The answer might be found in the nineteenth chapter of John’s gospel when Jesus entrusted Mary to John at the crucifixion. Jesus told John that Mary was now his mother, and He told Mary that John was now her son. John took Mary and cared for her (as he would his own mother) from this point on. Writing the gospel of John many years later, it just may be that John was uncomfortable calling his own mother by her formal name. I’m sure by this time in his life, John was referring to Mary as “my mother.” It doesn’t surprise me then that John would hesitate to call his adopted mother by her proper
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