I was reading this article (out of the InTouch Magazine produced by Charles Stanley and his staff at InTouch.org) Sunday night before our night service at church and found it very interesting...then around 45mins later, our pastor actually spoke on how Mary stuck with Jesus throughout His crucifixion. Awesome how God confirms what He is teaching/trying to show us. Check out the article if you have time...hope you enjoy!
A Sacred Sorrow
Bearing witness to the crucified life
By Ginger Garrett
My friend was dying. A young, vibrant believer with small children at home and a devoted husband, she was suffering intensely from the cancer. A small tribe of friends banded together, determined to remain by her side throughout the struggle. We couldn't stop her suffering, or prevent death, but we could offer ourselves as faithful companions on a dark and dreadful journey.
At times, all of us will be called to act as witnesses to the suffering of another. We will be unable to affect the outcome physically. Words will fail us. Prayer will seem futile. And yet, the act of bearing witness to someone else's trials is a sacred sorrow that offers an astounding glimpse of eternal joy.
Few events in the Bible teach us this lesson as well as the story of the women who followed Jesus to His death on the cross. The group included His mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and others—most likely widows, family, friends, and women who had been healed by the Lord. Though lacking the social and legal privileges of men, they were willing to do what many of the men were not. They were willing to stay with Jesus throughout His travail.
Before the crucifixion, the Lord prepared His disciples by using a distinctly feminine analogy: "Whenever a woman is in labor shehas pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you" (John 16:21-22). Jesus was promising an end to the suffering—pain and anguish followed by a joy so great it overwhelms the former sorrow. The women quite possibly heard Him teaching, too, and would have understood what their role was to be.
Just as Jesus predicted, the "birth pains" came in a cascade of terrible events. The women were helpless as the Master was arrested, put on trial, and publicly condemned. When the soldiers stripped, beat, and flogged Him, the women surely responded to every drop of His blood with a dozen tears of their own.
Yet they did not leave, even when the disciples began to fall away. Instead, as Jesus carried His cross through the streets, they followed Him still. Scripture tells us that "following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him" (Luke 23:27). To mourn was to beat the chest in a public display of grief. To lament was to wail loudly, or to sing a funeral song. The women following Jesus grieved in every way, yet He marched on, carrying His cross. The women had once lived without hope of ever being set free from their oppressive culture and personal sins. Now they howled in helpless protest that a fallen world might take away their one hope, their beloved Savior.
Then came the bitter disaster: the Savior who'd healed them, given them back their dead, fed them, and blessed their children so tenderly—this Lamb was crucified. Yet they did not leave. "And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things" (Luke 23:49).
As the hours stretched on, many deserted him, and the crowds thinned, yet some women chose to move even closer: "But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene" (John 19:25). Jesus' suffering was so extreme that most were repelled, yet a few chose to draw nearer still.
Perhaps Jesus was saddened to look down from the cross and note the few remaining friends. It's often said that you don't know who your friends are until trouble hits. Jesus experienced the reality of our earthly suffering: most friends and family will choose to run away. We can never predict who will choose to stay.
The women at the foot of the cross offer us a glimpse of the purpose, power, and promise of bearing witness. First, we are commanded to support those undergoing painful trials: "Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2). Like many acts of obedience, it won't always be easy. We may wrestle with pride, fear, and frustration over God's timing. We will also be repeatedly forced to confront the question of humanity throughout the ages: Can God be trusted, even when it hurts?
But if we are willing, bearing one another's burdens holds great power to win influence for the kingdom of God. In the book of Philippians, Paul wrote of the "surpassing value" of sharing in "the fellowship of His sufferings" (Phil. 3:8, 10). So often we think of fellowship as refreshing times spent with happy believers. But oh, the unbreakable bonds that are forged when we walk with the wounded. If we are unafraid to face the worst of earthly sorrows, our testimony will have credibility when we speak of a heavenly hope.
In this world full of false saviors, credibility among the suffering is precious. Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Demonstrating the greatest love possible is one proof that we know the Source of this love. If you mirror Christ's actions, others may be more inclined to believe your claim to know Him personally. Behavior is modeled from what we know best, so when we behave as He did, we offer proof of our relationship with Him.
And just as Jesus predicted, the women who had experienced the worst of human sorrows would now have triumphant, eternal joy.
Earthly life may hold pain and anguish, abandonment and few faithful friends, but when it is over, joy will be ours—one so great that all sorrow is forgotten forever. Perhaps that is why we must get new bodies at the resurrection; our mortal bodies cannot contain such intense joy. As my friend lost her battle with cancer, those close to her were comforted to know that the best was yet to come for her, and for us all as believers.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus looked down from the cross to find that only a handful of friends remained. Today He is on His throne, faithful to watch over those who struggle. May we be faithful to walk with them as well.
Copyright 2012 In Touch Ministries, Inc. All rights reserved. www.intouch.org. In Touch grants permission to print for personal use only.
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