"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!" (John 19:26-27).

When our first parents, Adam and Eve, were tested in the garden by our Lord, they would prove themselves either disobedient or obedient (guilty or righteous). Genesis 3 reveals the sad outcome.

The last Adam, God in human flesh, came to bear the weight of and punishment for Adam's sin (revealing our Lord's passive obedience to the Law), but instead of only paying the penalty for their sinfulness, He established them in His perfect righteousness. This was His active obedience to the Law.

We see both aspects of this great salvation in our text for today. The Lord of glory was hanging on a cross bearing the sins of the world. Having been made sin for His people, He passively received the judgment due them—submitting to the ignominy of the cross. At the same time, however, He was actively pursuing righteousness. Since the Law required that sons honor their mothers (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16), the Lord actively honored His mother from the cross. Not only was He bearing her sins (cf. Luke 1:47) to her eternal benefit, but He was also showing loving care for her earthly needs. He would be physically absent from her, so He appointed John to care for her. He also encouraged her to look to John for human consolation, comfort, and support.

All through His life, the Lord actively kept the Law for His people. Just as the sin of the first man was and is imputed to all in Adam, so the perfect righteousness of the last Adam, the Lord Jesus, is imputed to all in Him--including Mary, His mother (cf. Romans 5:12-19). PGH