Can you imagine what it would have been like to see Jesus as He hung on the cross? Jesus had been scourged. He had been beaten, slapped, and spit on. He had the crown of thorns placed on and driven into His head. As Jesus suffered because of the sins that we have committed, metal spikes were driven through His hands and feet. People who passed by mocked Him. Because of the position that He was in on the cross, He struggled for every breath. As the Bible says in Isaiah 52:14, “His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.” I do not believe that our minds can even comprehend what it would have been like to stand at the foot of Jesus’ cross.
Among others, there is one individual who knew exactly what it was like to watch Jesus suffer and die on the cross. In John 19:25, as an eyewitness, the apostle John records that Jesus’ mother, Mary, stood by Jesus’ cross. I believe that is the strongest, most powerful demonstration of a mother’s love that we find in the Scriptures. Even though a sword was piercing through Mary’s soul as she watched Jesus suffer, bleed, and die (Luke 2:35), she was present. Even though she more than likely wanted to rebuke those who were mocking Him, scream out in pain, and remove Jesus from the cross, she quietly stood by His side. Up to this point, Mary was present when Jesus took His first breath, and she was present when He took His last breath. Mary heard Jesus’ first cry as a baby, as well as His last cry from the cross. She had a front row seat not only to how Jesus “increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52) but also to how “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). How did she have the strength to stand there? How was she capable of being present in that moment? How could Mary stand to see her firstborn son executed as a criminal? The answer to these questions lies in the strength of a mother’s love for her children. Mary’s love for Jesus is seen, felt, and understood by her presence at the foot of His cross.
The strength of a mother’s love cannot be overstated. As an unknown author stated, “A mother’s love knows no boundaries, no limitations, and no conditions.” Mothers are present with their children. Mothers will willingly experience pain, hardship, and loss to stand by their children. Mothers will quickly, without a second thought, set aside their own interests, desires, and plans for the benefit of their children. Mothers will go places that they do not want to go, see things that they do not want to see, and do things that they do not want to do in order to provide for their children. Mothers prioritize their children above themselves. Mothers do all of these things not because they have to but because they want to. Everything that a mother does flows from her love for her children. This weekend, let’s thank God for the love of godly mothers, without which our lives would suffer tremendously.
-Tyler Alverson
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