"Joy Cometh in the Morning" | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: "Joy Cometh in the Morning" | Previous Challenge Entry
By Shanta Richard
05/19/21
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The sweltering heat of the sun whipped the anger of the mob into a fanatic frenzy. Struggling within the crowd, Mary Magdalene peered over shoulders, heads and flaying arms to get a glimpse of her beloved Master. With head bowed,wrists tied behind, He was a true picture of the sacrificial lamb. Above all the noise and clamor, Mary made out the words, "crucify him". Horror rendering her speechless and powerless she moved with the mob, as it followed the Roman guards escorting Jesus to Golgotha, the place for crucification. With the crowd pressing all around, Mary's vision was limited to the ground she was walking on. Reaching the narrow, stone paved, uneven street, the via Delarosa, she could clearly see the trail of blood, tears and sweat.

There were large pools of blood where He had fallen, where His knee had crashed on the rocks , where His head had stuck the stones, driving the thorns in His crown deeper into the skull, where the whips of the ruthless soldiers had opened up earlier wounds. Blood was everywhere recording a trial of physical torture.

Among the blood stains, Mary also saw the footprints of the shouting men. They were adding mental agony to the physical pain. The mockery of the scribes and priests, coupled with the reviling and deriding words of the crowd humiliated the Son of God beyond measure . There were other footprints too, of men who had betrayed their friend and benefactor, the One who had cured their sickness, driven out their demons and satisfied their hunger. And so the procession progressed until they reached Golgotha where Jesus was crucified.

After the crucification the crowd melted away and Mary was able to join Mary, the mother of Jesus, John and the other women at the foot of the cross. She watched as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, removed the body of Jesus to the new tomb in a nearby garden. The next two nights Mary spent with the disciples, grieving and mourning. In their grief they forgot that Jesus had told them that He would rise from the dead. The third morning Mary decided to go to the tomb of Jesus.

Reaching the place,Mary was surprised to find an angel by the open and empty tomb. He told her that Jesus had risen from the dead and that He would meet them in Galilee. He asked her to inform the disciples. Overjoyed, Mary ran to tell the disciples the good news. The night of doubt and grief was over. The morning had dawned with unimaginable joy! Later,the risen Christ met Mary and the disciples at Galillee. As they delightfully worshipped Him, He blessed them and gave them a commission : Go into the world and make disciples and share the joy of salvation.

The via Delarosa , the street of sorrows, ended at the cross, but the path did not end there. It continues as a trail of victory for generations of Christians who faithfully follow it, sometimes gladly, but many times woefully, through pain and persecution, but always triumphantly, bearing the message of salvation to the ends of the earth .

Joy Cometh in the morning. (Ps 30:5. KJV)

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