Mary and John at the Foot of the Cross

1. Mary and John at the Foot of the Cross John 19:24b-27

2. Context of John 19:24b-27 • Near end of Passion Narrative (18:1-19:42) • Read during Good Friday liturgy every year • Begins with arrest of Jesus • Moves into trial by Jews and trial by Pilate • Concluded by Carrying of Cross; Crucifixion; Burial of Jesus • Middle of Crucifixion of Jesus (19:16b-37) • Crucifixion Scene is a chiasm • Mary at the Foot of the Cross is the center of scene

3. Context of John 19:24b-27 A1: Jesus is lifted up on the cross (19:16b-18) B1: Pilate identifies Jesus as King; refusesto phrase it according to Jews’ request (19:19-22) C1: Soldiers fulfill prophecy by casting lots for tunic (19:23-24a) D: Mary and John at the Foot of the Cross (19:24b-27) C2: Jesus fulfills prophecy by tasting vinegar before dying (19:28-30) B2: Jesus’ side is pierced after Pilate grants Jews’ request to remove bodies before sundown (19:31-37) A2: Jesus is removed from the cross (19:38-42)

4. Context of John 19:24b-27 • Between scenes depicting fulfillment and completion of Scripture • Immediately after scene of soldiers casting lots for seamless tunic • Immediately before scene of taking wine and handing over spirit (“It is accomplished”)

5. Themes • Seeing (ἴδε; ide; see, behold) • Taking (ἔλαβεν; elaben; took) • Jews took Jesus (Παρέλαβον) and crucified him (Jn 19:16) • Soldiers took his garments and divided them up (Jn 19:23) • John took Mary into his own • King—Because of the contrast of those who see and do not accept with those who see and accept, the reader is able to see what the blind do not see: Jesus is enthroned king on the cross (Heil 118)

6. Themes • Woman: Mary is never called by her name in John’s Gospel (Heil 95, n 34) • Bride (Jn 2): God’s covenantal marriage with his people • Mediation • Faith of New Community is nurtured by her faith and commitment (Heil 98) • Mother (μήτηρ; mētēr) • Appears five times in pericope (Moloney 504) • His own (τὰ ἴδια; taidia) • John taking Mary to his own • Contrasts with the other disciples who went each to his own (16:32; Heil 97) • Hour (ὥρας; horas) • Had not arrived yet at Wedding Feast in Cana (Jn 2) • Arrived at Last Supper discourse (Jn 13:1ff)

7. John 19:24b • So the soldiers did this. • Along with 28a, links this pericope with the fulfillment pericopes • Contrasts the actions in this pericope with the actions of the soldiers • Soldiers saw and took in hostile manner, but not in sympathetic faith (Heil 93-94) • Reader is encouraged to act as does the beloved disciple (Heil 118) • Thus this pericope regards a fulfillment of scripture • Linked with Genesis 3 and John 2 • Mary as Mother of all the Living • Mary as Mediatrix of all Graces • Forms a Greek sentence structure with 19:25 (Schnackenburg 276) • μὲν…δὲ (Indeed, the soldiers did this this; moreover [the women stood by the cross])

8. John 19:25 • Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. • Synoptic tradition knew of women at the cross, from afar (Schackenburg 275) • John follows this tradition • Shapes it for his purposes • Standing near • Figuratively included in Jesus’ words to Mary and disciple • Some say there are four women, while it makes more sense there were three • Four soldiers contrasted with four disciples, including John

9. John 19:26 • When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." • Jesus’ mother • Stands out from the rest of women (Schackenburg 277) • First character in John “to commit herself unconditionally to the word” (2:3-5) (Moloney 503) • Beloved disciple • Model disciple (Moloney 503) • Model of the ones for whom Jesus lays down his life (Heil 97) • Had lain close to breast of Jesus (13:23) • Woman • Behold (Ἴδε; Ide), your son • Mary is contrasted with the Israelites who beheld Jesus as their king but rejected him (19:14-18) (Heil 94)

