The cold rain beat softly on the roof of the church building as I walked quietly inside, listening to its consistent drumming.

The Stations of the Cross were set up in our sanctuary for Holy Week and tonight the women in our church padded softly through the sanctuary on a self guided experience of the Passion of Christ.

I did not grow up walking these stations, but in recent years they have been an important part of our family’s observance of Holy Week and Good Friday in particular. Every year, it seems, a different station leaves me in awe and wonder of some aspect of Christ’s walk to Golgotha that I had previously passed over too quickly.

Jesus Meets His Mother

This year, I was drawn in by Station 4 – Jesus Meets His Mother. This painting by Raphael stirred my heart as I looked closely at Mary.

Mary – who, as a young girl, was visited by the angel Gabriel who brought the message from God, inviting her to carry the Savior of all mankind in her womb.

She hospitably replied, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be unto me according to your word.”

Mary let go of her childhood, her reputation, and risked her life to say “Yes” to God, to carry Christ within her.

She had no picket-fence life. She rode on a donkey for days on end in her last trimester and delivered her firstborn son in a dirty stable.

She carried him into the temple and heard Simeon and Anna’s prophesies over her little boy, trembling in the fear of God. She heard that “a sword will pierce your own soul also” and likely pondered what that might mean for her son.

She got frustrated with him when he wandered off and sometimes didn’t understand why he did what he did. No one, perhaps, had a more first-hand view of the humanity of Jesus and yet she believed He was the Messiah – this little child under her care was God made flesh.

She was there to watch him perform his first miracle and stood beside him through all his highs and lows.

And when all his disciples (save John) “forsook him and fled” – there was His mother – refusing to leave his side even though a sword was indeed piercing her own soul as she watched him suffer.

In Raphael’s painting, Jesus has fallen. Mary’s arms reach out to him. What was she thinking?

“My son, I’ve helped you up so many times – can’t I help you now?”
“My son, I wish I could take your suffering for you. I wish there were another way.”
“My son, I will not leave your side. I will be with you until the very end.”

In the Midst of Suffering

Jesus knew He would obey His Father and yet he was in agony. And in his suffering, the face of his mother brought him comfort.

Shaking myself back to reality, I glanced down at the questions that had been written for reflection at that station:

“In the middle of the angry crowd surrounding him, Jesus sees his mother’s face. They see pain and love on each other’s face…This makes their own pain even more intense, but at the same time offers hope and encouragement…

Whose suffering face causes me the most pain?
Whose face is my source of comfort and encouragement in the midst of my own pain?
Who sees my face as a source of comfort and encouragement?”

I write this blog post one of my children is suffering from a high fever. Her pain pales in comparison to what Christ experienced and yet as her mother, I wish I could just bear it for her.

I wish I could make her well. I can’t – and so I care for her through her sickness and seek to offer her encouragement and prayer in the midst of it.

I am so glad that Mary walked with Jesus as he carried his cross and bore it well. She could have said “this pain is too much for me – I can’t watch.” But she didn’t.

Her face offered him strength and courage to continue in obedience to His Heavenly Father. His death and resurrection is the foundation of faith and hope of salvation for billions of people today.

This Holy Week, Mary gives us an example worth emulating.

I want to offer encouragement to those around me as they seek to follow after Christ even in the midst of suffering.

Whose face brings you comfort and encouragement?
Who needs to see your face today?

Don’t underestimate the impact of one word, one touch, one look that brings strength to the weary.