Finding Hope in Uncharted Territories

Growing up a PK (Preacher’s Kid) means that I witnessed the Easter Story unfold on a flannel board multiple times in a Sunday School class while wearing a frilly new Easter dress and brand new patent leather shoes. When I was seven I was so inspired by a story my GA leader shared with us, that I named my favorite Cabbage Patch Kid “Annie Armstrong.” I guess you could say I had a pretty good grasp on everything-Easter, but it wasn’t until I saw the 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ that I realized I had not considered Jesus’s crucifixion from all angles.  During the crucifixion scene, the look on Mary’s face stopped me in my tracks. As a mother, my heart bled for her. 

As a teenager, Mary abruptly took on a bold new role when she was divinely promoted to the mother of the Savior. Mary humbly accepted her new responsibility by telling the angel, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:38, NIV). 

Throughout Jesus’s life Mary did what all moms do. She encouraged, supported, and ultimately prepared her child to go on to do what He was meant to do. For Mary, letting her son go would mean watching her first born baby, die an agonizing death. I cannot fathom the helplessness that Mary felt as she witnessed the torture of her innocent son. 

But, it’s what happened next that The Passion of The Christ doesn’t show. Mary watched her son endure the worst form of capital punishment you could imagine, she may have even witnessed him being put in a tomb, but she still has hope. Instead of wallowing around feeling sorry for herself, we read in Acts 1:14 that Mary was with Jesus’s disciples in the Upper Room. Tradition also tells us that Mary joined John in Ephesus as part of the new church community, praying with other believers. 

Mary’s life, no doubt, took some unexpected turns along the way, but through it all she maintained hope. Life can sometimes leave us feeling like we are headed into uncharted territories, far from where we had planned to go. We must remember what the prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 40:31, “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Won’t you join me on this walk?