Behold. . .

“After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.” (Jn.19:28).   John recorded this as a firsthand witness to Jesus’ crucifixion and as a specific and special trustee of His mother, Mary. Prior to this verse Jesus had looked down from His cross and had entrusted the care of Mary to his dear friend and disciple, John:  “When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by, Whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, ‘Woman, behold thy son !’. Then He saith to the disciple, ‘Behold thy mother !’ And from that day that disciple took her unto his own home.”

I have always been challenged by what the Lord did here being that it was such an act of pure selflessness.  Here is Christ, beaten and battered, pierced in His body and gasping for breath, having endured insults aplenty from people He was dying for at that moment, having been separated for the first time from the Father as He became sin for us Who knew no sin and He makes provision for His deeply grieving mother ! Its so much out of the norm for us when going through pain and suffering to think of others, our body and spirit is so  focused on our own trial and desires above all else personal relief to notice the agony others around us might be going through.   Yet as with all other accounts in the Gospels of Jesus, He always did the right thing !

Every single one of us has a bad day once in a while, sometimes those bad days extend further !  And even when we don’t life can get so filled with all the stuff we want to accomplish that before we know it we’ve gotten caught in a spiritual cesspool of  “it’s been all about me” !  That’s why it’s good to have a prayer list and regularly pray for others, why its good to head off to prayer meeting at church and listen to the needs of others and pray for them as a church.  Or why it’s also good to engage someone in a conversation where you do a lot of good listening.  Selfishness does not need to be nurtured by us, selfless sure does though ! Did you catch the highlighted words in those verses? They have to do with looking, noticing (not just one’s own pain but the pangs of others as well).   So today look “outside the box, your box”, do a little praying for folks you know, do something special for a loved one, it’ll help you to be a little bit more like Christ in the process !