Why did Jesus entrust Mary to the apostle John instead of to His brothers?

Answer

When Jesus was on the cross, both the apostle John and Mary, the mother of Jesus, stood nearby. In John 19:26–27, we read, “When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” The clear understanding of the passage is that Jesus commanded John to care for Mary after His death.

Mary was most certainly a widow at this point in her life and also an older woman. Although she had other sons, Jesus chose John to provide care for Mary after His death. Why? Jesus’ brothers did not become believers until after His resurrection «For neither did his brethren believe in him. », (John 7:5). Furthermore, Jesus’ brothers were not present at His crucifixion. Jesus was entrusting Mary to John, who was a believer and was present, rather than entrusting her to His brothers, who were not believers and who were not even present at His crucifixion.

As the oldest son in His family, Jesus had a cultural obligation to care for His mother, and He passed that obligation on to one of His closest friends. John would have certainly obeyed this command. Mary was most likely one of the women in the upper room and was present when the church was established in Jerusalem (Acts 1:12-14). She probably continued to stay with John in Jerusalem until her death. It is only later in John’s life that his writings and church history reveal John left Jerusalem and ministered in other areas.

This is also confirmedBy Acts 8:1, it is written, “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” John was still in the city at this time (perhaps one or two years after the resurrection) and remained there three years after the conversion of Paul «and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. », (Galatians 2:9).

There is no contextual proof within Scripture itself that would indicate Jesus expanding Mary’s role as the “mother” of all Christians. In fact, Catholic teaching can only refer to early church leaders as evidence that Jesus intended to establish Mary’s “motherhood” to all believers in Christ or that Mary was a cooperative participant in salvation. John took Mary into his home to care for her. The Bible does not state “from that time on Mary became the mother of all believers.”

The significance of John 19:26–27 is seen in the care Jesus had for His mother, as well as the care John provided for her. Scripture clearly emphasizes the importance of caring for widows and the elderly, something Jesus personally demonstrated during His final hours of His earthly ministry. James, the half-brother of Jesus, would later refer to such care for widows as “pure religion.” “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” «Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.», (James 1:27).