The Son of God had a certain expectation of death, even while His adversaries were challenging Him to come down from the Cross and live as the proof of His messianic identity!
Sean Michael Morris·Dec 2, 2025·Updated Aug 12, 2026
“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.”
— John 19:26-27
The noise and commotion of the crowd eventually calmed down. This gave opportunity for Mary and the apostle John to draw near to the Cross, among others. It is doubtful that they would have drawn near at a heated time amidst the throng. Their “far off” position during the 9th hour is intentionally noted by one Evangelist Thus, we can assume that they were in a far off position at the beginning and ending of the Passion of our Lord on the Cross, and they intentionally chose to draw near momentarily during a brief reprieve of commotion from antagonists.
Upon praying, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” in the 1st utterance of Christ from the Cross, the crowd remain undeterred in their mockery and blasphemy. One would hope that such a prayer would break the hardened hearts of sinners, but the Jews were still purposed to stamp out the embers of the dying Lamb by extinguishing his life from the earth. Many of them even felt provoked at this good prayer. Why? Because it was uttered in the face of pure evil They didn’t understand what Christ was saying, or why the alleged Messiah would pray such a thing while being tortured to death on the Cross. They felt offended that the Man would show such love in the face of murder.
Therefore, while the Jews were still glorying (for all the wrong reasons) that Jesus of Nazareth was apparently Godforsaken and doomed to die on the Cross, Mary and company drew near to the Cross, and then the 2nd Utterance was given. Notice the exclamation points: “Woman, behold thy son!…Behold thy mother!” Jesus Christ was committing the care of his mother to John while in essence, saying, “I am going to die!”. This would have been shocking for Mary, John, and everyone else to hear. The Son of God had a certain expectation of death, even while His adversaries were challenging Him to come down from the Cross and live as the proof of His messianic identity! Once again, the crowds were gripped while watching the Son of God being tortured to death on the Cross because nobody knew for sure what the Miracle Worker of Nazareth was capable of doing. Nevertheless, the Jews would have interpreted the 2nd Utterance as an admission of defeat, which seemed to play into the erroneous narrative of the Jews
Matthew and Mark start with the 3rd utterance, and while Luke records the 1st utterance, this Evangelist skips two utterances and immediately proceeds to the 4th utterance. It is up to interpreters to do the hard work of harmonization.
Nobody ever gets saved without coming before *the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Evangelists of our Gospel bring these scenes before us in 3 chapters each (Matt. 26-28, Mk. 14-16, Lk. 22-24, Jn. 18-20).
This intercessory prayer was louder than thunder. It shook the third Heaven! It struck deep into the holy heart of the Father. So far from desertion, what we are seeing here is triumphant intercession!
In reality, the Son of God was being forsaken in a different way, and for different reasons, according to the overall testimony of Psalm 22. The questions asked in Psalm 22:1 are being answered in Psalm 22:2-31.
The Doctrine of the Tree punctuates the Law in the Book of Joshua. This punctuation brings the needed closure to the story of divine wrath being depicted in the Law.
Habakkuk is not very well known among modern bible students. As a Prophet of God, some would argue that he contributed very little to the whole counsel of God provided in Scripture. Hasty readers lightly esteem the brevity of his message.
