WHERE WILL YOU BE TOMORROW?

Mark 15:40-41

⁴⁰ There were also women watching it from a distance, among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James (the younger one) and of Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹ When he had been in Galilee, they had followed him and took care of him, and there were also many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

the women who stayed

Salome and the two Marys belonged to that faithful circle of women who had followed Jesus throughout His ministry. They had listened to His teaching with open hearts. They had watched His compassion heal the broken. They had seen miracles that revealed the nearness of God. And now they had watched Him die. The apostles had scattered in fear, but these women remained—grieving, confused, and keeping their distance, yet unwilling to walk away. They stayed because love kept them there. They stayed because hope, though dim, was not extinguished. They stayed because something in them could not abandon the One who had never abandoned them.

Their loyalty placed them in the path of grace. From this quiet, steadfast group would come the first witnesses of the resurrection. While the world slept, while the disciples hid, while despair seemed final, these women walked toward the tomb with spices in their hands and devotion in their hearts. And because they stayed near when others fell away, they were the first to hear the angel’s announcement, the first to see the empty tomb, the first to meet the risen Lord. Their faithfulness in the dark became the doorway to joy in the dawn.

There is a lesson for us in their courage. Faith is not proven only in moments of clarity or triumph. It is proven in the hours when God seems silent, when circumstances feel overwhelming, when others drift away. Loyalty to Christ in the shadows prepares us to see His glory when the light returns. The women at the cross remind us that staying near Jesus—especially when it costs us something—is never wasted. It positions us to witness resurrection.

LORD, give us the loyalty to stay with You in the times when all others fall away.