Recently, the Lord has been urging
me to meditate on the scene of Mary at the foot of the cross as her Son suffers
so much pain. I thought this was fitting because Easter is just around the
corner. As I started to meditate on this scene it seemed almost obvious to me
that Mary would be on her knees crying and looking up at her Son with pure
anguish upon her face.
I then thought about her Son on the cross. I thought
about how defeated Jesus would have felt had He looked down at His mother and
saw her this way. This would make it all the more excruciating for Jesus on the
cross - to see His very own mother giving up on Him.
“… But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s
sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his
mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing
near…”
John 19:25-26.
John 19:25-26.
This scene was so much different than I would have
expected it to play out in my own meditation. Mary was standing at the foot of the cross. She was not crippled over by the
pain of seeing her Son on the cross as I had thought. As much as she must have
wanted to take her Son off this very cross and hold Him in the comfort of her
arms or even just fall to her knees, she lets the Lord’s will take its course.
Mary possesses a different kind of strength than I originally meditated on. Mary
understood the Father’s will for Jesus and trusted that through this pain and
hurt the world would be given new life. At this very moment Mary is united with
her Son’s mission on earth just as she always had been and always will be. She
is so united with the Father’s will for her Son that she stands silently watching
her Son suffer. Yet she knew that there would be victory in the end and in
order for this to happen she must allow the Father’s will to be done.
So, Mary stands watching her Son
perish on His cross. She knew that it was things like cruelty, hatred,
unforgiveness, jealously, judgment, unbelief, etc. that caused her Son’s crucifixion
and she refused to submit to any of these feelings. In this moment Mary does
the opposite as she acts with love, forgiveness, wisdom, prudence, humility,
etc. Jesus must have looked down at His mother at that moment and instead of
seeing what I first imagined as agony in His Mother’s eyes, He must have seen
her strength and known she would be there through it all. What a mother! She
was able to pass on her strength to her Son so that He could endure the final
pangs of suffering before He perished on the cross.
How often in my own life do I want
to protest to the Father’s will and take Jesus down from the cross? How often
do I want to turn away from the agony in my own life instead of face it with
Jesus looking down upon me? How often do I think I cannot withstand the pain and
become crippled, falling to my knees believing that Jesus cannot overcome this
pain? How often do I want to run from the fears of the crowd reviling me and
leave Jesus alone in His suffering? Yet, Mary continues to stand in silence
despite each of these questions.
May we also imitate Mary’s holy submission to
the Father’s plan and know that she is standing near each one of us no matter
what is happening in our lives. She is standing with strength and wants to
comfort each one of us in our own sorrows just as she did with her own Son. She
is the Mother of mothers and she will always draw near to each one of us,
silently letting us know that she is here and always will be.
Standing with you,
A sister in Christ
