May 11, 2014 · Mark 16:1

Easter Mothers

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body.

“They loved him that much. They cared for him so much in his life that they had to be there with him in his death. This love that they have — I would hope it would be like this powerful exemplar to us — that when you love Jesus at this level — look what can happen. These women are the ones who get up at the crack of dawn. They risk their lives. They go to Jesus' gravesite. They love him so much that they can't help it. They can't stay away, and notice that at least two of these women were the mothers of disciples of Jesus. Mary Salome is the mother of the sons of Zebedee — John and James — the two men in his circle. Mary Clopas — the mother of James the Lesser and Joseph. So there's four disciples — which is actually more than a third of the disciples now — who were not there at the grave site — yet the mamas were. I was thinking about this. I was thinking about their joy — and I was trying to figure out what's going on with these moms of these disciples. These women come alongside this gang of male disciples. I'm thinking — maybe at first they just cared for their children so much that — as they start to trek across the country with them — I'm sure they were enamoured with Jesus at first sight — and they thought — oh — this guy's really powerful.”