THE FORGOTTEN MOTHER.

The little old lady stood in the shadow of the bush at the bottom of the hill. She pulled her shawl tightly around her thin, cold shoulders. The kerchief on her head not only covered her grey hair, but also partly hid her lined face from the view of the passers-by, on their way to the hill.

She was alone, sad, friendless, and if people recognised her they would probably shun her; of that she was sure. The hot tears stung her eyes and rolled down her flushed cheeks, while her hands clenched, then relaxed, clenched again, relaxed.

Stray thoughts struggled through her mind. ’Did I give my boy enough love?’ she thought. ’Should I have taught him more about God? She had tried her best to teach him after his father had died.

‘I wish I had spent more time with him.’ But she knew she could not have done more for her son. It could be said of her, ‘She has done what she could,’ but her son made his own choices. She thought of her son, and how he had mixed with eleven other friends and their Leader who for three years taught them about God.

She stepped out from behind the sheltering bush slowly, painfully. Taking one step at a time, she forced herself to join the crowd at the hill. At last, standing with the crowd, yet just a little apart, she heard the words from the Man on the cross, ’Father, forgive them for they know not what the do.’

She sighed. Was that for her son, too? Could he be forgiven?

True - because it came from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ who carried the sin-burden for all who throughout the whole world would repent of sin and accept God’s gift of salvation and eternal life, because of His death and resurrection.

Yes, and in that moment Mary, Jesus’ mother probably turned and with tender compassion and love looked into the eyes of Judas’ mother.