Mother Beholds Her Son, Son Beholds his Mother
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
—Jn 19.26-27
Hearing these words, I've always imagined Mary, Jesus’ mother, and John the Beloved looking to each other. But lately I’ve been imagining what it might mean if when these words are spoken I see how they direct Mary’s attention to the thief—the faithless one!—and draw John’s to Jesus.
If we “see” these words in that way, then they become a reminder that that to look to Jesus, and to let him direct your attention where he wants it to go, is to have your gaze turned—so that you can begin to look like Jesus (in both sense of that phrase).
Jesus wants us not only to look at him but to learn to see as he sees, to look to others (not just at them), especially those who’re not yet faithful, and to see them as he sees them, not as they seem to the rest of us. To look like that is not only to resemble Jesus, to shine with his image, but to sense the world as he does, apprehending all things in the Spirit’s light. That is salvation.