To the Cross and Beyond

I am writing this chapter on Mary at the cross during the week of Easter. We have just set up for our Good Friday service. No lilies grace the platform. In the center of the worship area a rugged wooden cross looms over the congregation. A purple cloth and a crown of thorns are the only decorations. After the people who helped set up had left, I sat in the auditorium alone for a long time. It's been an emotional few weeks for me, and I don't really know why. At every service, as we've traced the path Jesus walked through his arrest and trial and death, I've been close to tears. Last Sunday I sobbed through a song as the soloist described the dying Savior.

   I can only begin to imagine the grief and terror that went through Mary's heart as she stood at the foot of the cross and watched her son suffer. Mary had come to Jerusalem for the Passover just like she did every year. But this time as she

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approached the city, singing the traditional psalms of ascent with the other pilgrims, Mary sensed that something was dreadfully wrong. If she came to the city on the day of preparation, she may have heard the shouts of the people — not shouts of praise, but angry shouts, murderous shouts. She could make out the words as she came into the court around the temple. The sound came from the Fortress of Antonia, the Roman army barracks next to the temple. All she heard was, "Crucify! Crucify!"

   Mary looked in vain for one of the disciples of Jesus. Not one of them was anywhere in sight, until she caught a glimpse of John rushing across the outer court. When she caught up to him, his face was gray. Through panic and sobs, he blurted out the chilling story of Jesus' arrest, the contrived trials and the final verdict. Before she could begin to comprehend what was happening, Mary was holding on to John's arm, stumbling up a rocky hill outside the city. To her horror, her own son was hanging there on a cross.

Woman, Behold Your Son

Execution in Jesus' day was designed to be public and torturously slow. Most of us have never witnessed an execution; the average citizen of Judea had seen dozens.¹ No one paid much attention to criminals as they were marched out to die. They got about as much notice as a funeral procession does today.

   Contrary to most of the pictures we see of Jesus bearing his cross, the condemned did not drag the entire cross to the place of execution. The stake, the upright post of the cross, stayed on Calvary's hill. The crossbeam was chained to the arms and carried through the streets for all to see. A sign hung around the neck, stating the person's crime. The same sign would be nailed to the cross so everyone watching the gruesome spectacle would realize that those who dared to rebel against Roman

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authority paid a supreme price.

   Once the execution squad reached the hill of death, the condemned were offered drugged wine to dull the initial pain. The women of Jerusalem provided the drink as a final act of mercy to those about to die. Jesus tasted the wine but refused it. The cup of suffering he was about to drink would be faced in full consciousness.

   The condemned were then quickly stripped of clothes and laid down on the cross. Five-inch nails were hammered through the wrists. The cross was then lifted up and dropped in a hole that had held dozens of crosses before. The person's legs were pushed up so the knees bent slightly, and the feet nailed in place.

   Jesus was on the cross six hours. Scripture records that during those hours he spoke seven times. After his prayer for the Father's forgiveness on those who crucified him (Luke 23:34) and his promise of a home in paradise to the repentant thief (Luke 23:43), Jesus turned his eyes to the little band of people standing below him. John was there, the only disciple courageous enough to come close to the cross.² He is the one who records this tender scene as Jesus commits Mary into the disciple's care: "When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, 'Dear woman, here is your son,' and to the disciple, 'Here is your mother.' From that time on, this disciple took her into his home" (John 19:26-27).

   In his dying hours, under such horrifying circumstances that he could be excused from responsibility, Jesus reached out in care for his mother. Even when he was paying the price of humanity's sin, Jesus was thinking of his mother's future. Probably none of Jesus' brothers had come to believe in him yet. So, rather than assume that they would care for Mary as she grew older, Jesus entrusted her care to a faithful disciple.

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   John tells us that three other women stood with Mary at the cross. One was Mary's sister, not mentioned by name.³ The second was Mary, the wife of Clopas, who was also the mother of an apostle called James the younger. The third woman was Mary Magdalene, a woman whom Jesus had delivered from demonic oppression (Luke 8:2). Four hearts were united in grief.

   We discover something interesting when we compare what the other Gospel writers tell us about the group at the cross. In Mark 15:40 Salome is referred to as one of the women in the place of "[Jesus'] mother's sister" mentioned in John 19:25. In Matthew's account this woman is called the mother of Zebedee's sons (Matthew 27:56). If we put the three statements together, we can conclude that the sister of Mary was Salome, the mother of Zebedee's children. Two of Zebedee's sons were among the twelve disciples of Jesus: James (a different James from the son of Clopas) and John the writer of the fourth Gospel. James and John then were Jesus' cousins.

   Since John is reluctant to mention his own name in his Gospel, he may have been similarly reluctant to mention his mother's name. He calls himself "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and his mother "[Mary's] sister." John's kinship to Jesus physically and his loyalty to Jesus spiritually may explain why Jesus entrusted his mother to John's care.

