Sermonstudio

(She begins by standing in front of the cross as if watching Jesus dying. She turns away in grief and walks/staggers over to the stage center. One hand is holding a cloth to her face, and the other reaching out as if finding her way. She has been weeping.)

He's dead! My son, Yeshua, Jesus, is dead! (stops to weep and then regains enough composure to continue) How could they have done this to him? What did he do to deserve death? Don't they know about all the people he healed, the blind he gave sight to, the lame who walk, the people he raised from the dead? Don't they know about his great love for all of us? How could they all hate him so much -- enough to ... to do this? (gestures back at the cross)

If only they knew him as I know him, this wouldn't be happening. If only they knew about his love and his goodness, or about his always taking care of other people who needed help, never worrying about himself or using his powers to make himself rich or powerful. The Romans said he claimed to be a king who might oppose Caesar. They mocked him, jammed a crown of thorns down onto his head, and nailed a sign above his head on the cross, a sign announcing him as king of the Jews. If he was an earthly king, he would have fought, but he didn't! Let the Romans tell me: Where is his army? Where are the spears and shields? Where are the chariots and horses? Horses? All he ever rode was a humble donkey!

But it's not just the Romans. Our own religious leaders, the Sanhedrin, hate Jesus, too. They charged that Jesus threatened to destroy the temple, which wasn't true; and that he claimed to be the Son of God; in that at least, they are right! The leaders called it blasphemy for Jesus to say he was God, and it would be, unless Jesus is God. Then, their rejection of him would itself be blasphemous! I know, as no one else could know, that Jesus is God's own Son, for he had no earthly father. The angel told me my firstborn would be from God himself, and though I soon learned that I was with child, no man had touched me, not even my husband, Joseph, before Jesus was born.

(looks up sharply) What angel? Gabriel, the angel who visited me when I was a young woman, back in Nazareth. Oh, I know, so many people in our modern age don't believe in angels anymore, but they are real, special messengers from the Lord our God. And that day, the message brought to me was one of incredible joy, a message almost unbelievable to a poor girl from Nazareth. After all, as you Judeans always say, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

That day, the angel told me, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High." I asked the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel answered and said to me, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God."

Me, Mary, the one to give birth to the Son of God? To the Savior? How could it be? I can't tell you how overwhelmed I felt, to be chosen by God to bear the Messiah! Why, that has been the dream of every believing woman for every generation since Eve herself! Now, I was to be the one -- I, not Eve, or Sarah, or Rebecca, or even Rahab, nor countless thousands of other women, but me. I had no idea why God should choose me, but he had, and slowly the realization swept over me that I would bear a great responsibility to go with the honor bestowed on me. On that day (joyfully), I sang out with joy that all generations would call me blessed! (turns suddenly somber) I could not have foreseen the agony and horror of this day. (looks back at the cross) On this day no one would want to take my place, or my son's!

Was this how Eve felt when they brought her dead son, Abel, to her, the victim of his brother's hatred? Is this how Sarah felt, when Abraham took off with Isaac to sacrifice him, their only son, as an offering that God had demanded? Isaac returned alive! What joy Sarah must have felt at that moment to see her son again! If only my son could have been spared, too! If only Jesus could come back from the dead! How could I have known it would end like this, when it all began with so much promise?

There was the promise that comes with every child who is born: of a full lifetime ahead. What joy to see him grow from a newborn, cuddled and nursing in my arms, then to see him run with the other children, later to see him study for his bar mitzvah, and finally to become a full-grown man, a carpenter, and a rabbi. How much more of life lay ahead of him!

There was the promise told us at his birth, relayed to us by the shepherds of Bethlehem, and later by the visiting magi, of Jesus' special nature and destiny: Jesus was Messiah, Lord, and King.

There were the promises Jesus himself made, that the kingdom of God was now upon us; that he had brought us forgiveness of sins and eternal life. He promised us God's love and showed it in so many miraculous ways. Jesus' life was so full of promise! Why did it have to end?

(pauses, despondently, head hanging down in her hands, then lifts her head with growing excitement) In all the horror this day has brought, I almost forgot that there was one more promise he made! Yes, he told us many times that he had to come to Jerusalem to die like the prophets of old. I couldn't accept that and tried to pretend it wouldn't happen. Some of the disciples even tried to talk him out of coming here, but he insisted, even when he could have run away and hidden instead. He talked about the cross, saying we must take up our crosses and follow him. He said he had to come and suffer many things and even die.

Even as he told us that, he connected his death to a promise: He said he came to give his life as a ransom for many. John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Somehow, in some way, Jesus died for us.

I remember now, he also promised that this would not be the end! He said that just as Jonah emerged from the belly of the whale after three days, so he would come back in three days! Other times he said it plainly, that he would be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. But how? He raised others from the dead, but who will raise him?

Jesus, my son -- I pray it is true! Come back to us as you promised, for I am Mary, your grieving mother, and I am a woman of the promise!