Faithfully Following

Last night was our first 'performance' of this year's Easter presentation—and as I fully expected, it was wonderful. All the details that took so many hours to arrange flowed seamlessly, allowing the message to shine through with beauty and power.

This year, as I've been studying, I've been impressed with Mary—not just one Mary, but the trio of Marys that we read about in the Gospels: Mary--the mother of Jesus, Mary--Martha's sister, and Mary Magdalene. I cannot imagine the anguish those women experienced so many years ago! To see the Man they loved so much suffer as Jesus did...and yet they never left Him. They were there when He was on the cross, they followed when Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus carried His body to the tomb so they would know where He was buried, and they were the first ones to know that He had risen.

Last night I found myself wondering how it was for them on that Sabbath before He rose from the grave. Even though Nicodemus had helped wrap His body with burial spices and linen, the women hadn't been able to prepare Jesus' body for burial. Everything they would've done, and wanted to do, for Jesus in His death, they'd had to put on hold for the Passover Sabbath.

What was going through their hearts and minds on that day as they waited? Grief! Discouragement? Disillusionment? The Bible doesn't say, but I wonder.

The Gospels record for us that the women were at the tomb before first light on that first Easter Sunday and that they had spices for Jesus' body. They didn't know how they would move the stone away from the entrance of the tomb, but they went.

Their faithfulness in the midst of tremendous grief is such a testimony to me! It's been convicting. Am I faithful when I don't understand why things have happened as they have?
Am I faithful when I'm so discouraged I can hardly lift my head?
Am I faithful when I can't stop the tears from flowing?

Those women were not only faithful, they were active in their faith. They were still serving Jesus through their confusion, through their discouragement and through their deep grief.

Oh, Lord Jesus, please help me to follow in these women's footsteps and be faithful in all circumstances.

4 comments:

  1. I cannot even begin to imagine what they were feeling that day when they discovered Jesus was Alive again...I mean I know they had to feel a tremendous joy after such sorrow...but the depth of it...wow. Thank you for sharing and linking.

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  2. Wonderful reminder for us on this amazing day.

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  3. Oh, for more of that faithfulness! It's so easy to let discouragement make us fall away, but may we be like those women. If we serve faithfully, we'll see the joy sooner!

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  4. I cannot even imagine how excited they must have been. :D

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