother of James and Joses, and who were the sons of Cleophas or Alphaeus; which are not the names of two persons, nor two names of one and the same person, but one and the same name differently pronounced; his true name in Hebrew was , or , or , “Chelphi”, or “Chelphai”, or “Chilphi”, a name frequently to be met with in Talmudic and Rabbinic writings; and so a Jewish writer l observes, that , “Chilpha is the same as Ilpha”; and in Greek may be pronounced either Cleophas, or Alphaeus, as it is both ways: ignorance of this has led interpreters to form different conjectures, as that either the husband of this Mary had two names; or that she was twice married to two different persons, once to Alphaeus, and after his death to Cleophas; or that Cleophas was her father, and Alphaeus her husband; for neither of which is there any foundation. She was no doubt a believer in Christ, and came and stood by his cross; not merely to keep her sister company, but out of affection to Jesus, and to testify her faith in him:

and Mary Magdalene; out of whom he had cast seven devils, and who had been a true penitent, a real believer in him, an hearty lover of him, was zealously attached to him, and followed him to the last. Three Marys are here mentioned as together; and it is observable, that the greater part of those that are taken notice of, as following Christ to the cross, and standing by it, were women, the weaker, and timorous sex, when all his disciples forsook him and fled; and none of them attended at the cross, as we read of, excepting John; no, not even Peter, who boasted so much of his attachment to him. These good women standing by the cross of Christ, may teach us to do, as they did, look upon a crucified Christ, view his sorrows, and his sufferings, and our sins laid upon him, and borne and taken away by him; we should look unto him for pardon, cleansing, and justification, and, in short, for the whole of salvation: we should also weep, as they did, whilst we look on him; shed even tears of affection for, and sympathy with him; of humiliation for sin, and of joy for a Saviour: and likewise should abide by him as they did, by his persons, offices, and grace; by the doctrine of the cross, continuing steadfastly in it; and by the ordinances of Christ, constantly attending on them, and that notwithstanding all reproaches and sufferings we may undergo.

k Emseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 11. l Juchasin, fol. 92. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Were standing by the cross of Jesus ( ). Perfect of , to place, used as imperfect (intransitive) with (beside) and the locative case. Vivid contrast this to the rude gambling of the soldiers. This group of four (or three) women interests us more. Matt. (Mt 27:55f.) spoke of women beholding from afar and names three (Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee). Mark also (Mr 15:40) names three (Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome). They have clearly drawn near the Cross by now. John alone mentions the mother of Jesus in the group. It is not clear whether the sister of the mother of Jesus is Salome the mother of the sons of Zebedee or the wife of Clopas. If so, two sisters have the name Mary and James and John are cousins of Jesus. The point cannot be settled with our present knowledge.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

There stood. Imperfect tense, were standing.

Mary Magdalene. Strictly, the [] Magdalene. She is introduced abruptly, as well known.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus,” (heistekeison de para to stauro tou lesou) “Then stood by the cross of Jesus,” recounted by John only, as He hang thereon; The soldiers gambled and divided His clothes for personal profit nearby, and many sitting down watched Him there, Mat 27:36; Gen 3:15 was now being explicitly fulfilled, as well as Isa 53:3-12.

2) “His mother and his mother’s sister,” (he meter autou kai he adelphe tes metros autou) “The mother of Jesus and his mother’s sister,” His mother Mary, who had given virgin birth to Him, by the Holy Spirit, and later gave birth to four other sons and three daughters, Mat 13:55; Mar 6:3.

3) “Mary the wife of Cleophas,” (Maria he tou Klopa) “Mary who was the wife of Clopas,” not the Cleopas of Luk 24:18, but the father of James the less and Joses, Mar 15:40.

4) “And Mary Magdalene.” (kai Maria he Magdalene) “And Mary Magdalene,” the Mary of Magdala, out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons or unclean spirits, the Mary to whom He first appeared after His resurrection, Mar 16:9; Mat 27:55-56; Mar 15:40; Luk 23:49. These women had “followed Him from Galilee,” down to Judea, and ministered to Him.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

25. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus. The Evangelist here mentions incidentally, that while Christ obeyed God the Father, he did not fail to perform the duty which he owed, as a son, towards his mother. True, he forgot himself, and he forgot every thing, so far as was necessary for the discharge of obedience to his Father, but, after having performed that duty, he did not neglect what he owed to his mother. Hence we learn in what manner we ought to discharge our duty towards God and towards men. It often happens that, when God calls us to the performance of any thing, our parents, or wife, or children, draw us in a contrary direction, so that we cannot give equal satisfaction to all. If we place men in the same rank with God, we judge amiss. We must, therefore, give the preference to the command, the worship, and the service of God; after which, as far as we are able, we must give to men what is their due.

And yet the commands of the first and second table of the Law never jar with each other, though at first sight they appear to do so; but we must begin with the worship of God, and afterwards assign to men an inferior place. Such is the import of the following statements:

He who loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me, (Mat 10:41😉

and,

If any one hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, he cannot be my disciple, (Luk 14:26.)

We ought, therefore, to devote ourselves to the interests of men, so as not in any degree to interfere with the worship and obedience which we owe to God. When we have obeyed God, it will then be the proper time to think about parents, and wife, and children; as Christ attends to his mother, but it is after that he is on the cross, to which he has been called by his Father’s decree.

Yet, if we attend to the time and place when these things happened, Christ’s affection for his mother was worthy of admiration. I say nothing about the severe tortures of his body; I say nothing about the reproaches which he suffered; but, though horrible blasphemies against God filled his mind with inconceivable grief, and though he sustained a dreadful contest with eternal death and with the devil, still, none of these things prevent him from being anxious about his mother. We may also learn from this passage, what is the honor which God, by the Law, commands us to render to parents, (Exo 20:12.) Christ appoints the disciple to be his substitute, and charges him to support and take care of his mother; and hence it follows, that the honor which is due to parents consists, not in cold ceremony, (171) but in the discharge of all necessary duties.

On the other hand, we ought to consider the faith of those holy women (172) It is true that, in following Christ to the cross, they displayed more than ordinary affection; but, if they had not been supported by faith they could never have been present at this exhibition. As to John himself, we infer that, though his faith was choked for a short time, it was not wholly extinguished. How shameful will it be, if the dread of the cross deters us from following Christ, when the glory of his resurrection is placed before our eyes, whereas the women beheld in it nothing but disgrace and cursing!

Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. He calls her either the wife or the daughter of Cleophas; but I prefer the latter interpretation. (173) He says, that she was the sister of the mother of Jesus, and, in saying so, he adopts the phraseology of the Hebrew language, which includes cousins, and other relatives, (174) under the term brothers. We see that it was not in vain that Mary Magdalene was delivered from seven devils, (Mar 16:9; Luk 8:2😉 since she showed hersclf, to the last, to be so faithful a disciple to Christ.

(171) “ En froide ceremonie.”

(172) “ De ces sainctes femmes.”

(173) ” Il y en a aucuns qui pensent que c’estoit la femme de Cleopas: mon opinion est que c’estoit plustost sa rifle.” — “There are some who think that she was the wife of Cleophas: my opinion is, that she was rather his daughter.”

(174) “ Les cousins et autres parens.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(25) Joh. 19:25-27 relate an incident which is found in St. John only.

Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.Better, Mary the (wife) of Clopas, as in margin. This Clopas is usually identified with Alphus. (Comp. Mat. 10:3; Mat. 27:56, and Introduction to the Gospel according to St. Matthew, p. 41) The question arises, Are there three or four women mentioned here?i.e., Is Mary the (wife) of Clopas sister of Mary the mother of our Lord? or does St. John mean by His mothers sister an unnamed woman, who may not improbably be his own mother, Salome, whom he nowhere mentions? The question cannot be answered with certainty; but upon the whole, the balance of evidence inclines to the view that we have four persons here mentioned in two pairs: His mother and His mothers sister; Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. As early as the second century, the Peshito Syriac version adopted this view, and inserted and after the word sister. (Comp. Notes on Mat. 28:1 and Luk. 24:18, and especially the Excursus on The brethren of the Lord in Lightfoot On Galatians, pp. 247-282.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Jesus commits his mother to the care of John, Joh 19:25-27.

25. Stood by the cross The same feeling of safety which induced John to enter the high priest’s palace, seems to have emboldened him at the head of his female company to make the nearest approach to the cross. No danger was to be apprehended from the Roman authorities, who so reluctantly surrendered even Jesus to death. The only harm could arise from the malice of the multitude. It was probably just as the shades of the supernatural darkness were dense enough to obscure their approaching figures, that they came within listening distance of the dying Saviour. Abruptly, and avoiding (perhaps for her safety) addressing her as mother, Jesus utters his last words to her.

His mother’s sister We suppose this clause to be in opposition with the clause following, and that his mother’s sister was Mary, wife of Cleopas; so that there are but three women here mentioned.

Cleopas Rather Clopas. See note on Luk 24:18.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene.’

As it is unlikely that Mary’s sister would also be called Mary we must probably see this as referring to four women, Mary and her sister; together with Mary Magdalene and Mary of Clopas. Mary’s sister may well have been called Salome (Mar 15:40), and may well have been the mother of James and John (Mat 27:56). In fact this would explain the anonymity. The writer never mentions names of those connected with James and John, a further confirmation that John is the author. There is therefore a contrast between these four faithful followers and the four soldiers who carried out the crucifixion.

Mary Magdalene was a woman out of whom Jesus had cast seven devils (Mar 16:9). There is absolutely no reason why we should assume that she was an unchaste woman. Later tradition was probably the result of speculation. (Woe betide facts when a man finds a sermon coming on).

We know that a number of women followed Jesus and His disciples about at various times and sometimes provided for them financially (Luk 8:3). They would form a female unit. It was to their credit that they were there at His hour of greatest need. But to be fair to the disciples the women would not be seen to be in as great a danger as the Apostles who saw themselves as marked men and liable to arrest.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Joh 19:25 Comments Scholars generally agree that the prophecy of Simeon in the Temple was fulfilled when Mary stood at the cross of Jesus watching her son die. A. T. Robertson says that this is the time when Luk 2:35 was fulfilled.

Luk 2:35, “(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

God always prepares us for difficulties that will take place in the future by giving us words to strengthen us and to prepare us for that time and season. Thus, God gave Mary words that would one day serve to strengthen her during the most difficult moment in her life, which was the crucifixion of her beloved Son on Calvary. In the same way, Jesus gave Peter a prophecy about his future suffering and death in order to strengthen him.

Joh 21:18-19, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.”

Joh 19:25-27 Jesus’ Mother at the Cross In Joh 19:25-27 we have the record of Jesus handing over the care of His mother to John the apostle.

Joh 19:26  When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

Joh 19:26 Comments One Catholic tradition tells us that John the apostle remained in Jerusalem and cared for the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ until her death about fifteen years after the Crucifixion of Jesus. Adam Clarke says:

“ John was banished by the Roman emperor, Domitian, to the isle of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea: but his successor Nerva having recalled all the exiles banished by Domitian, John returned to Ephesus, where he died, aged upward of one hundred years. The holy Virgin is said to have lived with him till her death, which took place about fifteen years after the crucifixion.” [285]

[285] Adam Clarke, The Preacher’s Manual: Including Clavis Biblica, and A Letter to a Methodist Preacher (New York: G. Lane and P. P. Sandford, 1842), 37.

Joh 19:26-27 Comments In many cultures, especially the African culture and even the Asian culture, the terms for “father, mother, brother, and sister” are used loosely, and often refer to distant relatives. This is in contrast to the modern American culture where these words are used exclusively for the immediate family members. Most likely, these terms were also used loosely in the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day.

Note also in the biography of John the apostle that he was very likely a close relative of Jesus. Therefore, it was appropriate for Jesus to give John oversight of his mother, using the terms “son and mother” just as they would have been used in his Jewish culture for extended family members.

Joh 19:28-30 Jesus’ Death In Joh 19:28-30 we have the account of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Joh 19:28 Comments The author of the Gospel of John records seven events during the Passion of Jesus Christ that are a direct fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture (Joh 12:13-15; Joh 12:38-40; Joh 13:18; Joh 15:25; Joh 19:24; Joh 19:36-37).

Joh 19:30 “It is finished” Comments – Billy Brim said that Jesus’ death was not an event, but rather an accomplishment. [286] This was what Jesus Christ was born into this world to do. Note reference verses:

[286] Billye Brim, interviewed by Gloria Copeland, Believer’s Voice of Victory (Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Fort Worth, Texas), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program.

Mat 5:17, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

Joh 4:34, “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”

Joh 5:36, “But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.”

Joh 17:4, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”

Rom 10:4, “For Christ is the end ( ) of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

Gal 3:24, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

Heb 10:1-10 especially verse 9, “He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second”.

