Checkmate

Three women.

The Woman at the Well.
The Woman who battled a crowd to grasp His robe.
The Woman at His grave.

Three women.

Without Hope.
Without a friend.
Without a future.

Did you know that all a man had to do back then to divorce his wife, was to say to her face,"I divorce you. I divorce you. I divorce you?" The Samaritan woman had heard those words at least 15 times.

Did you know that the woman with the issue of blood had spent all her money on her condition and had suffered greatly at the hands of her doctors? Twelve years of pain, poverty, and confinement. Twelve long years.

Did you know that Mary was so heartbroken about the death and disappearance of Jesus that she didn't recognize Him when she saw Him? Thinking He was the gardener, she cried, "They have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have laid Him." Words of agony poured out like a groan. Not only was He dead, His body was gone.

They thought the game was over.
But then, Jesus came, and said, "Checkmate."

He told the rejected woman at the well,
that He knew of her rejection,
and offered to love her forever,
and she, in turn,
spread the news of His acceptance
and forgiveness to those who had rejected her.
A city was changed forever.
Checkmate.

He stopped the crowd in their tracks
when the Woman with issues touched His robe,
and He felt healing virtue leave His body.
He wanted to know who was healed.
He listened to her story.
The disciples heard it too.
No more doctor bills.
No more hiding.
Checkmate.

He came to the weeping woman
visiting His grave,
"Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you seeking?"
Kind words full of invitation
to look up, wipe her eyes,
and see His face.
Still blinded, she wept.
Then He said her name, "Mary."
Then she knew Him.
Checkmate.

I am that woman at the well.
I am that woman in the crowd.
I am that woman weeping at the tomb.

And He's won the game for me.