The loving God

John 19:25-27

25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

The bible usually talks about God's love using comparison with Father's love, but trying to understand it exactly in that way could represent an anachronism,m taking into account God is beyond all human comprehension of nature. Then, it is not hard to find the implications of the motherly God's love to represent the way He cares and protects us, as well as the tenderness with which He is present throughout our human life; this is exactly how a mother acts.

In the Old Testament, we find that the prophet Isaiah refers to God's love in a clear reference to motherly love. The prophet and the poet lift the people's hearts by appealing to the future Jerusalem, which he compares to a mother with "breasts with overflowing abundance" who breastfeeds her children, satisfies them, and comforts them. Because of that blessed city, the riches of all nations will flow. The sons and daughters of Jerusalem, the creatures today dispersed and far away in exile, will be brought in their arms and lovingly returned to their mother by the same people who now hold them. And in all this, they will experience the favor of God, who is ultimately the one who truly consoles his people. Joy will return to the hearts of the Righteous, and those who had remained in the bones will see that their flesh blooms like a field in spring, after winter. The era of salvation, the day when the Lord is revealed to those who serve him, will be the time of the abundance of all good things: justice, joy, comfort, peace... (cf. Ps 84:11; Isa. 9-11; Rom 14,17; Gal 5,22). Since the word of God is a great promise, hope has risen earlier than any other virtue and continues to be the force that drives the history of our salvation.

In the New Testament, we find two powerful images of motherly love. One is in Mathew 23: 37 where Jesus appeals to Israel, considering God as a Hen who wants to gather her chicks under her wings, such a sweet image about God taking care of humanity under her wings. The rural images of life were normal in the context of Israel even in the New Testament context but, additionally, the accuracy used by Jesus to bring into the conversation with the people the references to their habits, and traditions, and to bring the gospel to a practical understanding of the teachings even when He was accusing of their disobedience He did it in a way that the claim is followed for a tender gesture of love. You have killed prophets He said, but Iwant to take care of you as always. This is a different management of the ethics, which represented for the Jews, especially for the authorities, a hard challenge, consistent in being closer to the human experience more than the concepts and the rulers as they have been doing.

Jesús, in the same way as a mother does, is not trying to forget the importance of the law but is capable of love despite all the suffering produced by the disobedience. Jesus himself is showing how it is possible to love amid uncertainty and failures. This kind of love is not possible to find in the Greek culture or the Roman regimen focused on knowledge, institutions, and power. God loves in a way that is possible to transcend human pragmatism, and because of that, the powerful message given by Jesus inspired the early church to expand these values around the world, because it was an incarnational experience in opposition to the Jewish traditions. Love is more than a tradition is a Life's model, this is the way Mother teaches, loving with enough severity to guide even in the darkness of disobedience.

In John 19:25-27, we also must recognize in Mary a good representation of what God loves more than the theological implications of these affirmations. It's about how it's possible for her to follow her Son despite her suffering, keeping respect for his decision, and being there when he is suffering. This is exactly what a mother does, which does not necessarily reduce the importance of the Father because it is not a competition that is about being capable of being transferred to new generations.

​Finally, in John 17: 1-19, we found that Jesus shows all His love to his disciples amid His suffering, He is about to be sacrificed, but He is attentive to their feelings, he is praying not for Him but for them, because He knew all the confusion and disappoint that they could experience once He would return to the Father. The consequences of His attitude were the way that the disciples spread the message, not just through the word but through their lives, and their love for each other. These were the signs of the early church, and that was the thing that the people recognized in them and in them.

We need to promote new ways of partnerships; we live in a society full of pragmatism and consumerism, and the result is that things are more important than people and selfishness more than the relations. Even in families, it is hard trying to promote alternative ways for relationships. The church is the hope for many people to receive love and cultivate relations based on authenticity and tenderness. For many people, the church is the mother, not like an institution to rule the lives of the people, but the congregation of the people who love each other as Jesus teaches, as the bible says. If we can adopt this comprehension of God's love, probably we can spread the right message to many people who need to find a response to their need for love and tolerance as well as tenderness. We need to incorporate ways to include tenderness in our liturgy and gather under the wings of God, as we are.