Kenneth Hagin says that the new covenant finished when Jesus ascended on High. [287]

[287] Kenneth Hagin, Zoe: The God-Kind of Life (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1981, 1982), 43.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Christ’s care for His mother:

v. 25. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

v. 26. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son!

v. 27. Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

A beautiful evidence of the Savior’s filial love and care! In the midst of the excruciating agonies of the body and the still more horrible tortures of the soul He yet finds time to think of His mother and the duties He owed her in return for her mother’s devotion. During the act of crucifixion itself the friends of Jesus naturally stood at some distance, as Matthew and Mark relate. But when matters had quieted down somewhat, these friends, principally women that were proving themselves stauncher and stronger than the apostles in this emergency, approached as near as possible to the cross. Mary, the mother of Jesus, stood there, and her sister, or rather sister-in-law, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, the mother of James, and Mary Magdalene, all of whom were united with the Lord in faith and tender love. See Mat 27:56; Mar 15:40. The punctuation of the text may also be set to mention four women: the mother of Jesus, her sister Salome, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. And of all the apostles there was only one present, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the writer of this account, John himself. Now Jesus, seeing them standing together in their sympathetic sorrow, turned first to His mother, bidding her look upon John as her son, who would take the place of Him that was about to be removed from His position of dutiful son. And in a similar manner He bade John look upon Mary as his mother, to show her all the kindness and care which a son owes to his mother in her old age. And John accepted the charge. Mary was received into his home with all the love which might have made her declining days cheerful, had Jesus remained in the flesh, personally to fulfill the obligations resting upon Him according to the Fourth Commandment which He here kept. John probably had a house in Jerusalem, as tradition has it, and could provide for Mary’s care and comfort in a proper manner, treating her altogether as an honored member of the household. Note: The provision of Jesus for His aged mother is an example of the proper fulfillment of the Fourth Commandment. This active obedience of Christ serves for our salvation; He has kept the Law in our stead. It may have seemed a trivial matter at a time when the redemption of millions was at stake, but it characterizes the Savior’s love. This Jesus, that died on the cross for us, to save our souls from damnation, will care also for our bodies, will make proper provision for their protection and keeping. Mark also: The small band of disciples under the cross of Jesus is a picture of the Christian Church. The believers properly belong under the cross of Christ. The world about them has nothing but mockery and blasphemy for the cross and the Crucified, but the faithful place their trust in life and death in the Man of Sorrows.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Joh 19:25. There stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, &c. Neither her own danger, nor the sadness of the spectacle, nor the reproaches and insults of the people, could restrain our Lord’s mother from performing the last sad office of duty and tenderness to her divine Son on the cross. Grotius justly observes, that it was a noble instance of fortitude and zeal. Now a sword, according to Simeon’s prophesy, pierced through her very soul; and perhaps the extremity of her sorrows might so overwhelm her spirits, as to render her incapable of attending the sepulchre, which we do not find that she did. After this we do not meet with any thing concerning her in the sacred history, or in early antiquity, except that she continued among the disciples after our Lord’s ascension, Act 1:14. The popish writers, indeed, have given us a variety of ridiculous tales concerning her. Instead of the wife, some commentators read the daughter of Cleophas. There is no word in the original either for wife or daughter.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Joh 19:25-27 . Another narrative, selected by John, and peculiar to him, as elevated and striking in its contents as it is simple and tender in form, and all the more unjustly relegated to the inventions made (Strauss, Baur, Schenkel) in the interest of John, although in the Synoptics (Mat 27:56 ; Mar 15:40 ) the women mentioned stand afar off , which standing afar off is to be placed after the present scene, not before , as Lcke and Olshausen, in opposition to the synoptical account, are of opinion.

] Are only three women here named ( usual opinion), so that is in apposition to , . . .; or are there four (Wieseler in the Stud. u. Krit . 1840, p. 648 ff., Lcke, Lange, Ewald, Laurent, Neut. Stud . p. 170 f.), so that is to be taken by itself, and the women are brought forward in two pairs? The Syr. already interpreted in the latter mode, and hence inserted a before (as also Aeth. and Pers.); so also have Lachm. (ed. min ., not in the large edition) and Tisch. interpunctuated (without a comma after ). As it is highly improbable of itself, and established by no instance, that two sisters bore the same name, as, further, it is in keeping with the peculiarity of John not to mention his own name, if he also does not mention his mother , [245] or even his brother James, by name (see on Joh 1:42 ), and as, according to Mat 27:56 , Mar 15:40 , Salome was also amongst the above-named women, Wieseler’s view, which is not throughout opposed by any well-founded doubts, [246] is to be deemed not “a mere learned refinement ” (Hengstenberg), but correct , so that thus the unnamed is Salome, the mother of John.

] The wife of Klopas , according to Mat 27:56 , Mar 15:40 , Luk 24:10 , mother of the younger James, hence Klopas is to be taken as Alphaeus , , Mat 10:3 . According to Ewald, on the other hand, the mother of Kleopas, Luk 24:18 , and according to Beza: the wife of this Kleopas.

.] See on Mat 27:56 .

That Jesus enjoins on John to care for Mary, although the latter had several sons of her own, is not sufficiently explained by the unbelief of the brothers (Joh 7:5 ), for His speedy triumph over this (Act 1:14 ) could not be hidden from Him (Joh 2:24-25 ); but it presupposes the certainty in His mind that generally to no other’s hand could this dear legacy [247] be so well entrusted. That Mary had no other sons (see in opposition to this Joh 7:3 , and on Mat 1:25 ) is, indeed, still inferred by Hengstenberg. For , comp. on Joh 2:4 .

The words to the disciple, behold thy mother , meet no stumbling-block in the fact that he had his own actual mother, nay, that she herself was also present (see on Joh 19:25 ), but leave his relation to the latter untouched, and form with the a parallelism, which expresses the filial care and protection which Mary, on the one hand, was to expect from John; which John, on the other hand, was to exercise towards Mary.

, . . .] Not to be regarded as a parenthesis; to be taken with strict literality, that John forthwith , after Jesus had accomplished His end upon the cross, entered on his charge. Whether and where he possessed a property of his own is matter of conjecture. If he received Mary into his dwelling , into his family circle , formed by Salome, and perhaps by his brother, then (comp. Joh 16:32 ) was a correct expression. Ewald well remarks on such traits of individual significance in the Gospel of John: “it was for him at a late period of life a sweet reward to call up reminiscences of all that was most vivid, but for the readers it is also, without his will, a token that only he could have written all this.” If, indeed, the designation of the disciple beloved by Jesus as a self -designation were a vanity (Scholten), nay, an arrogant and scornful self- exaltation (Weisse), then it could not have been he who wrote all this. But the consciousness of pre-eminent love on the part of the Lord, true, clear, and still glowing with all intensity and strength, in the heart of the old man, is inconceivable without the deepest humility, and this humility, which has long since ceased to have anything in common with the feeling evinced in Mar 10:35 ff., Luk 9:54 , has precisely in that most simple of all expressions, , its most correspondent expression and its necessary and sacred justification, which is as little to be passed over in silence, or to be denied, as is the consciousness of Paul, 1Co 15:10 .

