This chapter reads like a Lenten devotional as we consider the moments leading up to Jesus' trial, bloody punishment and crucifixion. Where's the little family now with the sweet baby and the shepherds and the angels glorifying and praising God?
The joy that we have in Christmas is only made possible by the suffering of Good Friday.
The baby of the nativity is the man that hung on a cross.
It was a box of wood that held the newborn child but a wooden tree that he was nailed to.
The gift of Christmas IS everything this Son of God and Son of Man has to offer - full and free forgiveness made possible for us by the perfect life he lived for us, the suffering of sins he endured, and the triumph over sin, death and the devil he won for all!
Merry Christmas!
But now we stand at Golgotha and our heads are reeling as we imagine everything Mary must be enduring as a mother.
The author's style of writing makes the scene come alive, doesn't it? So many incidents to consider! Prophecies continue to be fulfilled in Jesus. We remember as Mary must have how all the past was leading up to this!
The slow slaughter of the Lamb of God had begun, with none of the swift mercy granted to the temple's sacrificial lambs.
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
That is why he had to come. To win forgiveness. (112)
The chapter continues to go on by applying this to our own lives and our mothering.
...he wasn't overlooking the sins committed against him. He was giving voice to the reason he hung there in the first place. Sins of scheming, sins of accident, sins of ignorance - Jesus had come to purchase forgiveness for them all.... Jesus, the Lamb of God, had only his perfect life to offer. His blood would be the firebreak past which God's anger would not burn. (113) Interesting as she fleshes out the meaning behind Jesus' words - that it's not as if he spoke his forgiveness only once but he was saying (113) as this forgiveness continues on to us!
Mothering Like Mary
Susan's personal story of forgiving the woman who caused her family's accident that killed her mother is amazing! I appreciated her honesty - My real struggle was over how to express forgiveness to one who denied any wrongdoing. (115) And the story of the letter she wrote to the driver that was read aloud in court was such a beautiful example of this full forgiveness without any "ifs" - If you are sorry, If you express regret, If you never drink and drive again, etc.
She had many wise points!
- Forgiveness is a process rather than a single event.
- God's Word was powerful; it alone could change me.
- I knew the treasures we had in Christ far outweighed the loss we had experienced.
- I clung to the promise that God would work all things for the good of my sister and dad, who loved him.
- I had to leave the situation involving the driver in God's hands.
- It was Jesus who gave me the peace to forgive.
- The Lord was my strength. He brings resolution in his time.(116)
Ponder
What value, if any, is there for a Christian mother in imagining Mary's thoughts on the way to Jesus' cross?
Throughout this book, we've heard how Mary "treasured these things and pondered them in her heart". She didn't just live a moment and dump the memory. Here's where it had to have all come together - in these hard moments of witnessing the end of her son's life as she knew it.
There's value in reading the Bible as a whole. God intends it that way for good purpose! It all connects and circles around a common theme - Christ. The Old Testament and the New Testament aren't meant to be pitted against each other - they're meant to be read to together to get the full picture! Christ is shown clearly in the OT just as we see him in the NT! Imagining Mary putting this together in her mind helps me make the connections too.
2 comments:
Thank you for your valuable insights and all the work you are doing to distill the thoughts in each chapter and apply them in a personal way! This is so helpful to my devotional life and I enjoy every visit to your site!
Thank you so much for your sweet words of encouragement! I praise God that he has blessed my faith through it and praise God that it's been helpful to you, too!:)
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