Mary's Suffering

As I watched the incredible performance of Rob Gardner’s Lamb of God today I was struck by the great suffering that Mary the mother of Jesus must have gone through.  We really don’t have a lot of details about her life, but what we know I believe we see that she must have had great trials to pass through as the mother of the Savior.  When Jesus was first born Mary and Joseph took Him to the temple and there they met Simeon who prophesied about their future.  One of the things that he told Mary was that “a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also” (Luke 2:35).  This seems to be an allusion to how a sword would pierce Jesus’s side at the time of His death, and that event and many others symbolically caused Mary’s own heart to be pierced.  Surely no follower of Christ at Jerusalem suffered more at His death than Mary did witnessing her own son treated so brutally. 

                I think we have several other indications of the difficulties that Mary faced as the mother of Jesus.  These started even before Jesus was born because of the Mary became pregnant without being married.  The truth of course was known by very few; we know only that Joseph and Elizabeth understood that she was innocent of any wrong doing, but surely most of her associates assumed the worst.  This rumor about Mary and the birth of Jesus apparently followed Him all of His life because some Jews said to Him in derision: “Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?” (John 9:34)  Another hardship for Mary certainly must have been going to Egypt.  Being forced to flee as refugees to a foreign country for a lengthy period of time when they were already poor must have been fraught with great difficulties.  Another great challenge for Mary must have been to try to raise Jesus along with her other children knowing how different He was.  We get a glimpse of the potential struggles that may have existed with the other children when we read that “neither did his brethren belief in him” (John 7:5).  There certainly may have been jealousies from his siblings who did not understand who He really was. 

                By the time of Jesus’s ministry we get the sense of another trial that likely had come into Mary’s life: Joseph was gone.  There is no mention of Joseph at that time, and the fact that Mary turned to Jesus at the wedding feast in Cana to solve the problem of the wine is a very strong indication that Joseph was dead at this time.  She had to go through the terrible trial of witnessing her perfect son’s suffering and death alone.  We certainly can’t know all that she went through, but surely Simeon’s prophecy was fulfilled and she suffered greatly because of her willingness to be the handmaid of the Lord and do His will.  We honor her for her goodness and faithfulness as the mother of Jesus who was there supporting her son from the beginning to the end of His life.