SERMON XX. THE LOVE OF CHRIST FOR THOSE WHO DO THE WILL OF GOD.
_Whosoever shall do the will of God_, _the same is my brother and my sister and mother_.
FROM this, and one or two other passages in the gospels, it has been sometimes imagined, that our blessed Lord set no value on the common relationships, the natural ties, the tender endearments of life; and that He intended to teach His disciples, by His own example, to neglect such considerations altogether; as if all Christians had an equal claim upon our affection; as if the spiritual brotherhood were the only object worthy of our regard; as if parents and brothers and sisters were merely upon a footing with the rest of mankind. This notion is entirely erroneous; it is a mistaken conclusion from the words and conduct of our Lord.
His own example, on several occasions, has afforded a sanction to the feelings of private friendship, as well as of family affection. How deeply was He moved at the death of Lazarus! “Jesus wept, then said the Jews, behold how He loved him!” { 367a} And of our Lord’s disciples we read, that there was one, treated with peculiar tenderness and regard; one, “who leaned on His bosom;” { 367b} one, distinguished by the high and honourable name of the “beloved disciple.” And this disciple, the evangelist St. John, has drawn one of the most striking pictures of an affectionate family, ever represented to the eye and the heart of man: “There stood by the cross of Jesus, His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.” Jesus not only loved and protected His mother through life, but was solicitous to provide for her future well-being, even amidst the agonies of the cross; commending her to His dearest personal friend; and by way of effectually securing _his_ regard and _her_ confidence, He calls John the son, and Mary the mother: Behave to each other as mother and son; and it is all I can ask or require. This must be admitted as a proof, that Jesus felt most tenderly and peculiarly for His nearest earthly relation: and it shews, that those passages, which have been supposed to favour a contrary opinion, have been wrongly interpreted.