From the Cross, Jesus Places His Mother in John’s Care
John 19:25–27
25 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.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
“When her Infant Son had been presented in the temple, Simeon had prophesied to Mary: ‘A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also’ (Luke 2:35). This promise is now fulfilled in full measure. In this sad scene, Mary—the preeminent daughter of God, the one chosen by Him from all the hosts in pre-existence to be the mortal mother of His Son—stands as it were with the promised sword piercing her soul.
“. . . With supreme solicitude, and though He Himself was in agony on the cross, Jesus places His mother in the care and keeping of John. From the choice of John to perform this Christian service, we may infer several things:
“(1) Mary, probably now about sixty years of age, needed a home and temporal sustenance. While Jesus had been among them, He would have been watchful to see that His mother had what she needed temporally and spiritually; with His leaving John was to assume this responsibility.
“(2) Joseph, her husband, is obviously dead, and her other sons, not yet converted to the Church, would not have provided the household of faith in which to care for the tender feelings of one who had conversed with Gabriel, borne God’s Son in her womb, and seen Him crucified by wicked men.
“(3) John, beloved and chosen among the disciples, had the facilities and means to care for her. From his acquaintance with the high priest [see John 18:15], and his detailed knowledge of Jesus’s ministry in Jerusalem, it appears John had a home there. Such could have been the place where Jesus Himself stayed when in that city.”
(Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 1:825–26.)
