Reaching Out to God When Pain OverwhelmsНамуна

“Devoted to Jesus”

Scripture reading: Luke 8:1-3; John 20:11-18; 1 Peter 5:6-11

Today’s model of enduring pain faithfully is introduced in Luke 8:1-3, where we learn that Jesus’s entourage included “some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases.” One of these women was “Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out.”

In Mary’s culture, the demon-possessed were generally the outcasts of society, considered of little worth, isolated, and demeaned. If you’ve ever been bullied or abused in some fashion, you know the pain that follows. If I put myself in Mary’s sandals prior to her encounter with Jesus, I imagine she likely felt very alone, marginalized, and ostracized . . . mentally, emotionally, relationally, and likely spiritually pained, but quite possibly also physically pained by the possessing spirits and the “diseases” that are left vague and unnamed in Scripture.

Little is known about Mary’s history, and Scripture offers scant details of the miracle of Jesus casting seven demons from her. If you’ve ever suffered spiritual attack, you can imagine what a life-changing encounter Mary experienced at the healing hands of Jesus at a time when women were degraded and the demon-possessed banished and shunned from the rest of society. It would have been nothing out of the ordinary for Jesus, who healed many throughout his ministry, but it was a defining moment for Mary.

Mary possessed such gratitude for Jesus’s impact on her life that she financially supported Jesus’s ministry, traveled with Jesus and the disciples, helped prepare his body for burial, was the last to leave the cross but the first to appear at his tomb following his resurrection, and was the first individual Jesus appeared to after she found his tomb empty. Mary’s life of pain was significant, but what she did with her life following her healing by Jesus became more significant.

A lesson for us: Just as in Mary Magdalene’s story, Jesus’s offer of redemption draws us to a greater focus on him and a lesser focus on our life of pain.

Regardless of your hurt or hardships, what do you have to offer Jesus today?