John 19 · a question people ask
Jesus said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" (19:26), and to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" (19:27). What did he mean?
John tells what came next, and says no more: "From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home" (19:27). He doesn't say why Jesus said it, and these notes draw no teaching from it beyond the words. Here is who John says stood there: "his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene" (19:25), and "the disciple whom he loved" (19:26). John doesn't give that disciple's name; Favor's chapter on John 13 asks who he was, and answers that the book never names him. Favor's chapter on John 2 asks about his words to her at Cana (2:4), and notes that both times Jesus speaks to his mother in John's Gospel he begins "Woman" (2:4; 19:26); it adds nothing from outside the text to the word, and these notes don't either.
The verses
“But standing by Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.”
“One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was at the table, leaning against Jesus’ chest.”
“Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.””