What a terrible scene. A loving mother watches as her son is crucified. The son sees His mother’s grief and—incredibly, despite His agony, despite having the weight of the world on Him—takes a moment to ensure her security.
Mary is standing near John, the Apostle “whom Jesus loved” (John 20:2). Jesus declares: “Woman, behold thy son!” Then He says to John, “Behold thy mother!” And John takes care of her from that day forward, for the rest of her life (see John 19:25-27).
One simple thing we can learn from the Savior’s example is that He was concerned about His loved ones even when He was at the lowest times of His life. It would have been understandable if He had only been thinking of Himself at that moment—but He wasn’t. Whatever happened to Him, He wanted to make sure His mother was taken care of (Joseph might have already passed away or this presumably wouldn’t have been an issue).
The Savior set a good example for us during His mortal life—right up to the end!
NOTES
This is part of a weekly series about Come, Follow Me scriptures. You can find this week’s lesson here.