John 19:25 ... Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. ❤
Take your place with Mary, by the cross of Jesus.
There meet and blend suffering and love, sorrow and sympathy. Standing in faith by the cross, you are near the suffering Savior, the loving Son, the sympathizing Brother born for your present grief. Jesus, in the depth and tenderness of His love, is at this moment all that He was when, in soul travail, He cast that ineffable look of filial love and sympathy upon His anguished mother.
He can enter into your circumstances, understand your grief, sustain and soothe your spirit as one only can who has partaken of the cup of woe which now trembles in your hand.
Drink that cup submissive to His will, for He drank deeply of it before you, and has left the fragrance of His sympathy upon its brim.
Your sorrow is not new to Christ.
Stand close to the cross of Jesus!
It is the most accessible and precious spot this side of heaven; the most solemn and awesome one this side of eternity.
The cross of Jesus is the focus of divine love, sympathy, and power.
Stand by it in suffering, in persecution, in temptation. Stand by it in the brightness of prosperity and in the gloom of adversity.
Go to Christ's cross in trouble, repair to it in weakness, cling to it in danger, hide beneath it when the wintry storm rushes fiercely over you.
Near to the cross, you are near a Father's heart, a Savior's side.
You seem to enter the gate of heaven, to stand beneath the vestibule of glory. Nothing but love will welcome your approach to the cross of Jesus; love that pardons all your sins, flows over all your unworthiness, heals all your wounds, soothes all your sorrows, and will shelter you within its blessed pavilion until earth is changed for heaven, and you lay down the warrior's sword for the victor's palm, and spring from the foot of the cross to the foot of the throne, "forever with the Lord."
[Octavius Winslow]