   In a society that seems increasingly resentful of its older citizens and even of our aging parents, Jesus' example makes us take a long look at our own attitudes and responsibilities. The debate over physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia is already on the national stage, and the volume of the debate will only increase. If any segment of our society should model care and sacrifice for the sick and aging and dependent, it should be those of us who claim to follow Christ.

   But I think there is more in this scene than just Jesus' concern

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for his mother. We are given a glimpse into the depth of the compassion Jesus has for each of us, and the concern he has for our very human needs. You may be grieving as you read these pages. You may find yourself discouraged or lonely or sick. In our despair it's easy to think that no one understands and no one really cares. But this same Jesus has not forgotten you. He cares intensely about every detail of your life.

Simeon's Sword

A flood of memories must have swept over Mary as she watched her son's life drain away. I'm sure she remembered the day in the temple when old Simeon had taken her baby in his arms and proclaimed him to be the Messiah. That old man had whispered some very strange words to Mary as he gave Jesus back to her. He told her that a sword would pierce her soul.

   Mary had pondered those words for thirty years, wondering what they meant. Now, standing in the blood-soaked dirt underneath a cross, she knew. Her first-born son, the son of her strength, was dying. No song came from Mary's lips that day. No words of hers are recorded either. She had been the first person to hold the head that now carried a crown of thorns. Like all parents, Mary had examined carefully the tiny hands and feet of her new baby — hands and feet that were now nailed to the cross. Jesus' disciples may desert him, his own people despise him, but his mother stands at his cross.

   Mary's grief went beyond her own loss and agony. Nailed to that cross was not only Mary's son but Israel's Deliverer, the One countless believers had longed and prayed for. With his death, the hopes of generations of faithful men and women died too. Even though he spoke words of care to Mary, Jesus offered no explanation for what was happening on the cross. The darkness of Friday was dispelled only by the light of Sunday morning.

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   We don't know how long Mary stood with John at the scene. John simply says that "from that time, this disciple took her into his home" (John 19:27). Perhaps Mary was there when Jesus breathed his last and when his body was taken from the cross. Mary, cradling the wounded, lifeless body of Jesus, has inspired artists through all the centuries of the church.

   We don't know when Mary heard about the empty tomb either. Jesus appeared to several individuals and groups of followers in the days following his resurrection, but nowhere does Scripture say that Jesus appeared to Mary. The apostle Paul tells us that Jesus did appear to his brother James shortly after the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7).⁴ Mary and Jesus' brothers certainly came to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead, because forty days after the resurrection they are gathered in Jerusalem with Jesus' followers (Acts 1:14). We can assume that Mary and Jesus' family were also with the other believers on the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit came upon them in dramatic power (Acts 2). Mary takes her place neither apart from the other Christians nor above them. She is included in the company of those who were followers of her son.

Mary After Pentecost

With the single passing reference to her in Acts, we never again read of Mary in the unfolding story of the early church. At some time after the crucifixion Mary most likely told her story personally to Luke. This would explain how he was able to incorporate such great detail about the conception and birth of Jesus in his Gospel, including Mary's hymn of adoration to the Lord (Luke 1:46-55). We can only speculate as to what happened to Mary from there. One church tradition says that she died at the place where the Church of the Dormition stands outside Jerusalem. Another tradition says that she died in Ephesus in the home and under the care of the apostle John.

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Her tomb is said to be located near the tomb of the apostle in Ephesus.⁵

   In the developing theology of the church, Mary was not given much place during the first three centuries of doctrinal debate. The early church had to hammer out issues like the Trinity and a proper understanding of the person of Christ. The earliest church fathers seldom mention Mary. When they do speak about her, it is always in connection with Jesus' physical birth and incarnation.⁶

   By the fourth century, however, Mary had become more and more elevated in the popular belief of Christians and in the teaching of the church. In the early Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed (A.D. 325), we read that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. It's a simple historical reference. At the Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431 and again at the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451, however, Mary's eminence was forged into the doctrinal fabric of the church. While the councils declared Jesus to be both fully human and fully divine, the church leaders also called Mary theotokos — not merely the mother of Jesus but the Mother of God.⁷ The title was originally intended to say something about Mary's son: that he was God in human flesh. It became, however, a term used to give Mary an exalted place. Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox churches trace their official veneration of Mary to the declaration of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon.

   By the end of the sixth century, miraculous stories about Mary's death began to make their way into the teaching of the church. Gregory bishop of Tours (in what is today France) was the first church father to promote this in his writings, teaching that Mary was glorified and taken bodily into heaven at the moment of her death.⁸ That belief, called the bodily assumption of Mary, was later declared to be the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Pius XII in 1950.

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   The early medieval church portrayed Mary as the greatest of those whom God loves. She began to be revered as the greatest of the saints and the one to whom even the angels bow in adoration. Theologians as early as the fifth century referred to Mary as the queen of heaven (a figure drawn from the image in Revelation 12:1-2).⁹ The same theologians went on to say that when Jesus entrusted Mary to John's care, he was in effect entrusting Mary to all of his followers through the centuries of the church.

