Having sons changed something for me, I just can’t imagine how Mary did it other than through the power of God himself. I mean I get it, some part of her had to have known that this son, Jesus, was the son of God and she would’ve had to reconcile that she was going to see him be crucified the way the Prophets foretold, right? I mean she would’ve had to have been prepared, right? I don’t even know but what I do know is that I could never imagine it.

I look at my sons and can’t even think of watching them be beat to a pulp, almost to death and then made to carry their own wooden cross to be crucified on it, nailed to it, hung to it and bleed to death. What?!?! That is wild. But that’s what she did, Mary the mother of Jesus. That’s what she endured all those years ago.

I know that doesn’t take away from the true message of the death, resurrection, and reconciliation that Jesus did for us but wow, this woman, this mother.

This easter, I reflect on my own life, my family, on my sons, how unbearable it would be and I’m reminded that it’s Good Friday not because a man died that day but because that man was God, Jesus, the word became flesh, a man who knew no sin became sin, and not just mine but like everybody, in all ages and centuries, this man, this son, this God, paid the penalty that we could never pay, fulfilled a prophesy that was long foretold, did the thing that gave me the way to know God in the first place. Wow.

This easter, I reflect on how this reality shapes my entire world and my whole being. I’m here, alive and breathing in 2025 because he obeyed his Father, our Father. He is Jesus of Nazareth, son of man, son of God. He died, for me, for my family and for you. He rose on the third day and defeated death, he gave us that same victory and called us to himself.

This is the gospel in its’ most simple principle.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

How will we choose to respond this easter?

Stay blessed.

-A