4. Here we discover an illustration of Christ’s prudence.
We have already seen how the act of Christ in committing Mary into the hands of his disciple was an expression of his tender love and foresight. For John to take charge of the widowed mother of the Saviour was a blessed commission, and albeit, a precious legacy. When Christ said to him, "Behold thy mother", it was as though he had said, Let her be to thee as thine own mother: Let thy love for me be now manifested in thy tender regard for her. Yet there was far more behind this act of Christ than that.
Of old it had been predicted that the Lord Jesus should act wisely and discreetly. Through Isaiah God had said, "Behold, my servant shall deal prudently" (52:13). In commending his mother to the care of his loved apostle the Saviour displayed wise discrimination in his choice of the one who was henceforth to be her guardian. Perhaps there was none who understood the Lord Jesus so well as his mother, and it is almost certain that none had apprehended his love so deeply as had John. We see therefore how they would befit companions for each other, inasmuch as there was an intimate bond of common sympathy uniting them together and uniting them to Christ! Thus there was none other so well suited to take care of Mary, none whose company she would find so congenial, and on the other hand, there was none whose fellowship John would more enjoy.
Furthermore, it needs to be borne in mind that a wondrous and honorous work was waiting for John. Years later, the Lord Jesus was to reveal himself to this apostle in glorious apocalypse. How better, then, could he equip himself for this than by being constantly with her who had lived in closest intimacy and intercourse with the Saviour during the thirty years he had waited for the time to come when his work should begin! We can therefore see how that there was a significant appropriateness in bringing these two - Mary and John - together. Admire then the prudence of Christ’s election of a home for Mary, and at the same time providing a companion for the disciple whom he loved with whom he might have blessed spiritual fellowship.
Ere passing to our next point we may remark that this taking of Mary into his home throws light on an incident recorded in the next chapter of John’s gospel. In John 20 we learn of the visit of Peter and John to the empty sepulcher. John outran his companion and arrived first at the tomb, but went not in. Peter, characteristically, goes into the sepulcher, and notes the orderly arrangement of the clothes. Then enters John and he sees and "believed" for up to this time their faith had not grasped the promises of Christ’s resurrection. Consequent on John’s believing, we read, "Then the disciples went away again unto their own home" (John 20:10). We are not told why they did this, but in view of John 19:27 the explanation is obvious. There we are told that, "from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home", and now that he has learned the Saviour is risen from the dead, he hastens back "home" to tell her the good news! Who more than she would rejoice at the glad tidings! This is another example of the silent and hidden harmonies of scripture.
http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Seven_Sayings/sayings_03.htm
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