Patty Cason

Jesus gave his mother to his beloved disciple John, first, John was a true disciple, he was the only disciple at the foot of the cross, all the others fled because of fear; secondly, to establish kinship with us, making us his disciples like John. Jesus gave his mother to John and by doing so gave us his mother too. John demonstrated obedience to God when he accepted Mary, without question, as his mother and that is the way we are to respond to Gods will as well. Thirdly, Mary gave birth to Jesus, she gave us our Lord and Redeemer, it only makes sense that we go to her when we need Jesus, to Jesus through Mary. Same as we go to our earthly mother when we need earthly mothering. It is Mary that is the one true disciple, always being there to do Gods Will with humility, obedience, and the greatest of love. Jesus giving his mother to all of mankind tells us that he wants us to be like her, she is the perfect model for us to learn how to be perfect disciples, how to love, obey, how to be humble, how to love God beyond all things. We apply all of this in our lives by loving each other the way Jesus loves us, by honoring God above all other things, being obedient to his will and accepting his Mercy. When we do all of these things, loving our neighbor naturally comes. Mary never said no to God, she always said yes, so too should we, John did! We should apply this in our lives by being obedient to our parents as well as to our heavenly Father, it is his will that we do so.

The good thiefs faith was so astounding because he didnt address Jesus as Lord, his believing him as Lord was inferred in his prayer, remember me when you come into Your Kingdom, His prayer to Jesus was one full of faith; the thief had more faith than any including his disciples who fled from the cross, than all of the other humans who observed the crucifixion. Because the good thiefs statement to the bad thief is one of repentance we are punished justly for our deeds deserved, The condition for forgiveness is to own ones actions, take responsibility and the just punishments for them. This forgiveness is completion of the first word of Jesus from the cross Farther forgive them, therefore, the good thief received forgiveness and granted participation in Gods divine life. Because the good thief knew he suffered justly and that Jesus was suffering unjustly and turned to Jesus for forgivingness, an intimacy immediately developed and Jesus response to the good thief was personally directed to the good thief this day you will be with Me in Paradise.This applies to all of us, how loving and forgiving is our God!

All of us are responsible for killing Jesus, not just the Roman soldiers or the sadducess and Pharisees, we are all guilty of self-righteousness, self-centeredness, placing all earthly and material things as more important then the love and worship of God. Jesus is asking our heavenly Father for mercy for us, to forgive us and for us to repent and make reparation for our sinfulness and to come to know our Lord in all of his Wisdom and Truth. Patty