10. John 19:27 • Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. • Jesus is obeyed unquestioningly (Moloney 503) • Jesus’ hour prepares for the hour of the Church • ἀπ‘ἐκείνηςτῆςὥρας (ap‘ekeinēstēshōras) • Temporal meaning: particular time • The Hour of Jesus (cf. 12:23; 13:1; 17:1) (Moloney 503) Not to mention 2:4! • Preposition apo has causitive meaning: “because of the hour of Jesus” Mary and John are united as mother –son. (Moloney 503) • The wine miraculously produced at Cana did not unify God’s people; Jesus’ death, his true hour, does unify them to God (Heil 95-96) • Mary participates in special way in Jesus’ hour, becoming universal mother of the Church • Dramatic and sophisticated nature of scene gives more significance than just ensuring Mary is cared for (Moloney 504) • Mary is given a maternal role in the new family of the Church • She who was “his” mother (i.e., Jesus’) and then “the” mother and “woman” is now “your” mother (Heil 94) • She represents the Church, the Bride of Christ, who spiritually gives birth to adopted sons of God • Leads the community in loving one another as Jesus loved them (cf. 15:11-17; Heil 98) • εἰς τὰ ἴδια (eistaidia) • Same phrase as in Prologue (Jn 1:11), at which time Jesus was not accepted by his own • Here John accepts Mary into his own, thereby accepting Jesus’ word (Moloney 504)

11. Redemptoris Mater, Blessed John Paul II, March 25, 1987 • Context of Pope’s Exegesis of Jn 19:25-27 • Luke 11:27-28—Blessed the womb that bore Jesus • John 2:1-12—Wedding feast at Cana • Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 12:1 • Acts 2:1-4—First Pentecost • Luke 11:27: A woman cried out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” • Brings to mind the infancy of Jesus with Mary bearing him in her womb, giving him birth, and nursing him • Highlights Jesus’ true humanity • First to fulfill Magnificat: “All generations shall call me blessed” (Lk 1: 48)

12. Redemptoris Mater, Blessed John Paul II, March 25, 1987 • Jesus replies: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk. 11:28) • New dimension of motherhood • "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it" (cf. Lk. 8:20-21). • “in the dimension of the Kingdom of God, in the salvific radius of God's fatherhood” (RM 21) • Mary exemplified this more than any other at the Annunciation • Mary more fully opened herself to this over her life • “Constitute her ‘part’ beside her Son” (RM 20)

13. Redemptoris Mater, Blessed John Paul II, March 25, 1987 • Wedding Feast at Cana (Jn 2:1-12) • Mary’s “part” • Mother of Jesus according to the flesh • Jesus invited because of Mary (RM 21) • Contributes to beginning of his signs • Revelation of Jesus’ messianic power • Not yet Jesus’ hour (Jn. 2:3-4) • Nonetheless: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn. 2:5) • Manifests Mary’s “motherhood according to the spirit and not just according to the flesh, that is to say Mary's solicitude for human beings, her coming to them in the wide variety of their wants and needs” (RM 21) • “Bringing those needs within the radius of Jesus’ messianic mission and salvific power” (RM 21) • Mediation “wholly oriented towards Christ and tending to the revelation of his salvific power” (RM 22) • Intercession: “They have no wine” • Teaches the faith necessary for manifestation of messianic power: “Do whatever he tells you”

14. Redemptoris Mater, Blessed John Paul II, March 25, 1987 • Exegesis of Jn 19:25-27 • Solemn confirmation of Jesus of Mary’s “Part” • At the crowning moment of salvific economy of grace (RM 23) • “Mary’s motherhood of the entire human race…stated and established” (RM 23) • Mother of Christ and mother of mankind • New maternity born out of her love united with her Son’s redemptive love (RM 23) • Fulfillment of Genesis 3:15: conquers sin and death at its roots • Jesus calls Mary “woman” again • “Heart of the mystery of Mary” (RM 24) • Mary’s unique part in salvation history • “The words uttered by Jesus from the Cross signify that the motherhood of her who bore Christ finds a "new" continuation in the Church and through the Church, symbolized and represented by John. In this way, she who as the one "full of grace" was brought into the mystery of Christ in order to be his Mother and thus the Holy Mother of God, through the Church remains in that mystery as "the woman" spoken of by the Book of Genesis (3:15) at the beginning and by the Apocalypse (12:1) at the end of the history of salvation. “