[245] He does, indeed, name in Joh 21:2 his father . But the latter appears so without participation in the evangelical history, that he might appear to John’s mind in his Christian relation, especially in the late period of the composition of the appendix, chap. 21, more foreign and remote, and that consequently a hesitation might not exist in reference to naming him, as there did in the case of the mother, founded on a delicate and more spiritual consideration. Scholten changes the mother into an allegorical person, in whom the Church is represented, to care for which was to be incumbent on John, not on Peter. So substantially also Spth in Hilgenfeld, ZeitsChr. 1868, p. 187.

[246] Insufficient objections in Luthardt, Brckner, Baeumlein, Weizscker, and others. According to Euth. Zigabenus, Ebrard, Hengstenberg, and several others, would signify sister-in-law .

[247] This noblest blossom of dying piety is violently removed into a sphere foreign to it, if it is transported into dogmatic ground, as Steinmeyer, p. 200, does. According to him, the death of the Atoner for all men , as such, has completely cut asunder the tie that hitherto existed; by this death Jesus departed out of every naturally-conditioned individual fellowship, and like Melchizedek must also appear as . Of such a meaning, John gives not the slightest indication.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. (26) When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! (27) Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! and from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. (28) After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. (29) Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. (30) When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

We have within these verses, as recorded by this Evangelist, only Three of the last words of Christ on the cross. But, from the corresponding history of the crucifixion, as related by the other Evangelists, there were Four others, and all particularly striking and important. It is a very usual thing among men to treasure up the last words of dying friends, as being more than ordinarily ponderous and meriting regard. Those of the Lord Jesus must surely be eminently so. I would begin this place, as John is the last of the Evangelists, and who closeth the history, to gather them into one point of view, and as far as we can well form our judgment with correctness, to look at them one by one, in the order in which we may suppose the Lord delivered them.

It is worthy our observation, that three of those last sayings of Christ on the cross, were addressed to the Father, and four to those around him. But, like his farewell prayer in the midst of his Apostles, the greater part had respect to his Church, and not to himself. See Joh 17 . The first in point of order, seems to have been that in which Jesus said, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. Luk 23:34 . Was not this, (I ask the question,) as in the Lord’s High Priestly Office, now entering upon it, as on the great day of atonement? The Cross his altar, himself both sacrifice and sacrificer, his blood streaming over his sacred body, his wounds as the incense of his censer, and his dying sweat ascending as the burnt-offering before God? And in this manner, his arms extended, as the High Priest his type in the temple was stretched forth to bless the people; so Jesus when he cried out, Father! forgive them, for they know not what they do! Reader! were you and I included in this prayer? It is a grand enquiry. Let us pause over it, and ponder it well.

The second voice of Jesus heard on the cross, was this, which is recorded by John in this place. These words of Christ in their first meaning, should seem to have had an especial regard to the disposing of Mary after the Lord’s death, but I humbly conceive somewhat of higher moment was intended by Jesus, and in relation to his whole Church and people. For, surely, the temporary care of this woman might have been provided for in a less public way. It would hardly have been left to this hour. Neither would the Holy Ghost, one might be led to suppose, have thought it necessary to have made such a special record of it among the last weighty sayings of the dying Jesus. But, as I have often in the course of this humble work observed before, so here again I desire to say, that I do not presume to speak decidedly. I venture to think that the Lord had higher motives in view, than merely recommending Mary to the care of John. And might it not be, (I ask the question,) to remind Mary, and in her his whole Church, when he said, Woman, behold thy Son! what the angel had announced to her before the incarnation of his name and glory, as Jesus a Redeemer, and when in consequence she called Christ her Savior? See Luk 1:26-47 . And when the Lord said to John, behold thy mother! was not this intended no less to correct, and reprove, all those honors which the Lord knew the idolatry of the future ages of the world would produce, in ascribing to Mary, whom Christ always called Woman, unsuitable and improper names?

The Lord’s answer to the cry of the penitent thief on the cross, we may, I think, without the danger of misplacing in point of order, consider as the third voice of Jesus in those solemn hours. And, oh! what a number of the richest contemplations arise out of those gracious words of Christ. Lord! remember me, said the dying malefactor, when thou comest into thy kingdom! And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise, Luk 23:42-43 . I must not allow myself to enter into the sweet and almost endless subject those words lead to. But just let me remark, what rich, free, unmerited, unlooked for, boundless grace, was here shewn by Christ, to a poor perishing sinner? What wonders hath Jesus here at once opened of the invisible world; and the instant possession of paradise, and Jesus with it, by every spirit when departing the body, in the faith and enjoyment of Christ’s blood and righteousness? And what a most effectual silence doth it give to the ungracious and unbecoming pretensions of all self-righteous Pharisees? How sweetly were the Apostle’s words proved in this instance, and how suitably to be applied to every other; Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Tit 3:5-6 .

The fourth words of Jesus on the cross, were remarkable indeed, and full of the highest import. The Lord of life and glory had hung upon the cross full three hours, when he uttered this dolorous cry: Eli, Eli, (or as Mark renders it, Eloi, Eloi, for both are the same. Mar 15:34 .) lama sabachthani, which is, being interpreted, My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me? Mat 27:46-47 . The first three of these words are Hebrew, and the latter Chaldee or Syriac. We have the same word in the Chaldee paraphrase of the Psa 22:1 . So that Christ here fulfilled that prophecy, and the application of it was plainly seen to be to Him, and to Him only.

It is impossible with our scanty faculties, to fathom the depth of this wonderful cry of Christ. One thing, however, is very plain. The forsaking which the Lord speaks of, could not mean that that union of God and man in One Person was in the smallest degree lessened, for death itself could not accomplish this. In Christ dwelleth forever and uninterruptedly, the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Col 2:9 . Neither had he lost the favor and love of Jehovah, for that also was, and is, impossible. But, if one may venture to offer a conjecture on a subject of such a deepness in mystery, probably it might be for the time, the Lord’s having lost an enjoying sense of that favor, which all along before he had possessed. And as Jesus was now sustaining the whole weight and burden of the sins of his people, he felt what those sins merited; and was therefore for a space, as one deprived of the refreshing presence of Jehovah, that his people might not be deprived of it forever. Reader! think, if the beloved Son of God was thus exercised, and sent forth such an heart piercing cry at the apprehension of divine withdrawings; what must be the shrieks of the eternally miserable who have lost the gracious presence of God forever?