   One issue that was debated for a long time in the Catholic Church centered around Mary's conception. Was Mary conceived like the rest of humanity with a fallen human nature, or was she protected in some way from sin's contamination? Augustine, the great theologian of the fifth century, proposed that Mary was the "great exception" when it came to the issue of inheriting a sinful human nature. Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most powerful preachers of the Middle Ages, disagreed. He said that Mary had been redeemed by Christ like every other believer. Mary may have lamented Jesus' death because he was her son, but she also rejoiced because he was her Savior. Thomas Aquinas also taught Mary was a partaker of original sin like the rest of humanity and the proof was that she suffered one of sin's consequences — she died.

   By 1439 theologians at the Council of Basil had come to a consensus that the immaculate conception of Mary was "a pious doctrine," and they declared that any teaching contrary to that belief was forbidden. The Protestant Reformers found this particular doctrine unbiblical and left much of the veneration of Mary behind when they separated from the Roman Church. In 1854 Pope Pius IX made the immaculate conception of Mary an article of faith, a dogma binding on the entire Catholic Church. The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was conceived normally from her parents but was preserved from the stain of

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sin by a miraculous work of God. Catholic theologians often extend this doctrine to Mary's entire life. She not only was untainted by Adamic sin but lived a life in which she avoided sin completely.¹⁰

   The development of Marian theology in the Catholic Church is far from over. Since 1993 Pope John Paul II has received over four million petitions asking him to exercise the power of papal infallibility to proclaim a new dogma of the faith: that Mary is "Co-Redemptrix, Mediator of All Graces and Advocate for the People of God."¹¹ Among the supporters of the proposed doctrine were the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta and nearly five hundred bishops and forty-two cardinals in the Catholic Church. If the pope declares such a teaching to be a dogma, Catholics would be obliged to believe that "Mary participates in the redemption achieved by her son, that all graces that flow from the suffering and death of Jesus Christ are granted only through Mary's intercessions with her son, and that all prayers and petitions from the faithful on earth must likewise flow through Mary, who brings them to the attention of Jesus."¹² Mother Angelica, the host of a popular Catholic television program, believes the proposed dogma, "would save the world from great catastrophe."

Visions of Virgin Mary

In our local newspaper this week a small article told the story of "miraculous visions of the Virgin Mary on Yakima Valley [Washington] highway signs." Thousands of people were drawn to a sign outside Sunnyside, Washington, creating traffic jams and safety hazards. Some claimed that a rainbow emanated from the sign. People got out of their cars to say prayers, light candles and sing hymns.

   Along with the development of official doctrinal teaching within the Catholic and Orthodox churches, there has been a

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phenomenal resurgence of popular, folk religion centering on Mary. Visions or apparitions of Mary continue to draw throngs of people hoping for a glimpse of Mary or a miraculous healing or some message for their lives. Some of the appearances of Mary have been given official sanction by the Catholic Church. Most claims are neither approved nor denied by church authorities. The bishop of Yakima said he was withholding judgment. The highway department said that what people were seeing on the road signs may have been caused by the oxidation of a chemical coating on the signs.

   In the last two thousand years, scholars estimate that more than twenty thousand appearances or apparitions of Mary have been reported. More than four hundred have been reported in the twentieth century alone. The abundance of visions from around the world has prompted some Catholic lay ministers and priests to declare that we are approaching a new "Age of Mary" in the next millennium. The Catholic church has officially recognized only a few of the reported apparitions; most of the reports are not denied but receive no official sanction. The church has put its approval on the appearances of Mary in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. Three children saw Mary six times over the summer of that year. Probably the most famous modern site of a reported appearance of Mary is Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Six children have seen visions of Mary since 1981. While the Catholic Church has not officially sanctioned those appearances as genuine, ten to twenty million Catholics have visited the area.

Making It Personal

How should we as evangelical Christians respond to the beliefs of the Catholic Church and the reports of the appearances of Mary? I think two bedrock biblical truths will help us sort it out. The first foundational truth to keep in mind is that Jesus

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Christ is to be preeminent in everything. We must reject any belief, any vision that takes the focus of our worship and devotion away from Christ as Lord.

   The second truth we must cling to is the authority of Scripture. Catholic doctrines about Mary are based largely on church traditions and papal declarations, not biblical teaching. Nowhere in Scripture are we commanded or encouraged to pray to Mary or to any other saint. Worship, devotion, service, veneration are always directed to God alone.

   If Mary was to be such a key part of the liturgy and devotion of Christianity, why are the Scriptures silent about it? Apart from the historical references in the Gospels and Acts, the New Testament is silent about Mary. In all the letters of Paul instructing the church on doctrine and obedience to God, Mary is referred to only once and never by name. In Galatians 4:4 Paul says that Jesus was "born of a woman, born under law." Furthermore, the Bible never hints or suggests that a believer who has died will ever appear on earth or announce a message from God or intervene to bring about a miracle. Every spiritual experience is to be measured against the truth of Scripture.

   Mary is a wonderful model of humility and sacrifice and willing obedience to God. But the focus of our love is on Christ alone.

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