Good Friday: A Mother’s Grief and Joy

For the first time ever, I find myself thinking about Mary, the mother of Jesus as we celebrate Easter. I have been thinking about how Jesus was an ‘unplanned’ child for young Mary. But, she yielded to God’s plan to give life to humanity through her.

Years later, Mary watched God take back the child He gave her. I wonder what was going through Mary’s mind as a mom. She kept a lot in her heart. Side Note: Mary knew a lot more about Jesus than the disciples who spent time with Jesus. She was the mother of God in the flesh. What an honor!

Mary was also a single mom. Joseph, her husband was dead. If he wasn’t dead, Jesus would not have asked a disciple to take care of His mother.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

John 19:25-27 (NIV)

While there is a lot of controversy about when and how Joseph died, we can all agree on the fact that Joseph was not mentioned during Jesus’ last days as a human.

My point is this- Mary had no husband to console her while she watched her son go through pain and torture. It was indeed a lonely experience.

Mary watched people turn against her son. She could not defend her child. She must have heard of Judas’ betrayal, Simon’s denial, and the disciples’ abandonment. What a pain!

It is devastating for a real mother to helplessly watch her child die. My prayer is that you will not experience Mary’s pain. We all want our children to bury us, not the other way around. If you have experienced the loss of a child, take heart. You will see that child again. If your child is sick or has a terminal disease, there is a God in heaven who gave His son so your child can be whole again. God loves your child, Please call on Him

The beauty of Mary’s story is that God didn’t just leave her to mourn the loss of her child. Haa!! Her son didn’t rot in the grave. He rose up again! What joy!

There is a lot of controversy about Mary seeing her resurrected son or not. However, she must have heard the good news from the disciples of Jesus and she was comforted emotionally and spiritually!

We serve a God who turns sorrow to Joy and is able to turn everything the enemy designs to hurt us to actually work out for our good. The enemy doesn’t see the Big Picture, We have an advantage!

Your Sorrow Will Turn into Joy
¹⁶ “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” ¹⁷ So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” ¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. ²¹ When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²² So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

John 16:16-22  (ESV)

Stay Blessed! The Joy of the Lord is our strength.