The fifth voice we hear from our Lord on the cross, seems most probably to have been that which John hath noticed, (Joh 19:28 ) when he said, I thirst. I say most probably this might be according to the order in which the Lord spake, for I am not able to determine. Neither is it I should suppose material. But what I think of more importance is what John hath said concerning it, that Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. The fulfilling of the scripture, was in reference to that prophecy of Christ, Psa 22:15 where the Lord is described as brought into the dust of death; and where, according to another prophecy, vinegar is said to be given to him. Psa 69:21 . The soldiers who gave Christ the offered vinegar were unconscious what they did; but how precious are such things to a child of God? And what was implied in this thirst of Jesus? Not merely a thirst of body, but of soul. An holy thirst to see all the whole purposes of his soul-travail, and sufferings, and death, accomplished in the salvation of his people. Reader! Jesus thirsted for his chosen. And shall not you and I thirst after Him? Oh! for a vehement thirst as one of old expressed, when he cried out, As the hart thirsteth for the water-brooks, so longeth my soul after thee O God! Psa 42:1 ; Son 8:6 .

The two last cries of Christ upon the cross, are those related by John and Luke. Perhaps the former was that which John hath recorded, for he saith, when Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And Luke adds, when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father! into thy hands I commend my spirit; and having said thus, he gave up the ghost, Luk 23:46 . It should seem, therefore, that it was in this order the Lord thus spake. But I presume not to determine. However, the words themselves are the same, in whatever manner they were delivered; and they are full of the highest import and richest consolation. Redemption-work was finished; and all the purposes for which Christ made his soul an offering for sin, were fully answered. The Son of God, therefore, in our nature, as a mighty conqueror retiring from the field of battle, having gotten himself the victory, cried out with a loud voice; not as one whose strength was consumed, but as One who laid down his life, as he had said, that he might take it again, and no man taking it from him, (Joh 10:17 ) it is finished. And now committed himself into his Father’s hands; as if to teach all his redeemed how to die in faith, and to whom to commit their souls in a dying hour, as unto a faithful Creator. 1Pe 4:19 ; Psa 31:5 ; Act 7:55 , to end.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

Ver. 25. Now there stood by the cross, &c. ] The men were fled, the women stood to it. Souls have no sexes. Manoah’s wife was the more manly of the two. Priscilla is sometimes set before Aquila. When St Paul came first to Philippi, he had none that would hear him, but a few women, Act 18:18 ; Rom 16:3 ; 2Ti 4:19 ; Act 16:13 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

25. ] In Mat 27:55-56 [250] , we learn that two of these were looking on afar off, after Jesus had expired, with Salome. Considering then that John’s habit of not naming himself, might extend to his mother (he names his father, ch. Joh 21:2 ), we may well believe that . here represents Salome , and that four women are designated by this description. So Wieseler and Meyer, Luthardt opposing them. So also Ewald: and, which is no mean evidence, the Peschito, inserting a between and .

[250] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25 , the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified , thus, ‘ Mk.,’ or ‘ Mt. Mk.,’ &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others .

, wife of Klopas (Alphus, see Mat 10:3 , and Prolegg. to Ep. of James, i. 4), the mother of James the Less and Joses: Matt., Mark.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Joh 19:25 . This part of the scene is closed (that another may be introduced) with the common formula, . (“Graeci saepissime hujusmodi conclusiunculis utuntur.” Raphel in loc. ) The soldiers for their part acted as has been related, but there were others beside the cross who were very differently affected. . It is doubtful whether it is meant that three or that four women were standing by the cross; for may either be a further designation of , or it may name the first member of a second pair of women. That four women are intended may be argued from the extreme improbability that in one family two sisters should bear the same name, Mary. The Synoptists do not name the mother of Jesus among those who were present, but Matthew (Mat 27:56 ) and Mark (Mar 15:40 ) name Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome the mother of John. Two of these three are mentioned by John here, and it is natural to infer that the unnamed woman ( . . .) is the third, Salome; unnamed possibly because of this writer’s shyness in naming himself or those connected with him. But the fact that Luke (Luk 24:10 ) names Joanna as the third woman reflects some uncertainty on this argument. If Salome was Mary’s sister, then Jesus and John were cousins, and the commendation of Mary to John’s care is in part explained. may mean the mother, daughter, sister, or wife of Klopas; probably the last. According to Mat 27:56 , Mar 15:40 , Luk 24:10 , the Mary here mentioned was the mother of James and Joses. But in Mat 10:3 we learn that James was the son of Alphaeus. Hence it is inferred that Klopas and Alphaeus are two slightly varying forms of the same name .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh 19:25-27

25bBut standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

Joh 19:25 “standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene” There is much discussion about whether there are four names here or three names. It is probable that there are four names because there would not be two sisters named Mary. Mary’s sister, Salome, is named in Mar 15:40; Mar 16:1. If this is true, then it would mean James, John, and Jesus were cousins. A second-century tradition (Hegesippus) says that Clopas was Joseph’s brother. Mary Magdala was the one out of whom Jesus cast seven devils, and the first one to whom He chose to appear after His resurrection (cf. Joh 20:1-2; Joh 20:11-18; Mar 16:1; Luk 24:1-10).

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE WOMEN WHO FOLLOWED JESUS

Joh 19:26 “the disciple whom He loved” Since John is not mentioned by name in the Gospel, many assume this was his way of identifying himself (cf. Joh 13:23; Joh 19:26; Joh 21:7; Joh 21:20). In each of these he uses the term agapa, but in Joh 20:2 he uses the same phrase but with phile. These terms are synonymous in John; compare Joh 3:35, agapa and Joh 5:20, phile, where they both refer to the Father’s love for the Son.

Joh 19:27 “From that hour, the disciple took her into his own household” This does not necessarily mean that John immediately took Mary to his house, although this may be implied by the fact that she is not listed with the other women in Mat 27:56 and Mar 15:40. Tradition says that John cared for Mary until her death and then he moved to Asia Minor (especially Ephesus) where he had a long and successful ministry. It is at the urging of the Ephesian elders that John, as an old man, wrote his memories of the life of Jesus (i.e., the Gospel of John).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Now = But.

stood = were standing.

by = beside. Greek. para. App-104.

Mary. See App-100. John omits the name of his own mother Salome, who was there also (Mat 27:56).

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

25.] In Mat 27:55-56 [250], we learn that two of these were looking on afar off, after Jesus had expired, with Salome. Considering then that Johns habit of not naming himself, might extend to his mother (he names his father, ch. Joh 21:2), we may well believe that . here represents Salome, and that four women are designated by this description. So Wieseler and Meyer, Luthardt opposing them. So also Ewald: and, which is no mean evidence, the Peschito, inserting a between and .

[250] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25, the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified, thus, Mk., or Mt. Mk., &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others.

, wife of Klopas (Alphus, see Mat 10:3, and Prolegg. to Ep. of James, i. 4), the mother of James the Less and Joses: Matt., Mark.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Joh 19:25. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mothers sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

Last at the cross, first at the sepulcher. No womans lip betrayed her Lord; no womans hand ever smote him; their eyes wept for him; they gazed upon him with pitying awe and love. God bless the Marys! When we see so many of them about the cross, we feel that we honour the very name of Mary.

Joh 19:26. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith into his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

Sad, sad spectacle! Now was fulfilled the word of Simeon, Yes, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Did the Saviour mean, as he gave a glance to John, Woman, thou art losing one Son; but yonder stands another, who will be a son to thee in my absence? Woman, behold thy son!

Joh 19:27. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!

Take her as thy mother, stand thou in my place, care for her as I have cared for her. Those who love Christ best shall have the honour of taking care of his church and of his poor. Never say of any poor relative or friend, the widow or the fatherless, They are a great burden to me. Oh, no! Say, They are a great honour to me; my Lord has entrusted them to my care. John thought so; let us think so. Jesus selected the disciple he loved best to take his mother under his care. He selects those whom he loves best today, and puts his poor people under their wing. Take them gladly, and treat them well.

Joh 19:27. And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home

You expected him to do it, did you not? He loved his Lord so well.

Joh 19:28. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

There was a prophecy to that effect in the Psalms, and he must needs fulfill that. Think of a dying man prayerfully going through the whole of the Scriptures and carefully fulfilling all that is there written concerning him: That the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus saith, I thirst.

Joh 19:29. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar,

For he did receive it. It was a weak kind of wine, commonly drunk by the soldiery. This is not that mixed potion which he refused, wine mingled with myrrh, which was intended to stupefy the dying in their pains: When he had tasted thereof, he would not drink; for he would not be stupefied. He came to suffer to the bitter end the penalty of sin; and he would not have his sorrow mitigated; but when this slight refreshment was offered to him, he received it. Having just expressed his human weakness by saying, I thirst, he now manifests his all-sufficient strength by crying, with a loud voice as Matthew, Mark, and Luke all testify.

Joh 19:30. He said, It is finished:

What it was it that was finished? I will not attempt to expound it. It is the biggest it that ever was. Turn it over and you will see that it will grow, and grow, and grow, and grow, till it fills the whole earth: It is finished.

Joh 19:30. And he lowered his head, and gave up the ghost.

He did not give up the ghost, and then bow his head, because he was dead; but he bowed his head as though in the act of worship, or as leaning it down upon his Fathers bosom, and then gave up the ghost. Thus have we had two gospel pictures of our dying Lord. May we remember them, and learn the lessons they are intended to teach.

This exposition consisted of readings from Luk 23:33-46; Joh 19:25-30

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Joh 19:25. , there were standing) John from modesty does not mention his own mother Salome, who also stood by [Mar 15:40].- , the sister) No brother of Mary is mentioned. She herself was heir of her father, and was therefore transmitting to Jesus the right to the kingdom of David.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Joh 19:25

Joh 19:25

These things therefore the soldiers did. But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother,-It had been foretold to his mother that a sword would pierce through her own soul. This was now fulfilled as she beholds her son and the Son of God nailed to the cross.

and his mothers sister,-[Named Salome (Mar 15:40), the mother of John and James. (Mat 27:56).]

Mary the wife of Clopas,-She is supposed to have been a near kinswoman.

and Mary Magdalene.-Out of Mary Magdalene he had cast seven demons. Her gratitude led her to follow him, minister to him, and led her to come near him while he is nailed to the cross.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

his mother: Luk 2:35

and his: Mat 27:55, Mat 27:56, Mar 15:40, Mar 15:41, Luk 23:49

Cleophas: or, Cleopas, Luk 24:18

and Mary: Joh 20:1, Joh 20:11-18, Mar 16:9, Luk 8:2

Reciprocal: Mat 13:55 – and his Mar 9:41 – because Mar 16:1 – Mary Magdalene Joh 8:33 – and were Joh 16:20 – That Act 1:14 – with the

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

5

This verse corresponds with Mat 27:56, with some variation in the names of some of the women. Mary the mother of Jesus was the same as the mother of James and Joses (Mar 6:3).

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

[There stood by the cross, etc.] He stood under the cross [or the gallows] and wept. It is told of R. Eliezer Ben R. Simeon, who, being very angry, had commanded a fuller to be hanged; but his wrath abating, and he coming to himself; went after him to have freed him, but could not; for they had hanged the man before he came. He therefore repeated that passage, “He that keepeth his lips and his tongue keepeth his soul from trouble. He stood under the gallows and wept,” etc.

[Mary of Cleophas.] That is, ‘Mary the wife of Cleophas,’ or Alpheus. For,

I. Consult Mar 15:40; “There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses.” Now it is well enough known that Alpheus was the father of James the less and of Joses, Mat 10:3.

II. We very oftentimes meet with the name amongst the Talmudists, which, in the reading, may be turned either into Alphai or Cleophi.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

Joh 19:25. But there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mothers sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. In Mat 27:55 we are told of many women beholding from afar. But as there is nothing to say that the moment was the same as that now before us, the supposed contradiction between by the cross and from afar disappears. If the third of the women here mentioned be the same as the second, we shall have two sisters of the same name in one family; for sister cannot mean cousin. The high improbability of this leads to the supposition that we have here four women, in two groups of two each. This view is confirmed by the fact that the lists of apostles are in like manner given us in groups of two, and by what does not seem to have been urged as an argument upon the point, that the four women seem designedly placed in contrast with the four soldiers. (Not that the Evangelist makes the number in order to suit his purpose; but that out of the many spoken of by Matthew he selects four for its sake. It is the same habit as that of which we have seen so much,the selection of particulars to illustrate the historical idea which he is desirous to unfold.) On the supposition that four women are mentioned, it appears from the earlier Gospels that the second, here unnamed, was Salome, Johns own mother. Whether Clopas may be identified with Cleopas (Luk 24:18) it is impossible to decide.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

These words contain our Saviour’s affectionate recommendation of his distressed mother to the care of a dear disciple. It was an argument of Christ’s wonderful love to her, that when he was nailed to the cross, and ready to die, he was more concerned for his mother’s sorrows than for his own sufferings.

