The apostle Peter wrote a great deal about suffering Christians. He knew, as did most of the early followers of Jesus, what it meant to suffer for his faith. Tradition tells he died hanging upside down on a Roman cross, because he felt unworthy to die in the same way as his master. Peter suffered in many other ways, both physical and mental, during his walk with the Lord, but throughout his writings, the positive value of suffering is emphasized. As he develops this subject, he echoes the words of his Savior as recorded in the Gospels, and of his fellow apostles.
How Mary, the most blessed of all women, and the mother of Jesus, must have suffered! Imagine the insults of friends, who thought she was immoral. Or, years later, her suffering during the humiliations of Jesus culminating on the cross. Standing at the foot of the cross she saw her Son die one of the most agonizing and shameful deaths man ever devised. In the eyes of the people about her, He was a common criminal. She heard the jeering. She saw the soldier thrust the spear in His side.
Yet she believed God. She could not forget the visit of the angel who had told her, “You are highly favored! The Lord is with you. … . Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end” Luke 1:28-33
As she witnessed the seeming tragedy of the crucifixion, Mary must have asked herself, “Could I have been mistaken? Did I have a false vision? Is He really to be the King who shall rule forever?”
Being human, she must have questioned the past in the light of the incredible suffering of the present on the part of one she loved so much. At the time she was incapable of fully realizing this was the fulfillment of prophecy. If the human race was to have any possibility of reconciliation with God, her Son had to die in this precise way as the prophets had predicted.
This was the way to our Glory which we have now coined as Christmas. Never for a second presume that whenever people suffer for their faith, it means they aren’t fasting or praying enough or probably under a curse. The potter has a way of grooming his soldiers who enroll in the army of the Lord. It wouldn’t make sense in the process but eventually the ones involved will conclude that ;
“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; That I might learn thy statutes. The law of thy mouth is better unto me Than thousands of gold and silver.”
Psalm 119:71-72 KJV
To be continued…