Then to what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” Jesus speaks these words after describing the different responses people have made to John the Baptist. Those who accepted John’s call to repentance acknowledged what God was doing, while the Pharisees and scholars of the law refused John’s baptism and therefore “rejected the plan of God for themselves” (Luke 7:29–30). Jesus now shows that the same unwillingness to respond to God is also being directed toward Him. He compares “the people of this...
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. John places the mother of Jesus and the beloved disciple directly at the foot of the Cross. While the other Gospels describe women watching from a distance, John brings our attention to those who remain close to Jesus in His final hour. Even as He suffers, Jesus remains attentive to His mother and the beloved disciple. When Jesus says to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son,” and then to the disciple, “Behold, your mother,” His words first express a real act of filial care. Jesus entrusts His mother to the beloved disciple so that she will be cared for after His death. The title “Woman” may sound distant to modern ears, but in the biblical wor...