Now was Simeon’s prophecy fulfilled, A sword shall pass through thine own soul also. Luk 2:35 Her soul was pierced for him, both as his natural mother, and also as a mystical member of him her head; therefore Christ applies these comfortable words as a salve to her wounds, even whilst his own were bleeding unto death. Woman, behold thy son.

Where note, he calls her Woman, and not mother; he doth not say, Mother, behold thy Son; but, Woman, behold him. Not that Christ was ashamed of, or unwilling to own her as his mother; but either,

1. Fearing that calling her by that name should augment and increase her grief and trouble.

Or else, 2. To intimate his change of state and condition, that being ready to die and return to his Father in heaven, he was above all earthly relations, and knew no one after the flesh, no, not his very mother; yet, see at the same time, when he was above her, and about to leave her, how his care manifested itself for her, when his soul and body were full of anguish to the very brim; yet all this makes him not in the least unmindful of so dear a relation.

Thence learn, that Christ’s tender care of his mother, even in the time of his greatest distress, is an excellent pattern for all children to imitate and follow to the end of the world.

St. John here obeyed Christ’s command, and imitated his example: he took her to his own home; that is, he treated her with all that dutiful regard which a tender and indulgent mother challenges from a pious and obedient son.

No personal trial or trouble upon ourselves doth exempt us from the performance of our duty towards others, especially towards our near and dear relations; Christ, in the extremity of his sufferings, accounted it his duty to take care of and provide for his dear mother; teaching us by his example that children ought to evidence that they honour their parents, by taking care of them in their decayed and desolate condition.

Again, inasmuch as St. John took care of the holy mother after her dear son’s death; that disciple took her to his own home; we learn, that the Lord never removes one comfort, and takes away the means of subsistence from his people, but he raises up another in the room of it.

It is very probable that Joseph her husband was before this time dead, and Jesus her son was now dying; but still God provides; he raises up St. John to take care of her; he takes her to his own home, and looks upon her as one of his family.

But how comes St. John above the rest to have this honourable service put upon him, and this high trust reposed in him?

Answer, the text tells us he was the disciple whom Jesus loved; that is, in a more particular manner, treating him with greater freedom and familiarity than the rest; he also evidenced more love unto, and more courage and resolution for, Christ, than the rest of the disciples, he standing by the cross, when they got afar off, Mar 15:40.

Thence we learn, that such as are beloved of Christ, as do keep close unto him, and express most zeal and resolution for him, shall be peculiarly honoured by him, and be employed in the highest services for him.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Joh 19:25-27. Now While Jesus, hanging on the cross, suffered all manner of insults and sorrows; there stood by the cross his mother Neither her own danger, nor the sadness of the spectacle, nor the reproaches and insults of the people, could restrain her from performing the last office of duty and tenderness to her divine son on the cross. Grotius justly observes, that it was a noble instance of fortitude and zeal. Now a sword (according to Simeons prophecy, Luk 2:35) struck through her tender heart, and pierced her very soul; and perhaps the extremity of her sorrows might so overwhelm her spirits, as to render her incapable of attending the sepulchre, which we do not find that she did. Nor do we, indeed, meet with any thing after this in the sacred story concerning her, or in early antiquity: except that she continued among the disciples after our Lords ascension, which Luke observes, Act 1:14.

And his mothers sister, &c. See note on Mat 27:55-56. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved Jesus was now in the depth of his own sufferings, yet when he saw his mother and her companions, their grief greatly affected him, particularly the distress of his mother. Therefore, though he was almost at the point of death, he spake a few words, in which he expressed his most affectionate regard to her. He saith, Woman, behold thy son Meaning John. His words were intended to assure her that that disciple whom he loved would, for the sake of that love, supply the place of a son to her after he was gone; and therefore he desired her to consider him as such, and expect from him all the duty of a son. And Besides expressing great filial affection toward his mother, he gave the beloved disciple also a token of his high esteem. He saith to him, Behold thy mother To whom thou art now to perform the part of a son in my place; thus singling him out as that disciple on whom he could most depend to fulfil that duty, and thereby conferring upon him a peculiar honour. And from that hour That is, from the time of our Lords death; that disciple took her unto his own home And maintained her; Joseph, her husband, it seems, being dead. Thus, in the midst of the heaviest sufferings that ever human nature sustained, Jesus demonstrated a divine strength of benevolence. Even when his own distress was at the highest pitch, his friends had such a share of his concern, that their happiness for a while interrupted the feelings of his pains, and engrossed his thoughts.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Vv. 25-27. Now there stood near the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26. Jesus, therefore, seeing his mother and beside her the disciple whom he loved, says to his mother, Woman, behold thy son. 27. Then he says to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her to his home.

This incident has been preserved for us by John alone. Matthew and Mark say, indeed, that a certain number of Galilean women were present, but beholding from afar. It follows from John’s narrative either that some of them, particularly the mother of Jesus, were standing nearer the crossthis detail may easily have been omitted in the Synoptic traditionor that, at the moment of Jesus’ death, they had withdrawn out of the way, in order to observe what was about to take place; for it is then only that the presence of these women is mentioned in the Synoptics. does not mean at the foot, butbeside; the cross was not very high (Joh 19:29).

We have already stated, in the Introduction (Vol. I., pp. 29, 30), thatWieseler, holding to the reading of the Peshito (see critical note 1), finds in this verse the mention, not of threewomen, but of four. He thus escapes the difficulty that two sisters should bear the same name, Marythe mother of Jesus and the wife of Clopas. The sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus, according to him, is not named; and she is consequently no other than Salome, the mother of John, indicated by Mat 27:56 and Mar 15:40 as also present at the crucifixion. Wieseler’s opinion has been adopted by Meyer, Luthardt, Weiss, Westcott, etc. The incident here related becomes, it is said, much more intelligible; for if the mother of the apostle John was the sister of Mary, and this apostle the first cousin of Jesus, we can explain more easily how Jesus could entrust His mother to him, notwithstanding the presence of her sons. This interpretation seems to me inadmissible.

