She snuggled the baby boy in her arms. She smiled at the scent of his freshly bathed little body. Her heart sighed in contentment.
“He was safe in her arms.”
“Mary! Mary! Wake up!”
Startled from her slumber, Mary awakened with the smile still in her heart. At that moment, when she saw the sadness in Salome’s eyes, reality came crashing through.
She had been dreaming.
Jesus was not a baby anymore.
He was a wonderful grown man who had done so many marvelous miracles! Two days ago she watched him die.
Why was all this happening?!
Jesus had never hurt anyone! For that matter, in all honesty, she couldn’t even remember that he had ever done ANYTHING wrong. Yet, her first born son died a criminal’s death.
Crucifixion.
It was a brutal and cruel way to die. It was a horrible way to see your son die~ to watch him breathe in agony and pain~ to watch other’s scorn and mock him.
She almost fainted when she heard the hammer drive the spikes into his hands.
When they crossed his legs and drove the spike through his feet, she moaned and almost passed out again. What pain he must have felt and gone through. What agony to know that he did not deserve such treatment. Even in his death he was concerned about others.
The memories of his death brought back that unbelievable pain again, but not a physical pain. Hers was emotional. She was still in shock. Her eyes were swollen and her stomach hurt.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this!
He IS the Son of God!
Was.
He WAS the Son of God!
He, her son, the Son of the most High God, was dead!
She just couldn’t wrap her mind around that fact.
What was it the angel Gabriel told her, just 30 something years ago?
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
He was never crowned King of Israel.
They crucified him.
He didn’t sit on the throne of his ancestor David.
He was dead.
He wouldn’t reign over the house of Jacob.
He was in a tomb.
His kingdom will never end…..
It never started.
All these years she had held on to what Gabriel told her.
Confusion set in.
What went wrong? She knew~ better than anyone~ that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. She knew what Gabriel said had been true, but WHY would Yahweh let them kill him?
“Why!?”, her heart cried.
Her head throbbed with all the questions in her mind and the sorrow in her heart.
She heard the hushed voices outside the door and washed her face. She breathed a prayer for strength.
It was good to see the others. There was comfort in their embrace, yet the deep grief still sat in her chest and threatened to explode in uncontrollable sobs and shaking.
One by one, the disciples filtered in. Salome and the two other Mary’s prepared some breakfast.
There wasn’t much talking. Everyone still seemed to be in a state of shock. Even James and John, who always seemed to have an opinion about something, were quiet.
There were whispered conversations of going into hiding, something about Judas’ body, and of going to the tomb.
The tomb.
The finality of hearing it ripped her heart some more. Her sister and some other women were about to leave to go to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body.
Sadness wearied her.
John came to her side and encouraged her to lie down again.
“Let them do the preparations, Mother. You must rest. We do not know what the next few days and weeks will hold.”
She nodded and rose to go to her room.
She tried to close her eyes, but all she could see was the blood dripping down his face, from his hands and feet, and from the many wounds on his body.
She and John and several others had stayed until the end.
The End.
She just couldn’t figure it out. Why couldn’t she just let go?
How had she and her Joseph been so wrong for all of those years?
And~
What about Elizabeth and Zechariah and their John? They hadn’t lived to see John’s murder, but weren’t they just as wrong?
What about all of those prophecies Zechariah told them about? Even little Jesus as a young teen seemed to understand scriptures like no one else.
He had.
A shaft of light and understanding shot through her mind.
He did try to tell them all that he was about to die.
But she hadn’t wanted to listen.
She kept denying what he was trying to say, because she didn’t want to believe it.
She heard a commotion outside the house. An adrenaline rush cursed through her veins. Were the soldiers coming for them now?
It was Mary Magdelene’s voice she heard.
“He’s alive! Mary, Mary! He’s alive! The angel said He would meet us in Galilee!!! Can you believe it? He’s alive!”
Before Mary could even think, her feet were on the floor and she was running to the sound of Mary Madgalene’s voice! Could it be? Could it really be?!
Jesus! Alive!
She and Peter asked Mary Magdelene to start from the beginning. She told them everything~ about wondering how they were going to roll the stone away, about seeing the Roman soldiers passed out, about the angels talking to them, about the tomb being empty.
Mary asked her to describe the angels.
“What did they say exactly?”
“What did they look like?”
An old familiar feeling warmed her heart. It may not have been Gabriel, but Mary Madgelene definitely described an angel just like him.
Jesus! Alive!
He was meeting them in Galilee?!!!!
She would see her son again!?
Jesus Alive – changed everything!
Where once sadness and grief consumed her, joy and wonder now filled her!
He raised Lazarus. He raised Jairus’ daughter and another woman’s son. Now, the power of God raised her son!
Jesus was alive!
As she hurried to prepare for the trip to Galilee, she came across her robe from the other day. She had thrown it in the corner because the blood stains would never come out.
When Joseph of Arimethea had taken his body down from the cross, she, his mother, cradled him one last time in her arms. She had wailed and kissed his blood stained face.
Then~ he was dead.
Now~ he was alive!
Why did Yahweh allow him to suffer such horrible agony?
Jesus knew.
Jesus would tell them all.
There was something she remembered from years ago that Zechariah said, something about the blood of the Lamb and the Passover……
The Lamb that takes away the sin of the world….
Jesus was Alive!
Her mother’s heart smiled.
Trophies:
