Christian Collection

Unconditional

"Mom, do you love me?" I ask, sitting on the edge of her bed and watching her. My mom, who is doing her hair in the bathroom, looks over.

"Of course, I do, honey," she answers, pulling a bobby pin from her mouth.

"How much do you love me?"

"Somer, I love you to the ends of the world, but, honey, believe it or not, there is someone who loves you more than I ever could."

I felt my eyes grow wide, "Really?"

"Yes, do you know who?" She finished putting up her hair into a neat bun and turned around, sitting on the other end of the queen sized bed. Her clear green eyes looked into mine.

"God?" I ask, pretty sure, but wanting to double check.

"Yes, but do you know how much He loves you?"

Even though I knew, I shook my head and pulled my legs onto the bed. Leaning up against the wall, I curled up.

"Tell me again, please," I pleaded. My mom drew her own feet onto the bed and sat beside me. She pulled out an old, falling apart Bible from a drawer in her nightstand. Opening it to Matthew chapter one verse 18, she began to read.

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.""

She looked over to me and I smiled, then we looked back down the Bible. She kept reading, on for hours as we went through Matthew, reading about every word and every work Jesus did. He was a great man, the Son of God, the one who came to save us. Soon, however, we came to the end, and I leaned on my mom's shoulder, reading the small print as she said it aloud.

‭"Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink. Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: "They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots." Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left. And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross." Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.' " Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing. Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This Man is calling for Elijah!" Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. The rest said, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him." And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God!"" (Matthew‬ ‭27:32-54‬ )

Stopping right there, my mom looked over at me, momentarily closing the Bible and holding her position with her finger.

"God loves you so much He sent His Son to die a horrible death on a cross. In fact, God loves mankind so much that He sent His Son to die on a cross for everyone," she said solemnly. I nodded.

Quickly she reopened to where we stopped off and read onto the very end.

"Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you." So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word." (Matthew‬ ‭28:1-8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬)

I cut in, "He loved us enough to die for us, but He loved us enough to rise from the dead, defeating Satan and allowing us to be saved by grace, through baptism. Because God loves us, He sent Jesus to die and rise again so that we could be with Him in Heaven."

Closing the old worn Bible, my mom set it down and nodded. Her eyes were full of kindness and love. I grinned widely. Hugging my mother I heard her whisper into my ear.

"I love you Somer, but God loved you enough to give you a chance at life with him."