03/31/09

Purple violet just beginning to blossom....

Today I was teaching my students about Jesus' Crucifixion. I find I can teach the same thing year after year, but I always think of or learn a new "nugget" that stays with me. Today was one of those days.

I began to talk with the kids about how Jesus looked physically while on the cross and what He went through. I then began to share with them how Mary, Jesus' mother, was there at the time of His crucifixion. As I was teaching, I had a memory from last Easter when Steve and I had finally watched The Passion of Christ and it was the scene where Mary was watching Jesus being beaten and then take His cross to Calvary.

She was as human as I am and had to watch that happening to her Son. I can't even imagine the pain she felt there.

Did Mary have "flashbacks" as she sat there watching her Son on that cross?

I am sure she did.... what Mother wouldn't? I imagine she remembered the first time she held Him and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in the manger. I imagine she thought of the shepherds coming and then the Wise Men. Remember how it talks about in Luke 2 where Mary "kept all of these things and pondered them in her heart?" I am sure her mind went through all of the years.

How kind and considerate of Jesus to respect His mother enough to tell John to take her home and away from what was happening. However.... she had already seen so much.

She knew He was born to die in our place... HER place. She knew He was going to be the Savior... HER Savior. She KNEW all of that, but to actually experience the pain of not only losing a child, but watching Him suffer the way He did was beyond knowing about it.

My Mother's Heart "choked up" as I was teaching that part to my kids today. It just gave me another perspective as I prepare my heart for the celebration of Christ's Resurrection Day.