#3 Behold Your Family: Love at the Cross - John 19:25–27; 1 John 4:7–12

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Scripture Reading

John 19:25–27; 1 John 4:7–12 (ESV)

John 19:25–27 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

1 John 4:7–12 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Reflection:

At the cross, Jesus not only pays for our sin—He creates a new kind of family: “Woman, behold, your son… Behold, your mother.” The community of the cross is built on sacrificial love.

In 1 John 4, John (the same disciple standing at the cross) writes that God’s love was made manifest in Christ being sent as the propitiation for our sins. Then he says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” The love that flows vertically from God is meant to flow horizontally through us.

For worship leaders, this means our teams, our churches, and our leadership environments must be shaped by cross-shaped love—patient, sacrificial, others-centered. The sound of Easter is not just big songs; it’s a community that embodies the love it sings about.

Personal Questions:

1. How deeply have I allowed God’s love at the cross to shape my identity and relationships?
2. Are there people on my team or in my church I struggle to love well? Why?
3. What might it look like for me to love others in a more cross-shaped, sacrificial way?

Team Questions:

1. How can our worship team reflect the “family” Jesus is forming at the cross?
2. What attitudes or habits work against a culture of genuine love on our team?
3. How can we practically show Christ-like love to one another in this season?

Prayer:

Father, thank You for loving me through the cross of Jesus. Don’t let that love stop with me. Fill my heart so fully with Your love that it overflows into my team, my church, and my relationships. Help us to be a worship family that truly reflects Your heart. Amen.