By: Ruth Burke
During a recent church service I was holding my sleeping baby and thinking about the pain she caused me. I know that’s a bit strange, but please bear with me.
My husband was leading the communion portion of the service and had handed our seven month old daughter to me as he went up to the stage. She was asleep, and as I felt her weight in my arms I thought, “I’m so glad you weren’t this big when you came out!” This thought was quickly followed by memories of her birth, the searing pain of delivery, the tearing she caused, and the ways in which my body would never be the same. I felt pain, sadness, and a bit of loneliness while I held my communion cup.
As I stared at the bread and juice I thought about Jesus.
Could He relate to me? Could He understand what I had gone through, and how I felt standing there holding my child?
It was then that I realized yes! He perfectly understands. It was through the pain of the cross that He birthed the church. His flesh was torn for me. He bled for me. I am a child of God because Jesus endured pain and suffering. And like my body, His body will forever be marked by that experience. After Christ rose he appeared to His disciples. Thomas had been doubting the resurrection. In John 20:27 Jesus says to him “put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side…” Jesus’ resurrected body bears the scars of the church’s birth.
As these thoughts filled my head I felt joy and hope. Mothers – we serve a God who, like us, has experienced the pain of birth. He knows how we feel. You can bring your pain and sorrow to a God who can understand and heal. Let’s worship and adore Him together!!