Easter Is for Ministry Wives Too

Easter is for ministry wives, too. At your core, you probably know this, but if you’re anything like me, it’s helpful to be reminded every so often.

Caught up in the rhythms of church life, we can get busy doing good things—things like teaching Sunday school, making meals for church families, listening to hurting church members, and serving alongside our pastor-husbands in various ways. Especially in our busy seasons, it’s easy to neglect what’s most important, as Martha did in Luke 10. “Distracted with much serving” (Luke 10:40), we can forget why we’re doing all this anyway and miss out on the sweetness of spending unhurried time with our Savior.

When this happens, Easter offers a reset. More than just jellybeans and spring dresses, Easter is about the gospel, the good news that “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). Sisters, a relationship with Jesus through the gospel is most important, for you and me personally as well as for our churches, and we encounter Jesus at the foot of the cross.

At the Foot of the Cross

Do you remember when you first encountered Jesus? While the Lord saved me at an early age, if I look back over my life, there have been key moments when the gospel came into focus with fresh clarity. One of those times came when I was a middle schooler attending a Young Life camp. I remember feeling like the good girl in the room, the last person anyone would expect to be sobbing at what we called the “cross-talk.” Yet, with distractions aside and eyes fixed on my Savior, I remember the impact of the speaker’s words as he told me Jesus died for my sin: my complaining, my impatience, my pride, and my fear of what other people thought of me.

Reading Scripture, I’m drawn to another woman standing at the foot of the cross: Mary, the mother of Jesus. While not a pastor’s wife, you might think of Mary as a “good girl” in the Bible. Yet even though Mary birthed and raised Jesus, she needed him to save her just as much as everyone else did.

John 19:26-27 says, “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’” At the cross, Jesus saw Mary. He saw her, knew her, and cared for her. In connecting her with his disciple, John, he watched over her physical and emotional well-being and provided for her future.

To Mary, the cross may have looked like the end of Jesus, but it was the beginning for her and all who place faith in him. Though blood and water flowed out of his side, proving his death on that cursed tree, three days later, there was an empty tomb. Angels proclaimed Jesus’s resurrection, and he appeared to his disciples; over several weeks, more than 500 people saw him before he ascended to heaven.

This is what we celebrate in our churches on Easter. The cross is the beginning of beginnings. It’s the undoing of sin and death, and it’s the birth of hope that things won’t always be this way, that our Savior reigns and rules, that he’s coming back someday for his own, and that we will one day see him face to face and know our Savior and Lord fully (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Easter Matters to Ministry Wives and Churches

The story of Easter matters to ministry wives. Whatever your story and whatever is happening in your life today, the Lord sees and knows you, just as he knew Mary. At the cross, God’s grace is poured out for you; you don’t have to be afraid. Why not? Your sins are forgiven, and your future is provided for. This is true for all believers—including you.

What’s more, at the cross, we see that God doesn’t need anything from us. Rather, “as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” (John 5:26). Jesus is self-sufficient, having everything he needs within himself, everything he needs to give his life and take it back up again. As part of God’s redemptive plan, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28, emphasis added).

Pause and let that sink in. Think about the hope it offers ministry wives who feel tired, lonely, and discouraged to those who feel like they’ll never be good enough or do enough. At the cross, Jesus serves us; we don’t serve him. This means we truly can cease striving and know that the Lord is God (Psalm 46:10). While it’s a privilege to serve the Lord as obedient daughters, our relationship with him is secure, and we serve not in our own strength but “by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11). Do you see how this flips things—for us and our churches?

More than busy pastor’s wives, our heavenly Father wants daughters who gaze in wonder at Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross, and this is what our churches need. Church members need pastors and their wives who sing “Crown him with many crowns!” and mean it. On Easter weekend—and every Sunday—it’s good for them to see how the gospel affects us, to see contrition, humility, gratitude, joy, and hope on our faces. While our ministry service is important, it will carry more weight when our congregations know that we are satisfied in Christ and when we point them to him—the only one who can satisfy and be enough for them, too (1 Corinthians 12:9).

©2024 Katie Faris. Used with permission.