She stood so strong on that cold dark day, a day she knew would have to come.

John held her hand as she looked above, to a life she’d always loved.

But Mary thought it would not come to this.  It just didn’t seem fair.  How could they take the son of God, and nail him without a care?  Her throat was dry and her quiet voice shook, still I heard her say with a tear in her eye…

I rocked Him as a baby.  I fed Him as a child.  I heard Him call my name out in the night!  I helped Him take His first steps, I cried when I heard His first word

I wish you all could see through His mother’s eyes.      

                                                       Mary’s Song     

Though Mary had known from the beginning that Jesus was God’s son, he was her son too!   How could this possibly be happening – could she really watch him die?  The disciples tried to comfort her, but they were grieving as well – not just the loss of a friend, but of a promise they hadn’t yet understood.

I’ll bet she wasn’t the only mother there that day.  Look there by the shack.  Can you see the mother of one of the thieves?  She stands alone, knowing her son is guilty of the crimes that warranted this punishment but she doesn’t care about that.  She cares that her son is hurting.  She doesn’t see the thief – she sees her son.  She cries out those same words, “I rocked him as a baby…please, oh please see him through his mother’s eyes!”

Priest or prisoner, every man is his mother’s son.  Whether she is proud of the life he leads or desperately wishes he had made different choices, at its core, her heart for him is the same.

As mother to three grown children, I can tell you that there is absolutely nothing my girls or my son could possibly do that would change my love for them.  My kids are not perfect – far from it – but they are adored apart from their actions and their awareness of that love has given them a foundation that allows them to try and fail and try again and fail again while never losing sight of their own innate value.    

Behold what manner of love the father has given unto us.   That we might be called the very sons of God.                             1 John 3:1

That’s the kind of love God has for us.  It says I am lavishly loved – adored by my Father even when the accuser is condemning me with my own words and actions.  

As a child I was taught that God is righteous and, as such, He cannot look on sin.  What if God doesn’t look on sin because He doesn’t care about it?  What if, like the mother of the thief, he just sees his hurting, dying child?  What if He isn’t nearly as concerned about the sin itself as He is about healing the holes in my heart that make me so vulnerable to the enemy’s substitutes?

As the thief’s mom stood there that day, she witnessed something she thought she would never see.  This boy-turned-man who had stolen, lied and probably caused trouble for most of his life, saw truth; and in his final hours he thought of someone other than himself.

When the other thief hurled insults at Jesus, her son rebuked the guy.  “Don’t you fear God?” he asked.  “We are punished justly for we are getting what our deeds deserved but this man has done nothing wrong!”  Then he turned to Jesus and said “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Jesus answered, saying “this day you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23)

On the day her son’s journey of shame was to be dealt a final blow, the thief’s mother saw what she had so long prayed for.  In her anguish, she saw her son’s redemption.

And as for Mary?  Mary saw her own son, in his last excruciating hours, living out his destiny.  From the agony of the cross, she heard him admonish John to care for her in the future.  She watched him pray for forgiveness for the soldiers who cast lots for His garment.  She heard him grant salvation to the thief. 

Though Mary had known from the beginning that Jesus was God’s son, she must have been in awe at the love she saw him pour out to others in those hours.  Her heart still grieved – unbearably so – but she knew who He was.

1 John 4:16 says that God is love.  He is a lot of things – He is just, He victorious, He is Holy, but most of all, God is love. 

And who are we?  We are all thieves made righteous only by the blood of another mother’s son.