Tragedy and Mary

I have already done one post on Jesus' mother, Mary, and the things we can learn from her. In the wake of Friday's tragic events, however, I simply cannot get her off my mind. And here's why:

Mary knew tragedy.

John 19:25 says, "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother...". Not only did Mary know tragedy and heartbreak, she experienced it first hand. She watched her son hang on a cross and suffer indescribable pain. She watched as the blood trickled down His brow; she heard Him cry out in pain; she looked on as His body hang limply after He'd given up the ghost (Lk 23:46). We read this story and we focus on Jesus--and rightly so--, but imagine for a moment that you are Mary. No mother should ever have to experience this! And yet, she was there, experiencing what no one should have to, for her son.

Surely we have all muttered (or at the very least thought) that no person should have to go through what those 40-something parents are having to go through. Their innocent, beautiful children were slain in an unexplainable, evil act. They are, without doubt, suffering immensely. But they aren't the first.

Mary watched as her beautiful, innocent Son was brutally murdered. She was there as the crowds chanted, as the soldiers prodded, as the darkness gathered. She saw firsthand, much like these parents are seeing now, the evil that was in the world.

And yet, because of all that Mary had to suffer on that day, we can all have hope--yes, even those parents of the children whose lives were cut too short. You see, because of the cruel death of Mary's innocent Son, we can all have life (John 3:15-16). Because of her Son, we can know that those innocent lives from Sandy Hook will be in a land with no more death and no more pain (Rev. 21:4). We can have full assurance that God will avenge their untimely deaths (Rom. 12:19), as He will avenge and ultimately purge all of the evil this world has ever known.

Mary was not crushed on the day that her Son died. Instead, Mary knew that He would rise again and claim victory over death. We, too, can know that victory will be ours. In the last day this earth will ever know, Jesus will once and for all claim victory over death--and all of those who will be faithful to Him can claim a part in that victory (1 John 5:3-5).

With every fiber of my being I hate what happened on Friday. I hate that those children we taken from this world in such a cruel and painful way. I hate that people are hurting. I hate that people are blaming God. I hate that the world that we live in is so evil. But, I can find peace in the midst of this tragedy, and if you will turn to God, you can too. Let the words that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in 1 Thess. 4:13-18 comfort you.

"But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God wi ll bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."

Death is not the end. Undoubtedly Mary knew that as she watched Jesus hang on the cross, and we can know that ourselves in the face of tragedy. Whether we are taken brutally from this life, die peacefully in our sleep, or are alive when Jesus comes back and all of world is destroyed, we can have a hope (expectation) of heaven for our final abode.

Please continue to pray for the hearts of those affected by this tragedy. Pray that they can give their lives over to God so that they can experience the peace that passes all understanding (Phil. 4:7) and have the hope of reuniting with their children one day.