“Behold your son, behold your mother…”

The above statement is the third among the seven last word of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is addressing this to two persons: to St. John the apostle whom our Lord Jesus Christ loved and to Mother Mary, the Mother of our Savior.

It is clear from this scene that both Mother Mary and St. John are so physically near our Lord Jesus Christ while the Lord is in agony and nailed on the cross.

They have seen the face of our Lord, His hands nailed on the cross, His feet nailed on the cross and the rest of His body bleeding.

It might be asked why was it that it was only St. John among the apostle who was there near the Lord Jesus Christ while he was nailed on the cross? Where are the other ten apostles at that time? Where are the other disciples?

This proved that St. John was indeed the apostle whom our Lord Jesus Christ loved. It must be remember that it was only to St. John that our Lord Jesus Christ has entrusted His Mother Mary by saying “behold your mother” and it was only St John the apostle to whom Mother Mary was told “behold your son”.

Our Lord Jesus Christ truly loved his Mother Mary. Knowing that He will die anytime soon, He see to it that there will be somebody who will take care of His Mother by entrusting Mother Mary to St. John the apostle.

No one will entrust His mother just to anyone else unless our Lord Jesus Christ has complete trust and confidence to St. John. In the same way, that St. John was entrusted by our Lord Jesus Christ to His Mother Mary.

There is a beautiful layer of spiritual meanings here. Mother Mary is the only human being that has no sin through her Immaculate Conception and is the most Blessed among women. She is consider as the New Eve in the writings of the theologians since through Eve sin has entered into the world but through Mother Mary through the fruits of her womb—our Lord Jesus Christ, salvation for everyone has comes again into this world.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is saying that Mother Mary although not the biological mother of St. John and the rest of the apostles, she will be their spiritual mother. Being a Mother, she will take good care of the apostle like what a mother does in

the same way that Mother Mary has nurture and nourish our Lord Jesus Christ in her womb, during his infancy, adolescence, the beginning of His earthly Ministry and even at His crucifixion.

Many are wondering and I myself sometimes think why did the evangelist have called St. John the apostle as “the apostle whom Jesus loved”? Does it mean that our Lord did not love the rest of the apostles in the same way that he loved St. John?

What made St. John the apostle special to our Lord Jesus Christ?

What made us so special to our Lord Jesus Christ that He willingly died for us and for our salvation on the cross? Amen.