Mary (Holy Week Devotional)

“Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.”

- John 19:25b

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Mary had rapturously sung those words more than thirty years ago. The angel Gabriel had come to her with greetings and joyous news—she, an unwed virgin of humble means, would conceive and bear a son. Not just any son, in fact, but the Son of the Most High, the descendant of David whom the prophets had foretold, the one who would reign over the house of Israel and whose kingdom would know no end.

As that son had grown into a man, there had been days when Mary had known without a shadow of a doubt that the angel had spoken truth. There was the day when magi from the east had come to her family’s humble home guided only by a star, bearing gifts fit for a king. There was the time when she, her husband, and her son had traveled to Jerusalem, and she and Joseph had found the boy sitting among the teachers of the law, astonishing them with his insight. And of course, there had been that first miracle at Cana just a few years ago, when, with her gentle prodding, her son had turned water into wine. Whenever her child’s early life began to seem typical or mundane—the tantrums of infancy, the bruises and scrapes of boyhood, the awkwardness of adolescence—those astounding memories served as reminders of the angelic promise: one day her son would reign as king.

So how betrayed she must have felt as she stared up at Jesus—the Son of God, but also the son of Mary—dying a criminal’s death on a Roman cross. The sign over his head mockingly naming him “King of the Jews” served as a cruel reminder to her of the angel’s promise so many years ago. Having once felt assured that he would reign forever, she now watched through tears as the color drained from his face, life slowly slipping away from his body. This was not the way she had imagined God’s plan unfolding—in that moment, as her son gasped out his final breaths, it must have been hard to believe there even was a plan.

You are unlikely to ever encounter the same kind of stinging doubt Mary must have felt on that Friday morning at Golgotha—her circumstances are unique, her pain more so. But there will unquestionably be moments in your walk with the Lord when you become disenchanted with the unfolding of God’s will, when you dislike the direction He is taking you. You may wonder if you were foolish to have ever magnified a Lord who would allow you to suffer like this. In those moments of despair, remember the lesson only Easter could adequately teach Mary: God’s promises are not always fulfilled on our timetable, but not even death can make Him break them.