A Mother's Love

Several years ago the Preacher and I went to the movie theater, along with several people from our congregation, to see the movie, The Passion of Christ.
It was a great movie but was really hard to watch, especially when the Roman Soldiers began beating Jesus and then nailed him to the cross.

As hard as those scenes were to watch, there was another scene that was just as hard, if not harder, for me to watch. 

In this scene you can feel her heart aching for her son. The scene that I am referring to is when Jesus falls from carrying the cross and Mary, Jesus' mother, sees him fall and she is transported back to a time when Jesus was young and he had fallen down stairs. She rushed to him then and told him "I'm here." Her mother instinct takes over and she rushes to him again and tells him the same thing, "I'm here." 

Jesus is the Savior of the world, but during his 33 years here on this earth, he was her child. How hard was that for her? To see her son being beaten and killed upon that cross. Did she know he would resurrect from the dead in just 3 days? Even if she did that didn't stop the pain that she as his mother would have seeing her son being hurt so badly. I'm thinking that maybe she felt in her heart that she would have taken his place just to stop his pain.

While sitting in the theater and watching this I too felt her pain, her overwhelming need to stop this.

Do you remember when your son fell and scrapped his knee? I do. I remember him coming to me crying, showing me his 'ouchy'. I would give him a hug and then kiss his scrapped knee and almost instantly the crying would stop.

Do you think Jesus felt just a tiny bit better knowing his mother was there? Did she kiss the wounds on his face?

We'll never know that intricate part of the walk to the cross, but what I do know is that a mother's love is the same today as it was when Mary loved Jesus.

Love from the Preacher and I

You can watch this powerful scene here.

Even The Rocks Will Praise Him!

In May of this year, the preacher and i took a week's vacation and visited the

Arches National Park in Moab, Utah.

This place is full of rocks/boulders, of all shapes and sizes.

I couldn't help but to think about this park during the preacher's sermon today.

Today the preacher's message was from Luke 19:28-48. This passage is where

Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. While he is coming into the city,

the people are lining the streets and they are rejoicing and praising him, shouting, 

"Blessed is the King!"

The Pharisees, the religious leaders who ruled over the people and the temple/church,

told Jesus to tell the people to be quiet.

Do you know what his response was?

"I tell you, if these (people) were silent, the very stones would cry out!"  (vs 40)

Remember when Jesus taught the disciples how to pray?  (Luke 11:1-4)

He said, "Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven."

This is an example of what He was talking about.

You can't stop his praise. If we don't praise him

the earth, the rocks, the trees, ALL of the earth, WILL praise Him, and IS praising Him!

Won't you join the rocks in their praise?

Lift up your voice and praise with a loud voice!

"Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

Love from the preacher and i!