Who is your human face of beauty when beauty is hard to find?

​There is a beautiful story in the bible that takes place at the foot of the cross.

There Jesus is, dying. The soldiers who had crucified Jesus are gambling at the foot of his cross to see who gets to keep his clothes. Jesus just stares. Then he spots his mother, and next to her is John, the only one of the 12 apostles who were at his crucifixion. And we read:

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, 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.

"And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home."

That is a one-liner that can get lost in such a powerful Christian story. But here was John, an apostle Jesus deeply loved, an apostle who was with Jesus up to his last breath, getting one final assignment from Jesus - take care of my mom.

There have been some big honors handed out in the world. But how many are bigger than the son of God saying to his friend, please take care of my mom.

We have to conclude that John had always been there so powerfully for Jesus that Jesus decided John would always be there for his mom. We have to believe John had always loved Jesus with the kind of love that Jesus wanted to leave this earth knowing would always be poured into the life of his mom.

Knowing that, as Jesus looked down at the soldiers entertaining themselves at the expense of his death, it had to be a beautiful sight, seeing John there with his mom. There had to be some beauty for Jesus, imagining the one who showed up for his darkest hour walking off with his mom, a forever comfort in hers.

It makes you wonder, at least it does me.

Who is showing up in your darkest hour? Who is the human face of beauty in the moments where beauty may be hard to find? Who is it that loves you so well that you want them desperately to love well the people you love most?

Earlier in the book of John, John said about Jesus:

When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

John knew how deeply Jesus loved him. John knew how beautiful the sight of him was in the eyes of Jesus. Whoever that John is in your life, make sure they know they are loved like they are your own, make sure they know they are loved until the end.