By omitting a , and, before the words: Mary, the wife of Clopas (at least, if the text of all our MSS. without exception is correct), the evangelist would have expressed himself in a quite equivocal way. And if this so close relationship between Jesus and the sons of Zebedee had existed, how should there not have been the slightest trace of it in the entire Gospel history? Is it not more simple to hold that John abstained from mentioning his mother, as he does in the rest of the Gospel? Undoubtedly it is scarcely possible that two sisters should bear the same name. But the Greek term , which means sister-in-law, was so little used that John might prefer to avail himself of the simpler term (sister) to express this idea. These words of Jesus, thus understood, contain nothing unkindly either to His own brothers, who did not even yet believe on Him, or to the mother of John himself, who was by no means separated thereby from her son. Hegesippus declares positively that Joseph’s brother, whom he also calls the uncle of Jesus (or of James), was named Clopas (Vol. I., p. 358f.). This name must in this case be regarded as the Greek form of the Aramaic , Alphaeus. Reuss sees herein one of the grossest mistakes of modern exegesis, and thinks that Clopas is a Jewish corruption of the Greek name Kleopatros. But in speaking thus Reuss himself confounds Clopas with Cleopas, a name which is also known in the New Testament (Luk 24:18).

Respecting Mary, the wife of Clopas, see Vol. I., p. 358f.The Synoptics do not mention the presence of Jesus’ mother, perhaps because she left the cross immediately after the fact reported by John, and because they do not speak of the presence of the friends of Jesus and of the women except at the end of the whole story.

Stripped of everything, Jesus seemed to have nothing more to give. Nevertheless, from the midst of this deep poverty, He had already made precious gifts; to His executioners He had bequeathed the pardon of God, to His companion in punishment, Paradise. Could He find nothing to leave to His mother and His friend? These two beloved persons, who had been His most precious treasures on earth, He bequeathed to one another, giving thus at once a son to His mother, and a mother to His friend. This word full of tenderness must have completely broken Mary’s heart. Not being able to endure this sight, she undoubtedly at this moment left the sorrowful spot. The wordto his home does not imply that John possessed a house in Jerusalem, but simply that he had a lodging there; comp. the same applied to all the apostles, Joh 16:32. From this time, Mary lived with Salome and John, first at Jerusalem and then in Galilee (Introduction, Vol. I., p. 35). According to the historian Nicephorus Kallistus (died in 1350), she lived eleven years with John at Jerusalem, and died there at the age of fifty-nine. Her tomb is shown in a grotto a few paces from the garden of Gethsemane. According to others, she accompanied John to Asia Minor and died at Ephesus.

On the word: Woman, which has nothing but respect in it, see on Joh 2:4.

Keim, after the example of Baur, regards this incident as an invention of pseudo-John, intended to exalt the apostle whose name he assumes, and to make him the head of the Church, superior even to James and Peter.Renan attributes this same fiction to the school of John, which yielded to the desire of making its patron the vicar of Christ. For every one who has the sense of truth, this scene and these words do not admit of an explanation of this kind. Besides, is it not Peter whom our evangelist presents as the great and bold confessor of Jesus (Joh 6:68-69)? Is it not to the same apostle that the direction of the Church is ascribed in ch. 21 and this by a grand thrice repeated promise (Joh 19:15-17)? Finally, this supposition would imply that the mother of Jesus is here the type of the Church, a thing of which there is no trace either in this text or in the whole Gospel.

The death:

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

CARE OF JESUS FOR HIS MOTHER

Joh 19:25-27. His mother and the sister of His mother, Mary the mother of Clopas do not identify the sister of our Saviors mother with Mary the mother of Clopas, as in that case there would be two sisters in one family by the name of Mary, and Mary Magdalen are standing by. Then Jesus, seeing His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, says to His mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then He says to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. Though Mary had four sons besides Jesus Simon, Judas, James, and Joses, who are believed by Roman Catholics to be the sons of Joseph by a former marriage, but all the facts in the case decidedly favoring the conclusion that they were her own sons, younger than Jesus and we also read about the sisters of Jesus in Nazareth, who were evidently her daughters, yet we see Jesus commits her to the Apostle John for safekeeping, confirmatory of the fact that the consanguinity of the Spirit is stronger and dearer than that of the flesh. Doubtless John was the most loving man in the world at that time, this being the reason why Jesus honored him with the custodianship of His mother. You see how John at that very hour took charge of her, under the expiring eye of her Divine Son. You see here that Jesus does not salute her by the endearing epithet mother; illustrating the consolatory fact that He is not a member of any isolated family to the exclusion of the rest of mankind; but, as He uniformly called Himself, The Son of man i. e., the Son of humanity representing the whole human race, everybodys Brother in the common consanguinity of a universal blood brotherhood.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 25

Mary the wife of Cleophas; in the Matthew 27:56,Mk+15:40,Lu+24:10 mentioned as the mother of James and Joses.

John 19:26,27. This brief but affecting mode of committing his afflicted mother to the care of his most devoted friend, at such an hour, is one of the most touching incidents in the Savior’s history,–rendered still more so by the very feeling, and yet unaffected simplicity, with which John relates the circumstance. His last expression, took her to his own, has a force and meaning which the necessity of adding the word home, to preserve the English idiom, seriously impairs.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

19:25 {8} Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the [wife] of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

(8) Christ is a perfect example of all righteousness, not only in the keeping of the first, but also of the second table of the ten commandments.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

5. Jesus’ provision for His mother 19:25-27

John is the only evangelist who recorded this incident.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The four women standing nearby contrast with the four soldiers. Morris assumed that the four women were believers and the four soldiers were unbelievers. [Note: Morris, p. 717.] While the soldiers behaved callously and profited immediately from Jesus’ death, the women waited faithfully and patiently for what God would do. It was apparently common for friends and relatives, as well as enemies, to stand at some distance around the crosses of crucified criminals. [Note: E. Stauffer, Jesus and His Story, pp. 111, 179, footnote 1.] Only John mentioned that Jesus’ mother was present at His crucifixion.

Some Women Who Observed the Crucifixion

Mat 27:56	Mar 15:40	Joh 19:25
Mary Magdalene	Mary Magdalene	Mary Magdalene
		Jesus’ mother (Mary)
Mary the mother of James and Joseph =	Mary the mother of James the less and Joses =	Mary the wife of Clopas
Mother of Zebedee’s sons =	Salome =	Jesus’ mother’s sister

It is interesting that John did not identify his own mother by name or as the mother of Zebedee’s sons. John never named himself, or his brother James, or any other member of his family. He evidently wanted to play down his mother’s identity as well as his own since he did not mention himself directly in this Gospel either. By referring to his mother as the sister of Jesus’ mother, John set the scene for Jesus’ action in Joh 19:26-27. John was Jesus’ cousin on his mother’s side. As such, he was a logical person to assume responsibility for Mary’s welfare. Evidently Jesus’ physical half-brothers did not become believers until after His resurrection.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)