Whom did Mary bear? The “Man of Sorrows,” and one “acquainted with grief” (Is. 53:3). She bore one who was to be “pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities” (53:5). And did she treasure these things in her heart, as she did the events surrounding his birth (Luke 2:19)? Surely it was this that pierced her soul (Luke 2:35).
Who was it, then, that Mary bore? The very one through whom, she, too, would be born again, says professor Johnson.
And thus, we, too, journeying through Lent, ponder this man of sorrows, this man acquainted with grief, this one who was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. And we eagerly await Easter when we will rejoice in the one who was the first-born from among the dead (Colossians 1:18).